The Hampton Lib Dem team: Cllrs Janet Langhorne, Suzette Nicholson and Gareth Roberts

May 2010 Election %s: C 40.6; LD 51.2; L 8.2; G 0; I 0. LD hold.

2012 News:

• [From Comments Winter 2011/12] Increased demand for local Primary school places: IF you live south of the railway track in Hampton and wish your child to attend a state primary school it has recently become harder for them to get a place at a local school. Last September, local children were offered reception class places at Buckingham School or Hampton Wick Infants, and neither of these schools is within easy walking distance of Hampton South. In the coming years, with the increasing birth rate, more local children will only be offered places at these schools.

There might be a local solution. The old Oldfield school, which until last summer housed a unit for children with special educational needs, is now empty. Currently it is being used one evening a week for a specialist Youth Club, run by St. Mary's Church, Hampton and the local Safer Neighbourhood Police Team. The Council is encouraging various educational groups to set up a free school on this site and St. Mary's may have the answer.

St. Mary's Church has put in a bid for a 'free school 'on the site. This would be a one form entry primary school and admissions would be open to those of faith and none. In the first instance it would be for those in Hampton South. This would be a truly local school and not require a large amount of new building. The Diocesan Board and St. Mary's and St. Peter's School in Teddington are backing this bid with their excellent educational expertise.

The Maharishi Free Schools trust wishes to establish a small 4 to 19 free school, taking just 50 children per year on the site. Your local Councillors are very concerned that at secondary level, a school with such a small intake could be an educational disaster and the site is not suitable for a 700 pupil school.

Cllr Gareth Roberts commented that: - "At Secondary level, the educational experience and the funding for expensive facilities such as science labs, design and technology departments, drama and sports facilities, would be very limiting in such a small school. It would be much better to use the site just for a small local primary school." Your local ward Councillors are very keen to hear your views.

• Schools Rebuilding programme: THE imaginative £16½ m refurbishment project at Hampton Academy has commenced. An idea of what the new school will be like can be gained by looking at the architect's video on the school's web site. This was just one part of the last Liberal Democrat administration's secondary school building programme. The programme also saw, the now completed, rebuilding of Teddington School (£37 m) and the ongoing rebuilding of Twickenham Academy (£22½ m).

• Robbing schools to pay the dustman: Schools have been told that from next April they will have to pay for the refuse and recycling collection. As Council institutions, most have not been charged for this service. In future schools will be charged half rate, but this is still several thousand pounds per year, per school.

Local Cllr Suzette Nicholson said, "This is in effect a reduction in the Council funding for schools. We have already seen cuts in services the Council provides to schools, but we are now seeing them being charged for services that the Council used to provide free of charge. The schools get no extra money, so this means a reduction in the amount spent on Children's education. It also does not encourage our schools to improve their environmental footprints as they will be charged per bin. This means it costs more to provide separate bins for recyclables."

• Illegal Moorings: LOCAL residents, including members of the Hampton Riverside Trust have requested your local Councillors tackle the problems of Illegal moorings on the Thames at St. Alban's Riverside. This problem is not unique to Hampton and its solution will involve a number of agencies. Help and assistance with the problem has been sought from our MP Dr Vincent Cable.

There have been some successes. Cllr Janet Langhorne contacted Thames Water when residents told her they were anxious at the illegally moored boats near their homes, and Thames Water was able to have the boats moved on.For a long term solution, Cllr Nicholson has been working with councillors from other wards to press for a new Council bye-law which would deal with boats illegally moored on Council park land. Your Councillors will continue to press the council and other agencies to find a permanent resolution to this problem.

• Planning applications: DENMEAD School: The school wishes to replace its present buildings on the Gloucester Road site and is also considering increasing its number of pupils. Local residents were concerned about the plans and formed the Denmead Neighbours' Association (DNA). Two of your local ward councillors, Suzette Nicholson and Janet Langhorne, were able to use their expertise to assist at various meeting between the group and the Headteachers of Hampton and Denmead Schools to try and resolve some of the more contentious aspects of the design. The planning application (ref.11/4125) can be seen on the Council web-site.

