Shadow Cabinet visit to Hiltingbury affirms party pledge to abolish central housing targets.
A leading member of the Shadow Cabinet visited Chandler’s Ford (on 29 April) with Prospective Conservative MP Steve Brine.
Caroline Spelman, who is the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government came to see The Hilt, the brand new community building based at Hiltingbury Recreation Ground. The building will receive its official royal opening next week and rehearsals were underway as Mrs Spelman visited.
The Hiltingbury Community Association worked for nearly ten years to make the new centre a reality and now complete (phase-one and phase-two) the centre comprises a large hall with flexible staging and seating for 200 people, badminton court & short-mat indoor bowls. A small hall with some specific features for young children has become the new home for the incumbent preschool play group. The building also hosts The Loft youth club run by Solent Youth Action.
Mrs Spelman also used the visit to outline radical Conservative plans to remove Labour’s whole tier of regional planning and abolish central housing targets if they win the general election. Conservatives have said they will return the powers to local councils and also re-designate back-gardens from brownfield to greenfield sites. Winchester and Chandler’s Ford has seen a lot of infill development in recent years which many people feel is changing the area and putting huge pressure on existing communities and services.
Steve Brine said; “The Hilt is a fantastic community facility; it’s something so many of the areas I visit would give their right arm to have. It’s an exceptionally good example of what David Cameron has been talking about, that the state can’t do it all and together we can improve the places people live. So often people complain to me there’s nothing for youngsters to do and the answer to this is to provide facilities the community wants and if they own those facilities they tend to take care of them. Well done to the team here for making this happen through the sheer hard work I know has gone on over many years.
“The regional special strategy will go straight away if we form the next Government; we will repeal the legislation that brought it in along with Labour’s damaging central housing targets and build from the bottom up in partnership with their local residents because they know best what their area can take and how many homes they need.”
Pictured; Steve Brine with Caroline Spelman and supporters at The Hilt in Chandler's Ford.