A NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM FERRIS COWPER:

I wish everyone in East Hampshire, and their families and friends, a happy and successful New Year.

Looking back on 2016 from my perspective as leader of East Hampshire District Council (EHDC), I believe we have made a significant contribution to the strength of our wonderful community throughout the year. And we expect 2017 to be just as successful.

Our flagship £1bn regeneration project in Whitehill and Bordon has witnessed the opening of the northern section of the relief road, new building work on houses and employment centres, and funding confirmed for two schools and a leisure centre.

In Liphook, we have invested £1m in developing the former OSU site into new offices and industrial buildings which will create up to 140 new jobs.

Elsewhere, we were one of only three councils nationally to maintain all frontline services and simultaneously cut council tax (in our case by 2 per cent). Our residents’ survey showed exceptional levels of satisfaction with our services across the board and specific mention should be made of our doorstep refuse and recycling service which was rated as “satisfactory” or “very satisfactory” by 93 per cent of respondents.

Of course, I must mention the 10th anniversary of Butserfest in September, which was both the most successful and the wettest of all 10 years! We also ran our motorsport event, Autosolo, for the third year in a row.

Success should not be allowed to breed complacency and we know we need to do more with many aspects of our services. We have invested heavily in new systems and procedures to help us deal more personally with all our customers. Residents are already using it to book and pay for sessions on the Rural Area Play Project and more services will be added soon.

Next year (2017) will see yet more spectacular developments in Whitehill & Bordon with major announcements expected on new employment opportunities as well as the town centre, schools, the leisure centre, and the southern end of the relief road.

In Alton, we are looking forward to an exciting programme of initiatives to enhance the town’s economic development having recently appointed, in partnership with Alton Town Council, a new business development manager. And with the redevelopment of the Molson Coors brewery site and the start of the new leisure centre, 2017 and 2018 offer significant business and community prospects for Alton.

The southern parishes will shortly benefit from a new multi-million pound leisure centre and playing fields from the developments in Clanfield. Land east of Horndean will bring an even bigger spread of public open space, playing fields, community buildings and highways improvements as it is developed.

Together with Damian Hinds MP, we will continue to lobby the Civil Aviation Authority hard over the proposed changes to controlled airspace over East Hampshire to ensure there is no undue disruptive noise nuisance resulting from the proposal.

The council is also planning to make investments in renewable energy, including a funding bid to the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership for a wood-fuel hub that will save carbon and save money.

We have been working hard to make East Hampshire a wonderful place to live and work over the last 12 months and we will continue to do so throughout 2017.

Ferris Cowper

Leader, East Hampshire District Council