Cllr Stephen West

I would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who turned out to support me on polling day, returning me as your representative on Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council.   I made a commitment to you to oppose over-development and make Tadley a safer community and that is exactly what I am going to do.

By local government standards, last night was exciting because it saw Labour leader Gary Watts losing his seat as the Conservatives took 35 of the 60 seats giving them a clear mandate to run the Borough.  Another casualty last night was popular Tadley Councillor and Basingstoke Mayor Warwick Lovergrove who was defeated in the Baughurst & Tadley ward by Conservative candidate, Graham Round.

I want to be your Councillor regardless of whether or not you voted for me and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me if you have a problem, question or comment regarding any aspect of local government.  If I can't help you, I will probably know a person who can.

The result for the Tadley Central election was -

WEST Stephen Michael (CON)                       528   [Elected]
SLIMIN Jo (LIBDEM)                                      414
CURRY Ray (LAB)                                           31

Electorate : 2113                        Turnout : 973   (46%)

For the full results for the Basingstoke & Deane Borough, please click here

SPEEDING MOTORISTS are causing danger and disturbance to residents in the Guttridge Lane area. I have written to the Highways Agency asking for urgent action to taken and providing evidence collected using my radar speed gun / camera to monitor traffic [real example above]. 

This follows complaints that I have received from residents in The Copse , The Oaks and The Warren.  I have made a commitment to local residents to get a resolution involving enforcement and non-intrusive (not speed bumps) calming measures.  In a period of one month, a resident’s fence and a lamp post have been demolished in two separate incidents.

I have used a radar speed gun before to collect statistics but because of the serious nature of this problem, I have decided to name and shame drivers who continually drive in this 30 MPH speed limit above 45 MPH.  As part of the campaign, I am going to publish the details as above on my web site without masking the vehicle registration number or windscreen.  The names and addresses obtained from the DVLA of these constant offenders will be published along with the picture and speed data.

This may be an extreme measure but the situation in Guttridge Lane and Southdown Road is extremely dangerous because the road is so straight that people feel that they can put their foot down.  Unless urgent action is taken; we are going to have a fatality along this busy stretch of road.

I hope that the local residents will support me in this action.  The details published on my web site will only be of those recorded more than once and a speeds greater than 40 MPH.  This is not an attempt to embarrass anyone; it is about the safety of local residents.

I am happy to announce that the speed limit change that we have been campaigning for since 2004 has finally been implemented this week.  Now, the entire length of Heath End Road has a 30 MPH speed limit.

This will not only benefit the residents of Heath End Road but also residents of Pinks Lane & O'Bee Gardens who enter Heath End Road from the junction.  This also means that the journey to school for many of the Hurst School pupils will be much safer.  I hope that mororists will be responsible and stick to the new speed limit.

Following your requests for additional recycling in Tadley, I am pleased to say that this morning, three new recycle bins were delivered to the recycling centre at Sainsbury's.

The paper banks are for:

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Focus newsletters
• Catalogues
• Brochures
• Telephone Directories
• Junk Mail
• Yellow Pages

Paper is by far the largest single recyclable material that people throw away. It represents about 20% of the waste an average household creates. With the majority of residents in the Tadley area still using small green bins, there is a need for additional capacity at our recycling sites for paper material. The paper banks have the added benefit of being able to accept Yellow Pages, which cannot be recycled through the green bins at the present time.

Yes we can! Cllr Stephen West joins Cabinet Environment Champion, Cllr Elaine Still to be one of the first to recycle a Yellow Pages directory in Tadley.

The Paices Hill Green Waste And Recycling Centre in Aldermaston is now open after improvement works have been carried out to the facility.  Please be aware that a height barrier has been installed to stop the misuse of the site, only vehicles less than 2 metres (6'5") in height will be able to access the site.

At Paices Hill Green Waste Recycling Center you can recycle the following:

• Garden Waste

• Food & Drink Cans 

• Plastics

• Glass

• Cardboard

• Paper

• Mixed Textiles & Clothes

• Drink Cartons 

Graffiti is a blight on our community and while our Borough Council has invested in state-of-the-art graffiti busting technology, we still rely on residents to phone in and report new graffiti when they see it.  As an additional measure, certain Borough Councillors including myself have been issued with specialist graffiti removal kits and have been trained how to use it.

So, I have been out and about practicing my new skills and it didn't take long to find some graffiti in Southdown Park.  Once the industrial chemicals began to act on the spray paint, it could be removed easily using wipes and a damp cloth as you can see from the picture below.

If you have any graffiti problems, please give me a call and if I can't remove it, I will arrange for the Borough Council's graffiti team to pay a visit.

             BEFORE                                                        AFTER

I was pleased to attend a session run by PCSOs Darrel May and Alex Stypulkowski from Hampshire Police.  Around 25 young people attended to hear a talk on how to stay safe and within the law when cycling.

The PCSOs told their young audience that as well as being illegal, cycling with no lights at night is dangerous as drivers cannot see you.  They said that as a last resort they would issue £30 fixed penalty notices to repeat offenders but they would rather people light up and be safe.

To re-enforce the message, everyone who attended were given free cycle lights so that they now have no excuse if they are caught!  Please click here to see the cycling safety sheet that was also given to everyone who attended.

This type of work is typical of how our PCSOs are making a real difference in Tadley.

The summer 2007 floods in the borough have shown that the global issue of climate change is now a local problem. Working together to reduce the area’s carbon emissions and planning for the effects of extreme weather are high on the council’s agenda.

Working together with partners, businesses and the community, the council is drawing up a Climate Change Strategy for the borough. This will focus on actions the borough can take to cut energy use, reduce congestion, adapt to the impacts of climate change and improve the local environment.

The council is working on a range of initiatives and these pages will give more information on them as well as tips on how you can make a contribution.

The council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment and Climate Change Champion Cllr Elaine Still said: “Tackling climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and we need all of our communities to join us to take action. If we all make a small change we, together this will make a big difference.”

You can view the Council's Climate Change lefalet by clicking here.

What do you think we should be doing?  Please comment on this article with your opinion which will be viewable by everyone.