The Hart Council elections will take place on May 7 2015 and all of the candidates can be found here. We Heart Hart urges you to find out where your candidate stands on the issue of a new settlement in the district and ask them to oppose it. If they come an canvas you, then please raise the issue of the local plan with them.
Key issues are:
- We are being asked to build too many houses, our housing allocation relies on us created nearly double the number of jobs than was created during the boom times of 1998-2008 and
- A new town will leave us open to 3,100 additional houses from Surrey Heath and Rushmoor
- There are plenty of brownfield sites that Hart have not taken account of in their planning
- Hart’s planning assumption of only 30 dwellings per hectare (dph) is too low, and even they have admitted they could go to 808-160dph. If they increased density on brownfield, we would not need a new town
- Hart already have a funding gap of £78m for infrastructure. Building a new town is likely to mean this gap will get much worse because building on green fields requires much more infrastructure than brownfield development
- Hart is not properly planning for the needs of the ageing population.
We have compiled a list of all of the candidates standing, and where we know it, their position on a new town. How many will endorse our new approach to the local plan?
Hart District Council Candidates May 2015
| Ward | Name | Party | Position on New Settlement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackwater & Hawley | Steve Francis | ? | ? |
| Mike Gascoigne | UKIP | ? | |
| Vivienne Gascoigne | Conservative | ? | |
| Bob Harward | Liberal Democrat | Voted in favour | |
| Les Lawrie | Labour & Co-operative | ? | |
| Crookham East | Chris Axam | Community Campaign Hart | Voted in favour |
| Helen Butler | Conservative | ? | |
| Dawn Moors | UKIP | ? | |
| Ruth Ann Williams | Labour | ? | |
| Crookham West & Ewshot | Dominic Arthur | Labour | ? |
| Tony Clarke | Community Campaign Hart | Voted in favour | |
| David Franklin Owens | UKIP | ? | |
| Christopher James Simmons | Conservative | ? | |
| Fleet Central | Matthew Cyril Bennett | Green | ? |
| John Bennison | Community Campaign Hart | Voted in favour | |
| Alex Gray | Conservative | Against new town, favours brownfield development over building on green fields | |
| Satdeep Kaur Grewal | Labour | ? | |
| Howling Laud Hope | Monster Raving Loony | ? | |
| Fleet East | Peter William Devonshire | UKIP | ? |
| John Grant Gawthorpe | Labour | ? | |
| Stephen George Parker | Conservative | Voted in favour | |
| Neil Christopher Walton | Liberal Democrat | ? But all Lib Dems voted in favour | |
| Fleet West | Stephen Robert Cantle | Community Campaign Hart | ? But, all CCH voted in favour |
| Paul Stephen Walter Einchcomb | Liberal Democrat | ? But all Lib Dems voted in favour | |
| James Edwin Hurst | Labour | ? | |
| Sara Kinnell | Conservative | Voted against, but changed ward | |
| Gordon Smith | UKIP | ? | |
| Hartley Wintney | Altay Ali | UKIP | ? |
| Anne Crampton | Conservative | Voted against | |
| Tony Over | Liberal Democrat | Stated against, but all Lib Dems voted in favour | |
| Andrew James Renshaw | Conservative | Against | |
| Alan Woolford | Liberal Democrat | Stated against, but all Lib Dems voted in favour | |
| Hook | Brian Douglas Burchfield | Conservative | Voted in favour |
| Ruth Stella Hamilton | UKIP | ? | |
| Verd Nabbs | Labour | ? | |
| Jeffrey Robert Smith | Liberal Democrat | ? But all Lib Dems voted in favour | |
| Odiham | Rosalyn Jane Gordon | Liberal Democrat | ? But all Lib Dems voted in favour |
| Stephen Alexander Gorys | Conservative | Voted in favour | |
| Kevin Oliver | UKIP | ? | |
| Yateley East | John Peter Simon Burton | Conservative | ? |
| Dave Neighbour | Liberal Democrat | Voted in favour | |
| Sue Perkins | UKIP | ? | |
| Joyce Still | Labour | ? | |
| Yateley West | Andrew Shawn Dickens | Conservative | ? |
| Claire Elhaggagi | Liberal Democrat | ? But all Lib Dems voted in favour | |
| John William Howe | UKIP | ? | |
| Alistair William Sutherland | Labour | ? |
If you are a candidate and want to update your position, please get in touch, and we will update the table.
The declared positions of the North East Hampshire parliamentary candidates can be found here.
We Heart Hart and Winchfield Action Group are delivering leaflets all across the district and engaging with people in the street. The overwhelming number of people we have spoken to are against a new town in Hart when they understand the facts. This is in line with the findings of the Get Hampshire survey of Hampshire residents. It is time our councillors and candidates started listening to the people. Copies of the leaflet can be found here.
If you would like to join our campaign, please sign and share our petition:
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We have received the following email from Alex Gray, setting out his position on development in the district:
As the Conservative Candidate for Fleet Central I would like to outline my position on your table of councillor’s/candidate’s stance on the new town idea.
My position on the Local Plan was that everybody should take their fair share of development but that the most development should be on unused, brownfield sites such as the Ancells Business Park which we are currently seeing.
A new town is an quick means of delivering new homes for the short term, but in the long term it destroys valuable green space and simply creates unnecessary sprawl. By developing on brownfield land, especially in Fleet, a town gains more investment due to the amount of residents with disposable income (providing quality homes are built and pitched to the right demographic), a greater efficient use of space, and businesses and retail will take much more of an interest in the area – increasing the offering which is something that Fleet could certainly do with in the Hart Centre.
As a young person trying to get on the housing ladder, I do have great frustration with house prices and it is due to the lack of supply that the vast majority of houses have become unattainable for young people. Development and planning is very close to me as that is my real-world job, and if I am successful I will judge each application on its merits, not simply because it ticks a box i.e. it instantly meets the housing supply of Hart. However, it is essential that homes are built, otherwise the issue will only get worse for future generations, but housing has to be delivered in a long term sustainable way which also protects our green spaces.
I hope that you have found my position informative and if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Alex
Councillor Alexander David Gray
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