Blog Archives - Basingstoke Labour - Basingstoke Constituency Labour Party

Public Health Cuts

Until the pandemic most of us barely gave a thought to public health, but Covid has shown us that health is one of the basic necessities of life. Public health spending is an essential preventative measure, providing savings for the NHS, the government, and HCC not just now but far…

Hampshire Cuts

Hampshire County Council (HCC) have an open consultation for Hampshire resident on their budget plans for 2021/22 and 22/23. These involve making cuts of £40million each year. This comes on top of many years of cuts. The cumulative effects of these cuts is that by 2023 HCC will be spending…

GPs under threat from US takeovers

US health insurance giant, Centene, through its UK subsidiary, Operose Health, has been taking over GP surgeries and practices in London and across the country for many years. This includes the recent take over of the Basingstoke Camrose, Gillies and Hackwood Surgery. Centene has recently taken over AT Medics, a primary care…

Basingstoke in Tier 4 Covid Restrictions

Basingstoke enters Tier 4 on Boxing Day The key restrictions for Tier 4 (Stay at Home) require: Residents to stay at home, apart from limited exemptions set out in law Non-essential retail, indoor gyms and leisure facilities, and personal care services to close People to work from home if they…

Basingstoke Covid Vaccine Centre

The Hampshire Court Hotel, currently closed to guests will be taken over to help administer the vaccine. They expect to vaccinate a thousand people over two days and then open again in three weeks to give the second dose. Local volunteers from the Rotary are helping with car parking and…

GP Town Hall Meeting

ZOOM Town Hall Meeting 7th November at 11am Join us for our online Town Hall meeting open to residents of the South Ham, Brookvale and Kings Furlong and Brighton Hill wards who are patients of the Camrose Gillies and Hackwood GP Practice. Your local councillors want to hear your views…

Walk in Covid test Centre opens in Basingstoke

Basingstoke’s The Anvil, currently closed with no performances scheduled until 2021, has been transformed into a new coronavirus testing facility. The government say that it comes as part of its drive to improve accessibility to tests for communities. Although its called a walk in centre that doesn’t mean you can…

GP surgery and US giant “partnership”

Today your local Labour Councillors received a copy of a letter out of the blue to say that the Camrose, Gillies and Hackwood Surgery (CGH) will enter into a “partnership” with Operose Health effect from Friday 6 November 2020. We believe this is not so much a “partnership” but a…

How to vote at a polling station

Voting at the polling station in person Polling stations are open from 7am until 10pm on polling day. They can get very busy, particularly towards the end of the day. You might see people waiting outside the polling station who ask you for the number on your polling card. These…

Postal Voting

Busy life? Register to vote by post If you didn’t make it to the polling station this time, why not register to vote by post or by proxy now, ready for next time? It’s the easy way not to miss your chance to vote. Anyone can apply to vote this…

Voting in Basingstoke

Register to Vote Before you can vote in UK elections or referendums, you need to register to vote. To register to vote, you must be a UK or Irish citizen, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen living in the UK, or a qualifying foreign citizen in Wales or Scotland. In England you…

No right turn into Old Kempshott Lane?

We’ve notified residents in Old Kempshott Lane, the roads off it, and in Highfields of…

Planning applications – how to view or comment

We make residents aware of planning applications in their area. This gives people a chance to make their views known on building in their area before it goes before a special planning committee for a decision. Basingstoke & Deane’s ‘Development Control’ committee is made up of borough councillors, supported by…

New hospital for Basingstoke

New hospital for Basingstoke or just spin – you decide It was announced during the Conservative party Conference on Sunday that there would be 40 new hospitals. Only hours later, newspapers and the BBC were correcting their headlines to read 6 new hospitals. The Government said it would build 6…

Chopin Road Potholes Fixed

Pothole Plague The potholes were very bad at the entrance to the road and no action was being taken by the Hampshire County Council. Fed up with the continuing saga we used pictures of rubber ducks swimming in the potholes to shame the Council into action. Following Pothole Pete’s social…

Basingstoke declares Climate change emergency

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have declared a Climate Change Emergency. That makes the 18th July 2019 a special day indeed. The motion was presented by Basingstoke Labour but had the support of all parties who worked together to produce one motion. The motion was passed unanimously and there were…

Post Office Abbey Road Popley

Petition – return a Post Office to Abbey Road The Abbey Road post office closed…

John Howarth Elected

John has represented the South East for Labour since the 2017 General Election. In the European Parliament he highlighted the scandal of rip-off ticket reselling, was the first MEP to highlight the serious delays to food and medical supplies that will be caused by customs delays at Dover in a…

Elderly care a shambles says Age UK

1.4m elderly living in ‘care deserts’ A damning report from Age UK has found that over around 1.4m elderly people are living in “care deserts” covering nearly a third of the country where it is impossible to find care home places for vulnerable older people. In many cases, elderly people…

Rubbish excuses

It’s the time of year for DEFRA to publish their annual household waste figures. We…

An accident waiting to happen

The two photos above perfectly illustrate the dangers of crossing the road near ASDA at…

Council bin chaos

Waste collection is Basingstoke Council’s biggest contract. The Tory council have really messed it up…

Britten Road parking and new paths

So many of you tell us that parking is a problem where you live, and…

National Policy Forum 2019 Consultation

The National Policy Forum’s (NPF) 2019 consultation was launched at the end of February. Whilst the NPF’s website enables submissions at any time of year, the annual consultation highlights key issues and sets a time-frame which ensures that submissions are considered before the policy commissions submit their response documents to…

Local accountability within the National Education Service

How do we empower local communities and ensure that the National Education Service (NES) reflects the needs of the many, not the few? Policy Commission: Early Years, Education and Skills Policy Areas: The Early Years, Education and Skills Policy Commission looks at issues relating to children’s well-being, development and…