• Waitrose: Waitrose supermarket is now open at the Field House site in Oldfield Road. Before the planning application was considered, Cllr Gareth Roberts chaired a public meeting at the Hampton Football club to discover the views of local residents and shop owners. Most residents welcome the store but some are concerned about increased traffic at this already busy junction. Your local Councillors will monitor if there is an increase in local parking problems and consult on any restrictions which might be required.

2011 News:

• [From Comments Spring 2011] TANGLEY Hall Closure: A Betrayal of Trust as Conservative Council Closes Specialised Dementia Centre: Local residents have been left reeling after the Conservative Council announced it intends to press ahead with its massively unpopular and damaging decision to close the specialist dementia care centre at Tangley Hall, Hampton.

Gareth Roberts said "The Conservatives came to power saying that they would consult before they acted; over 2500 people signed a petition telling them that they wanted this decision to be reconsidered and an independent task group made alternative recommendations which allowed money to be saved and Tangley Hall to remain open. The Conservatives prefer to give massive tax payer funded concessions to drivers of gas guzzlers than protect front line services."

Suzette Nicholson added "The Conservatives want Tangley Hall users to use the alternative facilities based over in Ham. Anybody who has tried to get across the river during peak periods knows that this is an ordeal. How the Conservatives imagine that people with moderate to severe dementia will cope I don't know."

Liberal Democrat Councillors have used special powers to invoke an extraordinary general meeting of Richmond Council in an effort to stop the closure. "We will fight this every step of the way," said Janet Langhorne.

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• TRADERS' Association goes from Strength to Strength: During the summer Cllrs Suzette Nicholson and Janet Langhorne visited many shops within Hampton village with a view to finding out what interest there would be to form a local Traders' Association. The response was overwhelming! Meetings started at The Railway Bell ( in September) and as time went by more traders joined.

On December 5th, just 3 months after being formed the Hampton Village Traders Association (HVTA) held our first event, a highly successful Christmas evening, which several hundred people came. Of the many shops who opened, some giving out food and mulled wine, others providing numerous activities. There was also a competition for children. The Grand Raffle was for Linden Hall which had been chosen as the charity for this event. Both the Mayor and Vince Cable attended.

We hope that this may become a regular event and that the Traders Association has started to bring back the Village atmosphere that has been missing for some time. The HVTA intends to make Hampton an enjoyable place in which to live, work and shop. Following this event the HVTA was able to present to Carol Stratton, Chair of the Linden Hall Trustees, a cheque for £2,373.22 This will go some way to providing much needed items for use within Linden Hall. Local councillors working with the Hampton Village Traders' Association have raised over £2,000 for Linden Hall.

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• LINDEN HALL: in Linden Road is now a warm and friendly place for local over 60s to meet, make friends, relax and enjoy themselves, following an extensive makeover. Open from 9.30 am until 4 pm Mondays to Fridays, it offers exercise classes, entertainment, quizzes, seasonal celebrations, bingo, hoy and darts, all included in the annual membership fee of £20. New for 2011 is a creative art class on Friday mornings with art teacher Sue Grande.

The local police also hold their Police Surgery at Linden Hall every Wednesday from 1 - 2.30 pm. A two course lunch, cooked daily on the premises, costs just £4 for members, £5 for non members. Members also enjoy cut price hairdressing, reflexology, manicure, chiropody and massage. The large hall is also available for evening and weekend hire. Linden Hall is a registered charity and receives about half its running costs from Richmond Borough and the Hampton Fuel Allotment charity. The rest depends on fundraising and the trustees are determined to keep providing services for vulnerable older people in this difficult financial climate.

"We were really delighted to be the designated charity for the new Hampton Village Traders' Christmas Celebration back in December," said Carol Stratton, Chair of the Trustees. "We wish to thank all the people who have sponsored and supported us and helped to put Linden Hall back on its feet, including our local councillors. New members are always welcome and transport can be arranged for those who need it. We also welcome new volunteers to help with lunches and in our little charity shop". For more information, contact manager Donna Miles on 8941 2373. email: Lindenhall@btconnect.com

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• OLDFIELD Road Update: Back in July Cllrs Suzette Nicholson and Janet Langhorne had a meeting with some representatives from Kempton Gate and Kingsway Business parks. This was to discuss the problems of accessing both business parks with the huge vehicles often necessary. All of those present were totally in favour of an access road which would help both them and the residents of Oldfield Road. In early October we met with a representative from Thames Water and council officers to discuss the possibility of using Thames Water land to facilitate this.

