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Council tax - Sarah (18th Mar 2014 - 21:17:33) Having just received our latest council tax bill, I was pleased to see that both EHDC and HCC haven't put an increase on this year. However given the economic circumstances a 15.5% increase at parish level was quite a surprise. Maybe the parish council should be subject to the same rules as the local and county councils... I.e. Any increase over 2% should be put to a local referendum. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they do a great job on a very limited income... I just think that 15.5% is a bit disproportionate at the moment.

Re: Council tax - Mike (19th Mar 2014 - 11:00:32) I find the brevity of the Parish Council minutes frustrating in the least. The Minute from the full PC meeting that approved the precept reads: 16/14 BUDGET & PRECEPT 2014/15 The chairman reported that the proposed budget was £364,646 which was funded by income of £102,171 and a precept £262,475. Proposed Cllr Croucher, Seconded Cllr Jordan, unanimously approved. The reason why this is over 15% higher than last years was either not questioned by council members or it was considered too unimportant to minute. This is worrying either way.

Re: Council tax - jen (19th Mar 2014 - 15:00:33) The first thing I noticed on my council tax demand was the amount that the Parish precept has increased. I think it is appalling that we seem to have no say in this. I presume it has been increased to cover all the legal fees over the last couple of years! If it was legal I would withhold that amount.

Re: Council tax - Rob (19th Mar 2014 - 16:17:43) Is this increase to pay for the Mr Groves funds which was supposed to be refunded by Insurance? According to the latest accounts January 2014(on the website) they have a balance of £184,000 in the bank and will be receiving over £200K from the precept. What are they going to do with this money for the Parishioners' of Liphook?

Re: Council tax - steve (19th Mar 2014 - 16:53:55) I calculate that this will cost our household about 25 pence extra a week. Perhaps not worth getting in a tizzy over?

Re: Council tax - John (19th Mar 2014 - 18:51:26) I don't object to paying 15.5% more based on a clearly made case for how this money will be spent. A percentage increase of this order is wholly out of sync with all other tax raising authorities and, given the scale, should not be permitted without a wider public consultation. It is not feasible for every council tax payer in the area to attend parish council meetings and so a system of broader public engagement would seem appropriate when such an unusual demand is made on householders whose incomes are static. I have not really followed the legal fees issue but if, as is suggested above, this is a factor here then I am now 'all ears'.

Re: Council tax - Kevin Carrig (19th Mar 2014 - 19:20:33) Hi, Does anyone from the parish council read talkback,, if so please can they justify the 15.5% increase. What is the increase to be used for. Convince us it will be put to good use.

Re: Council tax - Heather (19th Mar 2014 - 20:44:41) Count ourselves lucky that we're not under Surrey County Council. They are billing my Grandmother on both her uninhabited flooded property and the temporary accommodation that she has had to move into whilst her property dries out & repairs are completed!

Re: Council tax - Cllr Guy Stacpoole ehdc (19th Mar 2014 - 22:43:42) Yes,its an outrageous and unjustifiable increase. However, it seems in character, does it not?

Re: Council tax - Jane Ives (20th Mar 2014 - 09:59:31) In real terms the parish council increase to the precept equates to 75p extra per household per month. Please note that the Parish Council is holding its Annual Parish Meeting this coming Monday 24th March, 7.30pm at the Millennium Centre. All are welcome and questions by the public can be asked.

Re: Council tax - John (20th Mar 2014 - 11:55:32) Steve and Jane, I agree it is not much extra to pay but there is a principle here - other tax levying authorities have to demonstrate restraint and we need to be sure as a community that these things are accountable. I am not suggesting any wrongdoing or mismanagement, just a desire to know why such a jarring % increase is justified without a wider debate. Besides, small increases have an attritional effect on household finances; one more increased household bill and a further in lift in the cost of living. I am away on 24th March but look forward to hearing the reports of the meeting which will hopefully explain all. Heather - that is outrageous! Will the insurers cover the cost as part of the alternative accommodation benefit?

