AFTER 23 years as a borough councillor, and nearly 20 as a county councillor, Basingstoke’s ‘Old Ma Popley’ is stepping down from her roles at the upcoming elections. The town’s first female, Labour mayor, Cllr Jane Frankum was first elected in 1998, beating Michael Berwick-Gooding (Lib Dem) to the Popley West seat by just 26 votes. The following year, her son Paul also stood in the same ward and was elected. “Popley was a very different place when we first became councillors,” recalled Jane. “It had a really bad reputation, and we didn’t think it really deserved it.” After speaking with some other local residents throughout the 1990s, Jane and her family reestablished the community magazine, Popley Matters.
A DOCTORS’ surgery has closed suddenly without warning - leaving 14,000 Basingstoke residents without access to their GP. Queuing patients outside Shakespeare Road Medical Practice in Popley were left confused and anxious after finding out their appointments were cancelled yesterday. The Gazette reported last year how partners of the surgery, previously known as Bermuda and Marlowe, were not renewing their contract in the spring after a damming report by the Care Quality Commission. A takeover failed due to ‘contractual issues’, sources told this newspaper. Sources told this newspaper that a planned takeover by Bramleys Grange had failed at the eleventh hour - leaving 14,000 people in Basingstoke without a functioning doctor’s surgery.