At the time of writing we are still awaiting the outcome of this meeting . This meeting and the results of the previous meeting were also presented to Full Council by Cllr Suzette Nicholson in October. We can assure you that Oldfield Road is still very much on our agenda and we intend to keep up the pressure on the council. We continue to collect photographic evidence and correspondence relating to these issues so please keep in touch with us.

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• HAMPTON LIBRARY: Many residents have been contacting us or stopping us in the streets expressing concerns about the future of Hampton Library. The Conservative council is currently looking at the results of a consultation exercise into library privatisation they conducted in the autumn and we are expecting results any time now. "Please rest assured that we share the concerns of residents and if Hampton Library is threatened as a result of this review we will fight tooth and nail to keep our library. We will, of course, keep you updated as and when we hear anything," said Gareth Roberts.

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Page 2: Comments and news from 2010 - 2006

Cllr Suzette Nicholson 8979 8379 Cllr.snicholson@richmond.gov.uk

Roles: Children's Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee (Vice-Chair); Planning Committee; South West Middlesex Crematorium Board; Fairtrade Steering Group; Hampton Parochial Charity, Hampton Youth Project Advisory Committee and Hampton Police Panel. I am a member of Hampton Riverside Trust, The Hampton Society and Friends of Hatherop Park.

I used to teach full-time and have taught in schools in the Borough, Hounslow and Surrey. I am married to a university professor and we have lived in Hampton for 25 years. We have four children, one of whom is now married and the youngest is still in full-time education. All my life I have resided in Richmond Borough and it has been a great pleasure to be able to serve the community where I live by being elected a councillor. I continue to have a particular interest in education.

Cllr Janet Langhorne 8941 6265 Cllr.jlanghorne@richmond.gov.uk]

Janet Langhorne has lived in Hampton for 26 years. She is married with two adult sons who have been through state and independent schools within Hampton. She has recently retired from St Mary's University College where she was the College Practice Nurse for 5 years; before that she worked for 10 years in local GP surgeries as a Practice Nurse after many years of general nursing. Health issues within the community are one of her priorities

She has been involved in raising a petition to find a solution for the lorry and traffic problems in Oldfield Road which led to feasibility study being carried out; work on this is still ongoing. She has seen many changes in Hampton over the years and is determined to see that our community remains a pleasant place in which to live, work and play.

Cllr Gareth Roberts 8979 2360 Cllr.groberts@richmond.gov.uk

Gareth Roberts writes "My wife Petra, my 3 month old daughter and I moved into High Street just a couple of doors down from The Jolly Coopers in 2005. I'm proud of the achievements of our local Lib Dem team since they were elected in 2006. The new playground on Hampton Green; the new short stay parking spaces on Station Road, installed at the request of small tradesmen to help improve customer access to their business; speed cameras installed on Thames Street to help improve road safety in this part of the ward; The new, safer crossing near the Swimming Pool; excellent primary provision in our infants and junior schools; the success in attracting a world class sponsor to help develop Hampton Community College into Hampton Academy, which will hopefully provide a new, first class school in this part of the borough. All of these demonstrate a party that is in touch with the community it serves. I want to build on that success and sense of community."

. . working for you, all the year round!

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Election 2010: Suzette Nicholson LD 2778 elected; Janet Langhorne LD 2737 elected; Gareth Roberts LD 2721 elected; John Soones C 2226; Jane Boulton C 2180; Mark Boyle C 2126; Louisa Spawls L 482; Lorraine Monk L 444; Edward Masters John L 386 .

Election 2006: Electorate 6839 Seats 3 Ballot Papers 3539 % Poll 51.8; Suzette Nicholson LD 1864 Elected; Raymond Ball LD 1819 Elected; Carol Stratton LD 1816 Elected; Anna Crespin Record C 1524; Helen Boulton C 1491; Hilary Smith C 1393; Louisa Spawls L 196; Jenifer Wyatt L 121.

2002: Mark Kreling C 1,480; Jean Matthews C 1,479; David Young C 1,441; Bryan Woodriff LD 1,196; Maureen Woodriff LD 1,078; Elaine Keevil LD 1,053; Carmela Carrier Lab 347; Harold MacKinlay Lab 279; Janet Fraser Lab 273 .

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