Re: Council tax - Mike (20th Mar 2014 - 12:05:59) Yes it is an average of 75p per month but I do not have the choice of not paying it so it is relevant that it is a stated 15.5% increase on last year's precept. I do not think that any compulsory charge should be raised by more than the rate of inflation without wider scrutiny or, at the very least, a credible explanation. I will not be able to attend the AGM so could someone ask the question and post the answer either here or on the parish council website.

Re: Council tax - liz (20th Mar 2014 - 12:48:03) Jane Affordability is not the issue here. It's the overall increase in the PC's take - at least 12 percentage points above inflation! It would be nice to know how this is justified. In fact I think we have a right to know.

Re: Council tax - nick (20th Mar 2014 - 15:24:38) 75p pr month per household I don't think so the increase I have is from 81.17 to 97.18 =16.01 pr yr this equates to 1.60 pr month for the 10 month payments Increase in the last 4 years todate anyone pay more or do we all pay the same 15.5 5% for 2014/2015 payment of 97.18 for the year 3.6% 2013/2014 84.13 5.6% 2012/2013 81.17 0% 2011/2012 77.17 0.3% 2010/2011 77.18 3.2% 2009/2010 76.92 now you do the maths

Re: Council tax - Dawn Hoskins (20th Mar 2014 - 16:36:11) The Parish council precept is a tax charged on each property in the parish and is sometimes called the Parish rate. It is used to fund all the activities within the parish that are undertaken for the benefit of the community. It is collected automatically as part of the general ‘Council Tax’ by EHDC (the principle authority). To find out if any council are spending justified amounts of money the budget for each council is publish every year and is open to the public. the budget must be discussed at open meeting where a breakdowns is to be given out to all members of the public in attendance. The budget should also be available on-line. This budget must fund all the activities within the parish for the year is calculated by each Parish Council. These are really quite detailed documents that take a long time and a lot of effort to produce. Bramshott and Liphook’s overall costs are calculated at £364,646. This is broken down further as ‘Income = £102,171 and ‘Precept = £262,475. For Bramshott and Liphooks Budget see this link: http://bramshottandliphook-pc.gov.uk/.../2014-15.pdf It is a quite new thing that Parish Rates are now shown. They used just to be collected by the principle authority with no breakdown. Today, principle authorities publish the precepts for each parish within their areas. For East Hampshire Council Tax by Parish see this link: http://www.easthants.gov.uk/.../ct+charges+ad+0214.pdf You can compare this by looking at Wiltshire for example. See this link: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/.../counciltaxbandallparishes.htm Here you can look at Districts rather than Parishes: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/.../council-tax-by-district.htm Tax bases are complicated things and are decided by EHDC. Our Tax base was reduced by EHDC due to a change in the way tax benefits are applied. For a definition and details of how tax bases are computed, you can read page 11 of this document. https://www.gov.uk/.../Parishes_and_other_precepting_authorities_2013-14_England__revised_.pdf The precept is divided by the tax base to arrive at the band D council tax figure. Our Band D amount is £1458.10 – Precept = £262,475 – Taxbase = 180 – £262,475 ÷ 180 = £1458 band D

Re: Council tax - John (20th Mar 2014 - 18:03:02) Thanks for this Dawn - appreciate the link to the budget as I could not find it from the navigation on the website. It took me ages to find last year's budget, but working backwards from your link found it at: http://bramshottandliphook-pc.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2013-14.pdf. I'm not normally prone to analysing such things but did take the opportunity to compare costs between this year and last. I see that there were some savings made and some extra costs incurred and I suppose given the relatively (in civic costs terms) small amounts involved that any special projects or one-off payments will result in a disproportionately large % increase in the budget. For info, the stand-out differences between expenditure last year and this are: +£6,000 admin wages, +£5,000 for Radford Car Park Maintenance, +£13,031 Works salaries, +£510 Depot electricity (a 220% increase on last year), £4,235 this year and last on SLR Cameras and the Speedwatch scheme, +£15,569 Millennium Hall wages, +£2,800 Millennium Hall gas (approx 65% increase), +£2,000 Theatre Costs. I pass no comment on any of this as I do not have enough background knowledge but put on here merely to inform those attending the meeting. That said, although I am concerned about driving standards in the village, I was never a supporter of the Speedwatch scheme and wonder about £8,470 over two years for SLR cameras and the scheme generally, particularly when other elements of the council tax fund policing. I will be interested to hear details of successful prosecutions resulting from the scheme in the first year. I would like to add that I am aware that councillors work voluntarily on our behalf and that this is appreciated.

