On Thursday, local Borough Councillors will meet to decide who leads Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for the coming year following the elections on May 4th.
Local MP Maria Miller said, "I know each Councillor will carefully question each candidate before they decide who will best reflect the interests of local Basingstoke residents. For more than a decade Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has been led by the Conservatives who again have more Councillors than any other single party and campaigned to slow down house building so the NHS can catch up with the needs of our rapidly ageing population. Before that we had an administration formed of a coalition of parties, including some of the same people involved today. It was that coalition administration who asked the Labour Government of the day for the highest possible levels of house building, creating many of the problems we are tackling today. The Conservatives are clear they will slow down house building so the NHS can catch up with expanded GP Surgeries and a brand new Hospital. Coalition administrations in Basingstoke have a very different track record. The Conservatives secured many more Councillors than any other Party demonstrating residents want to see house building slow down. Who ever forms the next administration must honour the will of residents."
Maria went on to say, "The UK needs more homes but Basingstoke's contribution to house building has been exceptional for over 5 decades, building new homes for over 150 000 people taking our population from 20,000 to 180,000 people. I have worked with fellow MPs to secure an agreement from Government to ensure no return to Labour's central house building targets which Labour would reintroduce if they were in Government. A new Basingstoke and Deane coalition administration must back residents' wishes and slow down house building to allow time for the NHS to catch up including our GP surgeries to expand to meet the ever-growing needs of our rapidly ageing population and to give the Hospital Trust time to build our new Hospital which will take more time becasue of the impact of the pandemic."
