PAPER PREVIEW: Basingstoke is the place to be Basingstoke is the place to be, according to the leader of the council as three new firms sign a deal to move to the town’s business park. The Gazette can reveal Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council is currently in talks with a number of London-based and international companies in a bid to woo them to the town. The council-owned Basing View, a 65-acre business park, is home to American pharmaceutical company Eli Lily as well as the AA and housing association Sovereign. Now the authority hopes more firms will relocate there to bring more jobs to the area.
TWO Basingstoke men found with kitchen knives in public have been fined. Richard James Evans, of Cleaver Road, South Ham, was found to be in possession of the blade in Basingstoke on May 1, 2020. Pleading guilty at Basingstoke Magistrates Court earlier this week, the 39-year-old was fined £66, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £34. In a separate incident, 19-year-old Joshua Melfi was found with a black handled kitchen knife on June 28, 2019. He was given a community order, where he must participate in 25 rehabilitation activity days. The court heard that because the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the offence, the sentence should be akin to that he would have received at that age.