Re: Council tax - Kevin C (20th Mar 2014 - 18:17:00) Thanks Dawn. But the question remains. Why 15.5% more than last year ?

Re: Council tax - Dawn Hoskins (20th Mar 2014 - 19:07:52) The precept (which is the budget for the year), is divided by the Tax-Base to arrive at the band D council tax figure. Our figures are thus: Precept of £262,475 and Tax base = 180. £262,475 ÷ 180 gives us the average band. The average band is calculated to be a ‘Band D’ Our band D is £1458. Everyone has a right to know the ‘ins and outs’ of every local council – to see if payments are justified. That is why so much advanced notice is given before the budget meetings in which these are to be discussed. As so few people attend meetings these days, the budgets are also published electronically. It does not take much to skew figures. If for example a council has to take on an additional employee or if pension’s contributions increase that can have a massive effect. As parishes own differing resources, the cost of utilities can also affect figures dramatically. Based on published figures which are available to all, we can see quite easily how we have been affected per household. Unlike some parishes that have few (or none) public buildings, we are very lucky to have the Millennium Centre which houses the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Heritage Centre. It is well used and loved, but of course it costs to heat it and light it. Our utilities have increased by about £3,500. Staff costs have increased over the employee base, this is a combination of contributory pension increases and pay rises. The skew to these figures is that when we lost a member of staff at the Millennium Hall (last year) he was not replaced but the position was put into a split job-share role. This was not a long-term view last year but a short-term fix to prevent a redundancy situation – so that had to be fixed. Due to all of the re-jigging the salary increase over all of the employees rose by £34,600. Radford park has (and will continue to see) improvements at the grounds and car parks, this has been estimated at £18,031. The budget includes the cost of purchasing equipment to enable the parish to take part in the Speed Watch programme. This was included as there has been a general outcry over speeding issues in the village and it’s surrounds. This cost was approx £5,000. The extra costs (this is gone into in minute detail in the budget) the main ones are listed above, will cost approximately £1 per month more than last year. I have made a grid below which shows how much each parish pays for Band D and by how much each parish raised their precepts. I hope you find this helpful. Any mistakes are all mine. 1 Parish/Town 2013-14 2014-15 raise 2 Alton 1,456.70 1469.37 12.67 3 Beech 1,419.71 1428.20 8.49 4 Bentley 1,456.48 1458.82 2.34 5 Bentworth 1,422.50 1425.51 3.01 6 Binsted 1,450.61 1453.54 2.93 7 Liphook 1,446.05 1458.10 12.05 8 Buriton 1,433.63 1436.19 2.56 9 Chawton 1,426.19 1430.59 4.40 10 Clanfield 1,433.46 1436.11 2.65 11 Colemore 1,387.81 1390.82 3.01 12 East Meon 1,428.73 1431.03 2.30 13 East Tisted 1,421.87 1422.94 1.07 14 Farringdon 1,478.45 1505.65 27.20 15 Four Marks1,421.22 1432.58 11.36 16 Froxfield 1,430.31 1431.89 1.58 17 Froyle 1,446.89 1450.45 3.56 18 Grayshott 1,449.71 1457.92 8.21 19 Greatham 1,424.94 1427.05 2.11 20 Hawkley 1,421.79 1427.77 5.98 21 Headley 1,424.05 1426.91 2.86 22 Horndean 1,467.86 1470.87 3.01 23 Kingsley 1,427.94 1432.64 4.70 24 Langrish 1,408.18 1410.75 2.57 25 Lasham 1,407.43 1409.72 2.29 26 Lindford 1,426.29 1428.71 2.42 27 Liss 1,459.06 1450.61 (8.45) 28 Medstead 1,413.31 1414.70 1.39 29 Newton Valence 1,394.59 1397.14 2.55 30 Petersfield 1,482.40 1487.94 5.54 31 Ropley 1,425.20 1427.79 2.59 32 R's Castle 1,436.71 1440.47 3.76 33 Selborne 1,435.58 1438.51 2.93 34 Shalden 1,410.23 1412.62 2.39 35 Sheet 1,475.83 1478.84 3.01 36 Steep 1,408.61 1418.34 9.73 37 Stroud 1,433.91 1465.60 31.69 38 W't Tisted 1,387.81 1390.82 3.01 39 Whitehill 1,469.40 1470.66 1.26 40 Wield 1,416.67 1418.71 2.04 41 Worldham 1,432.54 1433.57 1.03

