QUESTIONS have been raised over the eligibility of a councillor to stand in the up-coming elections after he moved out of the borough to London to live with his girlfriend. Residents have raised concerns that Cllr Tristan Robinson has been deceitful about where he lives and should not be allowed to stand in next month’s local elections in Sherborne St John for the Conservative party because he has not been living at the address listed on election documents. The Electoral Commission states that candidates standing at local election must meet one of four qualifying criteria, which includes living in the local authority area during the whole of the 12 months before the election.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council offices (Photo: Sean Dillow) Residents across the borough are preparing to go to the polls in all out borough council elections. Unlike usual elections in Basingstoke, all 60 councillors will be resigning their seats, with most going back to the polls seeking re-election. This is because of a number of changes, which include shifts in the boundaries of the individual wards, and the reduction in the number of councillors from 60 to 54. This will mean familiar faces will be saying goodbye to the council chamber come the first meeting in May. In total, 17 serving councillors have decided to stand down in May, with several decades of experience between them.
Among their many duties, one of the most important roles of councils is to decide on planning applications. Whether it’s at a town council level, where decisions are made on whether or not to object to the plans, or at a borough council level, where plans are considered and approved, there are always major decisions being made over what can be built in your area. Some of these decisions are bigger, and more controversial, than others. Here are some of the big planning decisions you should know about:
Manydown Plans for Manydown have bene in the pipeline for decades, with the land destined to become large new estates for Basingstoke first purchased by the borough council 25 years ago.
A ROW over funding cuts to The Anvil Arts has deepened as senior councillors have penned an open letter to residents highlighting concerns over the theatre’s management. As reported in last week’s Gazette, chief executive Matthew Cleaver called for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to reverse its decision to cut funding by 50 per cent. Now two senior figures from the council, leader Cllr Ken Rhatigan and cabinet member Cllr Simon Bound, have responded, writing a public letter, raising concerns of a lack of “strategic planning” by The Anvil Arts’ management. The organisation has been given £1.1million in public money to sustain themselves during the pandemic but hasn’t ‘adequately prepared’ itself for recovery, according to councillors.
Basingstoke council is pulling out all the stops in a bid to stop John Lewis from leaving town, The Gazette can reveal. The upmarket retailer announced its Basing View branch, which opened just six years ago, was among the eight stores earmarked for closure nationwide. In Basingstoke, this has left 93 people facing redundancy. The news came as a blow to the town s retail offering which has lost Debenhams, Topshop and Zara all in the past year. But now a glimmer of hope remains for customers left upset by the news as The Gazette can report that the council has held a crisis meeting with the chain in a bid to stop the high-end retailer from leaving the town.