NEWTOWN & HEATHERLANDS: Vicky Spence – Independent

Hi BH Living,

I moved to Parkstone when I was around 4 years old with my parents and sisters, this was just after my grandparents moved to Parkstone and said it was a much better life than Coventry, soon after other family members also joined us. We lived on Ashley Road and went to St Aldhelms when it was located on Bournemouth Road/Langley Road. Community spirit really shone through when we had a tree in our garden crash through our roof in the Great Storm of 1987, it was that day that showed us why we all moved down here.

I am standing for Newtown & Heatherlands because as a community we have not been consulted on the merger of Poole with Bournemouth and Christchurch. The merger was supposed to help save money and so far Poole residents have had to incur an increase in Council Tax. This increase has hit residents of Newtown & Heatherlands hard and it will increase even more over the next 6 years.

The council needs to take responsibility for our money and not spend it frivolously on projects that have no reason to be changed. We had a perfectly good roundabout at Seaview, now, no-one knows who has priority and unfortunately residents have been injured. We had a perfectly good crossing outside Santander, so why did it need to move a few meters up the road?

Like all households we are having to count every penny we spend, that means the council shouldn’t be spending our money unnecessarily either. I am worried, as like many residents I have spoken too, that, Bournemouth will swallow us up and build vanity projects that we cannot afford. Do we really need 4 golf activities within minutes from each other? We need skate parks, an ice rink, decent parking that doesn’t cost the earth and stop building on the carparks.

The toilets should never have been bulldozed, so now most residents will not go out for fear of being caught short. Facilities help residents and visitors, we should be encouraging people to visit the area, not alienate them.

The council needs to start listening to the residents, at the end of the day it’s the residents who know what is best for their communities.

I would love to see a Children’s allotment in the area, I think this would help children to grow their own food in the hope that they can sell it to local businesses and residents and raise money for their own projects. This would help with responsibility, money management and general day to day living.

Kind regards

Vicky