Re: Council tax - John (20th Mar 2014 - 19:42:07) Thanks Dawn. The Speedwatch costs appear in the budget in both years, unless I am misreading. How many cameras were bought and what were the results in terms of catching speeders? I agree the point that small capital projects can adversely impact the % increase. The Radford Park work is welcome.

Re: Council tax - Dawn Hoskins (20th Mar 2014 - 19:57:08) Mike, The reason the minutes don't show much debate is because we were all looking at the published budget figures which are attached to the Agenda and circulated at meetings. They are also on-line. Kevin, When you say 'the question remains' that leads me to assume that you have not clicked on the links to read the information. Once you have read it - no questions remain as it is all facts and figures. If anyone has any questions about the budget, please do come to the Annual Meeting. It is on Monday 24th. I see that a few people have pre-submitted questions on-line. Well done to you for you public spirit!

Re: Council tax - Kevin C (20th Mar 2014 - 22:44:17) Thanks Dawn, that is very helpful, Thankyou for taking the time to explain

Re: Council tax - Sarah (20th Mar 2014 - 23:12:31) Thanks Dawn for your posts (including the other thread). Whilst I understand that costs (including pension contributions) have increased, this would also be the case for the district and county council. Uf the Parish were required to hold a referendum if their part of the council tax wee to increase above 2% (as the district and county are required to do), I have a feeling that the parishes increase would stay at 2% or below. Whilst the amount isn't significant (for me) and of course i am happy to contribute my share, if EHDC or Surrey were to follow suit there would be outcry!

Re: Council tax - Keith (21st Mar 2014 - 08:41:45) Percentages really are a useless indicator when looking at budgets for any parish council. For the same reason because the total budget of parish councils can vary from less than £10,000 to more than £250,000 depending on the size of parish, comparing parish increases against each other really is comparing apples and pears. The amounts involved are normally so low in real terms (related to other size local authorities) that any increase or decrease will look huge - what has to be borne in mind is the real cost as in pounds in the pocket. Let me give you an example to put this in context, if a parish has a precept of £100,000 but they need to raise an extra £5,000 to cover additional costs - then straight away this is a 5% increase. But if they are EHDC and increase their costs by £5,000 for a project in Liphook, because EHDC budget is closer to £5,000,000, the extra £5,000 is only a 0.1% increase, and if it is HCC where the budget could be lets say £5,000,000,000 then it is only a 0.00001% increase ---- yet in all cases the cost to the public is the same - the public has still 'lost' £5000 So please don't get hung up on the percentage - it will raise your blood pressure for no good purpose. The significant increase is the extra £12.05 per year (per band D house) - or 26p per week. Now if you can say your other household bills have not increased by at least 26p per week, you live in a very lucky household!! Are the extra costs justified? that's for you to decide, but do think of it as 26p per week (or less than the cost of a packet of crisps or the weekly local paper), rather than some arbitrary percentage.

Re: Council tax - liz (21st Mar 2014 - 09:02:11) I know Keith thinks it's apples /pears or possibly peanuts but a 65% increase in gas costs for the Millenium Hall?

