Elections take place on 5th May for Test Valley Borough Council.
All 48 seats are up for re-election and Test Valley Liberal Democrats have candidates for nearly all the seats including every seat in the Andover area.
Our candidates in the area are
Alamein: Len Gates, Kevin Hughes, Robin Hughes
Anna: Ben Harrington-Elsmore
Charlton: Mike McGarry
Harewood: Richard Rowles
Harroway: Ryan Hughes, Josie Msonthi, Andrew Whiteley
Millway: Barbara Carpenter, Ross Fifield, Margaret Henstock
St Mary's: Katherine Bird, Nigel Long, Vince McGarry
Winton: Dave Campbell, Sid Dajani, Peter Wilson
We believe the top priority of councillors is to look after the best interests of residents. We are not in coalition with the ruling Conservatives and offer a real alternative to the current administration. Test Valley Borough Council must not become an expensive bureaucracy out of touch with the people it serves. If elected we will cut unnecessary costs, transfer savings to front line services and devolve decision making back to local people. We have already identified four key areas where we can implement this programme by
- Reversing the unacceptable councillors' pay rise and cutting the costs of councillors and council meetings by restructuring committees and reducing overheads.
- Cutting operational costs by sharing services with other district councils and by devolving responsibility to town and parish councils. We will also scrap the unfair Andover levy - a poll tax on the people of Andover.
- Using the savings made above to improve the environment by introducing weekly summer month household waste collections and regular doorstep glass recycling collections.
- Bringing planning back under local control by giving residents a real say in local development and by opposing any more unnecessary large scale developments in the area.
We look forward to increasing the number of seats we currently hold on the council and putting the above programme into practice.