Fair Oak & Horton Heath Ward candidates video hustings

[1s] Who are you and why are standing?

[10s] Hi, my name is Russ Kitching, I'm the Lapstone Pub and also other businesses in Eastleigh.

[15s] I am not a politician but I've had enough and I want to stand to make a difference, to understand how we can incur so much debt.

[22s] Over £600 million worth of debt, £14 million of interest alone on that debt we only raised £12 million.

[31s] So if you really want make difference vote, your vote is so important.

[35s] i'm willing to start and make the difference and get under the skin of Mr House and his team.

[43s] I'm Richard Shooker, a proud Fair Oak resident, husband and a father of two children attending our local state schools.

[50s] I've spent 25 years running small businesses and I also currently serve as chair of governance for a nearby primary school.

[57s] i'm standing as an independent for the Fair Oaken Horton Heath Ward because i am deeply concerned by the issues and risky financial decisions that our

[65s] Lib Dem led borough council may have amassed at least becoming property developers.

[73s] Meanwhile, we face chronic traffic congestion, a lack of GP appointments and overdevelopment on our precious green spaces.

[80s] I'm standing to bring financial sanity, scrutiny and accountability back to Eastleigh.

[85s] Where in the borough should new homes go?

[88s] Name one place and one So when it comes to housing, we've got to look at more brownfield instead of greenfield sites.

[97s] Here in Eastleigh, We have an abundance of industrial units that are redundant along the railway embankment and the central Eastley.

[106s] It's important that we build the town of Eastle and make it strong, make an interesting place.

[111s] But here in Barton Road and Spike Island and lots of other areas around, this is where we need to build affordable homes for people to build up a city

[122s] or a town of Eastleigh.

[127s] So for me this project here at One Horton Heath is a total disaster.

[132s] Built on some of it floodplains.

[135s] Why?

[136s] No infrastructure.

[138s] No thoughts of the sewage control with Southern Water, with pumping stations.

[143s] It's a total waste of money and it's your money, public money.

[147s] So this for me is the white elephant of Eastley Borough Council.

[154s] New housing must be the right type of housing in the Right Places.

[158s] new homes should be prioritised on brownfield sites close to transport links.

[162s] Specifically, we should start by exploring all the brownfield sites in the borough.

[166s] I would fiercely refuse destructive development on our precious local gaps and greenfields sites wherever possible.

[173s] The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in world.

[176s] We have so many brown field sites available that building our green fields should only ever be a last resort.

[182s] Would you increase council tax, cut it or keep it the same?

[186s] And what would that mean for residents?

[190s] I've been a botany parish councillor for nearly a year now and I have seen how public money is treated somewhat different to as if it's your own.

[197s] We've elected our officials to look after our public purse so it is time to actually really scrutinise what we spend and that way we don't have to put

[208s] up council tax if we are more frugal and more business like how we treat our pubic purse.

[215s] So for me, hold council at least, understand This is a complex question because council tax is heavily used to fund vital local services like sand provision

[227s] and social care.

[228s] I personally feel those things are incredibly important to our community.

[232s] However, I believe those specific services probably ought to be funded from general taxation instead.

[237s] Shifting that burden away from local authorities would mean we could deliver a lower council for our residents, easing their financial strain while still

[246s] protecting the care our most vulnerable rely on.

[249s] One last call, anything you'd like to say?

[251s] So in just a few months, we'll be entering into the biggest reorganization of local government this country has ever seen.

[260s] The Liberal Democrats have been running inslee for the last 30 years, incurred massive amounts of debt, but never been contested with no opposition.

[269s] Your vote really counts for this election.

[271s] You really care about what you're paying, your council tax, and how your public money is being spent.

[277s] I believe that national politics does not work at local level.

[281s] You need local people looking after local interests.

[284s] That's why I'm running as an independent.

[287s] I am standing because I care.I care for our community and basically I want to get in and understand what has been going on and where this debt will be

[296s] swept underneath the carpet on this local government reorganisation.

[301s] So on May the 7th vote for me on Independence Day.

[309s] This election is not about Westminster or national party politics, it highlights the importance of having an independent candidate that everyone could

[318s] get behind, regardless of their national politics.

[320s] Unlike the main parties, I am not bound by a political whip.

[323s] I answer only to you.

[325s] Please lend me your vote on May the 7th so I can truly serve the people I've been elected to represent.