Re: Council tax - John (21st Mar 2014 - 09:52:18) Dawn, you mention about pre-submitting questions on-line - I might be being a bit unobservant but I cannot see anything on the parish council website that allows me to do that. Do we simply email the questions? I would like to attend on Monday but I cannot as I am working (to pay my council tax!). I appreciate that the budget is posted on-line, as you say, but trying to find it through navigation on the website is not straightforward. Of course, typing 'Budget' into the search box did the trick (I wish I had thought of that first!) but can I suggest a direct link from the home page? I am keen to submit a question about the £8,470 spent/budgeted over two years for the SLR cameras. At £350 a pop that would be 24 posh cameras that cannot record speeds and presumably are therefore not admissible evidence in court. I am not even convinced that the problem is speeding - it is unexpected acceleration between the roundabouts (not necessarily speeding), tailgating, not giving way at the roundabouts, pulling out unexpectedly..appreciate I have gone a bit off-topic, but the point is these things are careless/dangerous driving, not speeding. I would prefer the £8,470 to be spent on funding part-time patrols for the police in the village, a bit like football clubs pay for police at games, rather than local vigilantes with expensive cameras. The police element of my council tax currently only seems to fund a part-time police station in Alton. I am sure there is a straightforward explanation, but, re electricity at the depot, a 220% increase and 65% on gas at the hall looks unexpected.

Re: Council tax - Phil (21st Mar 2014 - 13:41:28) @Mike I have submitted questions in advance through the PC email address on the PC website. Meetings held in public under LGA guidelines are capable of accepting both questions during the meeting, and also presubmitted questions. If anything, pre-submitted questions give the PC time to ensure they respond with appropriate detail. Hope this helps.

Re: Council tax - Phil (21st Mar 2014 - 13:49:58) @Keith "Percentages really are a useless indicator when looking at budgets for any parish council." Without consideration of percentages, all you will simply be able to say is one number is bigger / smaller than another number.

Re: Council tax - Dawn Hoskins (21st Mar 2014 - 19:15:00) Hi John, When looking for anything on the Parish Council Website you should always enter your search term into the search box – it is the easiest way. As items are listed under the relevant meeting dates and the only real way of checking (without the search box) would be to read every Agenda to see if your item was included. Questions to Council can always be pre-submitted before any meeting. If you give a weeks notice then an answer can generally be sought to your enquiry and read out at the meeting, if not enough notice is given your question will either receive a written answer by post or be scheduled for the next meeting for discussion. Questions can be sent • In writing to the Council Office • By email to the Council office • By emailing individual Councillors who will pass it on. Remember, that a budget is a plan for planned spending in the year to come. For some items, such as Speed Watch it is a little uncertain as it depends on volunteers coming forward. If no one comes forward then it will not run and we will not spend the money. With regard to your query about policing in the village – that is not within the control of the Parish Council at all. It is the lack of policing that led to the interest in the Speed Watch Scheme. It is true that most of our local Police Stations have closed. There are no desks open in Liphook or Bordon any more, and Alton’s desk is only part time. When you call 999 / 101 you go through to the Isle of Wight….LOL…government funding for all civil servants is at an all time low it would seem. Speed Watch works with police collaboration. The police train civilians in the use of the cameras and can [I think] enforce penalties for repeat offenders. Of course even a Speed camera will not give brains or sense to those who operate without it – so stupid driving, parking and lack of indicators on roundabouts etc will continue to be a problem that tries our patience. With regard to utilities, I think that they were not being properly accounted for before – it could be that the costs previously were hidden in another line of the accounts but now they are separated out? I can check this if you wish?

Re: Council tax - John (22nd Mar 2014 - 00:21:56) Thanks Dawn, appreciate the comprehensive response.

Re: Council tax - Mrs (22nd Mar 2014 - 08:24:37) We won't need the speed watch cameras soon, as all the extra house that have been proposed bring extra cars will make Liphook grid locked. Happy days!

Re: Council tax - Greater concerns (22nd Mar 2014 - 17:11:19) More houses = more parishioners paying towards speedwatch the cost of which will be largely fixed and/or accounted for as a sunk cost. So per head speedwatch will be cheaper going forward and I'm not too concerned about relatively small beer. Plus if the scheme is abandoned SLRs hold reasonable value so not a dreadful investment. What I'd prefer to see is a constructive discussion about how we invest in amenities in time for the new arrivals. Can people that have grown up in Liphook afford to stay? Without new homes it won't get easier as demand continues to outstrip supply. That would be shameful and result in a loss of character. New homes = more people spending money in local shops, with greater demand for local shops (there's capacity with empty and 2 charity shops) and therefore much needed local jobs. There is an issue about congestion already that will be.made more challenging with new homes. I don't think there's a quick fix to that. Power cuts are a frustration for everyone, this will affect the new homes as well so developers may have a vested interest in helping to resolve this issue. We need to address high speed broadband as greater demands are placed on the exchange from New homes the existing infrastructure will begin to creak. Real competition from Virgin Media is unlikely but would provide much needed choice and something the developers should be pressed on given peoples desire for high speed broadband. Where will the kids that live in these new homes entertain themselves? I don't know what happened to the skate park plans someone was taking forward but this is the type of thing we should be looking to fund as a parish. Perhaps as the 'village' grows its time for a swimming pool to be constructed and linked into other sports amenities? Step free access at the train station may not affect many but it's long overdue in my opinion. The work at Radford park is exactly what our money should be going towards but is the development not an opportunity for more public space, which has been offered? Building a single surgery makes sense, no idea why Liphook 'a village' would require 2! I'm sure there are some really good ideas out there so let's talk about them... Before the questions are asked I do not work for the developers I just see the inevitability, which I don't see as all negative, and want to see issues addressed.

Re: Council tax - h (22nd Mar 2014 - 22:33:00) this is a huge wishlist and do you think 17p per month increase from the parish council will fund it? every scheme you have mentioned apart from the skatepark, which no doubt would cost at least 50k would cost at least 300k. i think you are under the impression that developers will pay? do not think they could afford to build any houses or would have to sell them at double the cost of a normal new house.

Re: Council tax - Solve your concerns (23rd Mar 2014 - 10:40:50) Re Concerned, have you read the Parish Plan, this will answer all your concerns. Read it on www.liphookplan.co.uk and come to the meeting Tuesday 25th at the Millennium 7.30pm.

Re: Council tax - h (24th Mar 2014 - 23:37:45) Hi in response to the person with the "wish list " I think it is naive to think that developers care about Liphook, and actually they only give what the district council ask them to give. The fact that a lot of houses are going to be built everywhere does not mean that we will get wonderful facilities in return. With the Government cutting back on the funding they give to.local government we will have amenities taken away not increased you only have to see the headline in the local paper regarding funding fir the buses. They are taking things away not giving us more.

Re: Council tax - liz (25th Mar 2014 - 08:21:33) Greater concerns Are you a developer by any chance? (Not that would expect you to admit to it!). Perhaps a flyover across The Square could be added to your wish list.

Re: Council tax - Cllr Guy Stacpoole ehdc (28th Mar 2014 - 12:57:54) Yes,its an outrageous and unjustifiable increase. However, it seems in character, does it not?

Re: Council tax - h (28th Mar 2014 - 14:04:16) I have heard that the people of lindford are not that happy with their District council representation ? perhaps instead of involving himself in matters in Liphook, councillor Guy Stacpoole should spend time with his parishioners in Lindford. Would they even know know who he was?

Re: Council tax - Mike (28th Mar 2014 - 14:27:29) Cllr. Stacpoole, were you a member of the EHDC council that increased the district precept by c2% thereby turning down a central government grant of an equivalent amount in return for freezing it? The BLpc precept increase may well have been justified, it just that is was, and remains, unclear what that justification was.

Re: Council tax - Greater concerns (29th Mar 2014 - 11:51:05) Liz, No I'm not a developer as I stated in my post. A flyover is a rather flippant response, I preferred the sensible response someone provided regarding the village plan. Perhaps you're ok Liz but some people can't buy there own homes because there's nowhere to buy I'd welcome growth in Liphook but that's my opinion and your entitled to yours.

Re: Council tax - h (29th Mar 2014 - 15:42:40) I think a village plan will not create social housing instead of what the developers want to build. The current system is that a development needs to only give 10 per cent of the build on a large estate over to social housing. This could be more depending of the generosity of the developer, anything under 13 houses does not have to provide any at all. The social housing is often only flats or maisonettes, and does not always have to be built on the same site could be anywhere the District council prefers. The social housing built at the same time as the Sainsbury Estate was built on the Midhurst road, and not on the same location as the 4 bedroom houses, and creates a polarisation in areas. Having a village plan will not produce much difference to the status quo, perhaps a development plan might make a small difference. The days of the district council building the social housing has dissapeared. We need to create jobs as well as all these new houses otherwise liphook becomes even more of a commuter town.

Re: Council tax - liz (31st Mar 2014 - 08:30:38) Greater concerns. I'm glad you realised my comment about the flyover was flippant. If you think a few hundred extra houses in Liphook will make any material difference to house prices then I think you are breing unrealistic to say the least. They just attract more people from out of area. I notice that the developers believe there is not a local plan and are putting through their own proposals (Haslemere Herald). - This includes the possible 'relief road' from Longmoor Rd to Portsmouth Rd - but as everyone know this is not the problem and will only help the interests of the developers. Developers working together to develop our local plan worries me considerably - I think they are seeking to pre-empt the completion of the local plan which is being put together and reflects the views of local residents.

Re: Council tax - tony (1st Apr 2014 - 21:05:40) Greater concerns, I'm not against building new homes, having lived and worked in big cities I'm still daily amazed at how relatively quiet this area is, I can drive from village to village in the time it can take me to go half a mile in London. I agree that if we're going to grow, we should have a proper say in what we want, at the moment we don't seem to be getting anything, maybe a shop or whatever, when what we really want is a pool, that was promised, money put aside for and then forgotten about some time ago. It's not really possible for young people to get to Shottermill on their own, even Petersfield is a bit of a trek, I'd like to see one here. But even that wouldn't be enough to entice me to sell Liphook's heart to the developers, they aren't really interested in building a few homes for the locals, they just want to stuff Liphook full of units at x amount of profit a go, the more the better. If it ends up like living in Birmingham they won't care, they'll be long gone, doing the charm offensive somewhere else.

Re: Council tax - h (2nd Apr 2014 - 00:27:18) I agree with tony. There are houses for sale in liphook, and building loads more will not reduce house prices, there is enough demand for homes in the area to keep them at this current level. liphook is no where near as dear as farnham guildford or haslemere. I would also like to kniw who promised you a swimming pool in liphook, 'greater concerns'? with a pool at mill chase and at the herons there is no chance. We seem unlikely to be able to keep our bus services let alone have fortunes spent on things like swimming pools. With the huge cost of social care being shouldered by the councils they struggle to maintain the level of service in those areas, let alone repair potholes.

Re: Council tax - Diane (3rd Apr 2014 - 11:09:29) Re the swimming pool.Many years ago(Iwould think about 30) there were plans to build a pool on the Bohunt school site. Money was raised but they built the Squash courts instead as being more usefull to the community.

Re: Council tax - h (12th Apr 2014 - 00:18:29) Still on the subject of facilities, we were promised a "medical centre" by Gvi? can someone from that company tell us please when we can expect the surgeries to move in? when will they start building what was promised ? permission was granted over 3 years ago.

Re: Council tax - Chris (12th Apr 2014 - 10:03:42) 'h', I like the way as a parish councillor, as that is what you are, have tried to divert this from its original Council Tax thread!

Re: Council tax - Dawn Hoskins (12th Apr 2014 - 19:41:17) Chris, I am a parish Councillor and do not know who 'h' is. Can you enlighten me if you know who it is. thanks Dawn

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