Newbury Weekly News

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Thursday, May 11, 2017
UKIP is looking to break the
two-party mould in Thatcham
by offering a different voice
onWest Berkshire Council.
Ian Waters said that his
party believed that the by-elec-
tion should not have been
called, but it would present
Thatcham voters with a choice
to elect an alternative voice.
“I believe the two seats could
have stayed open,” he said.
“It’s going to be very difficult
to fill Roger Croft’s shoes. We
didn’t call it and we wouldn’t
have called it out of respect.
“The main thing is to let
people know that UKIP is alive
and kicking… and that our
membership is still holding
strong and we are still here and
not going away.
“I’m standing for Thatcham
South and Crookhammainly to
be another voice, a different
voice, that can put forward
viable alternative solutions
and ideas to improve
Thatcham.”
Mr Waters said that the town
needed a different voice from
the Liberal Democrats and the
Conservatives.
He said: “There’s never been
another voice to put forward
different ideas. I think we can
put them forward and work
together.
“To me the idea of a council
is to work together and not be
rivals all the time.”
Mr Waters, a retired
construction manager, said
that his party had long advo-
cated a bridge over the railway
to ease congestion and added
that road safety on Crookham
Hill needed addressing.
He said another priority was
education and that the town
needed another secondary
school.
“I’ve had quite a few people
say that, with the growing size
of Thatcham, we need a new
secondary school,” he said.
“Newbury has three and the
population difference isn’t that
great.
“We need to look at another
secondary school and see if
some solution can come.”
He added that Grundon’s
intention to quarry at
Kennetholme Farm should not
be fought.
“Instead of demonising, I
believe we should work closer
with Grundon and landown-
ers.
“If we put our minds to it,
part of it could be for recre-
ational purposes.
“It’s going to take 10 years
before it’s all finished, we could
have something equivalent to
the Nature Discovery Centre
there.”
THATCHAM South and Crookham residents will have three votes to
cast on June 8.
A by-election has been called to fill Conservative councillor Roger
Croft’s seats on West Berkshire Council and Thatcham Town Council.
Mr Croft died from injuries sustained in a car crash in France in February.
His wife Zelda was also killed.
Mr Croft was elected to the town and district councils in 2011 and became
the leader of West Berkshire Council in 2015.
The by-election will be held on the same day as the General Election on
Thursday, June 8.
The Conservatives controlled 48 of the 52 seats on West Berkshire Council
until Mr Croft’s death, with the remaining four held by the Liberal
Democrats.
Thatcham Town Council is also run by the Conservatives, who held 15 of the
18 seats, with the Lib Dems holding the remaining seats.
This week the NWN spoke with candidates standing for election to West
Berkshire Council.
Profiles of candidates standing for election to Thatcham Town Council will
appear in next week’s Newbury Weekly News.
THE West Berkshire Green
Party candidate wants to let
Thatcham’s voice be heard,
while tackling congestion at
the level crossing.
The local party’s chairman
and former serviceman Steve
Masters will be contesting the
Thatcham South and Crookham
seat.
He said: “I don’t think the
residents are getting their
voices heard.
“I want to be the voice of the
ordinary everyday people, for
those who don’t really get a
voice.
“A vote for a Green Party
candidate would allow that
voice to be heard and give an
alternative perspective for the
people of Thatcham South and
Crookham.”
Mr Masters said that West
Berkshire Council had a
Newbury-centric view, with
most infrastructure projects
focused on the town.
He said that Thatcham resi-
dents’ calls for a bridge over the
railway had been discarded,
leading to higher air pollution
levels around the station and
roads affected by the queues.
Mr Masters said: “That’s got
real-world implications.
“Air pollution from vehicles
and poor air quality leads to
deaths and cars sat with their
engines running at the crossing
and around Thatcham adds to
that pollution.
“Now is the time to look at the
options and maybe do a feasibil-
ity study to see how we can
improve air quality.”
Mr Masters added that he had
been “fighting the severity of
the cuts” that the Conservative-
controlled council had imple-
mented in recent years.
He said that rural bus
services needed to be reinstated
as some residents at the cara-
van park at Crookham
Common had been left isolated.
“We need joined-up thinking
in terms of public transport
and infrastructure that serves
the community,” he said.
“I think Thatcham is very
often seen as the poor relation
to Newbury in planning and
providing the infrastructure.
“It needs to have a voice
that’s not just going to be the
Conservative Party line.
“The Tory candidate is
bound by the party whip at
district level and not actually
going to have a totally indepen-
dent voice.
“We need someone who will
stand up and address the
issues.”
A former corporal in the
Royal Air Force, Mr Masters
now works in mental health
care, an area he said had felt the
brunt of Conservative cuts.
He said one area was retiring
servicemen who needed
support in the community.
He said: “I was homeless for
10 months in 2009.
“I’m very grateful to the
people who did support me and
help me get back on to a level
playing field.
“These things are real issues
to people.”
THE Liberal Democrats are
hoping for a fightback in the
Thatcham South and
Crookham ward.
The party has selected polit-
ical veteran Owen Jeffery, a
former district and town coun-
cillor, to stand.
Mr Jeffery said that the
Conservative-controlled coun-
cil had shown a lack of ambi-
tion, despite having the power
to get things done.
“They are sat there with a
massive majority; anything
that they want to do, anything
they think can be done they
can do it without having to
blink an eyelid and they can’t
think of anything other to do
than increase members
allowances.”
He branded Conservative
councillors as “an incompe-
tent bunch” who had shown
“no pre-planning” and were
not “not looking up to see if
there’s a problem coming
down the road”.
Mr Jeffery said that child
and adolescent mental health
services had been neglected
under Conservative rule, along
with education and recycling
targets and promotion.
He said that a lack of afford-
able housing was the biggest
issue facing the town.
“I think that should be one
of the things at the top of the
hit list,” Mr Jeffery said.
“What they are doing with the
planning department is it’s
being run in a way that doesn’t
seem to be giving us great
value for money because we
haven’t put any strategic plans
to bed properly.”
He added that the six-year
wait for replacing Taceham
House in the Haywoods repre-
sented “the paradigm of afford-
able housing in this area”.
Mr Jeffery said that, while
the result would not see a shift
in power at the district coun-
cil, he wanted to be “the fifth
Lib Dem poking them in the
eye saying wake up and run
the council properly. What you
are doing is not adequate for
the people.”
He hoped that Thatcham
South and Crookham would
emulate the Richmond effect,
when the Conservatives lost
the seat to the Lib Dems in
December last year, and show
the local Conservatives that
people would no longer be
taken for granted.
THE Conservatives are look-
ing to honour Roger Croft’s
legacy by having town coun-
cil leader Jason Collis
elected to his seat on West
Berkshire Council.
Mr Collis was elected to the
town council in 2015 and was
appointed leader in 2016.
He sits on all town council
committees and is a member of
community planning group
Thatcham Vision.
When asked why he was
standing for the district coun-
cil, Mr Collis said: “I just want
to represent the people of
Thatcham.
“I go to the Baptist church in
the ward and have done for 19
years now and just want to
honour Roger’s legacy in terms
of the work he has done with
the district and continue to
represent Thatcham at a
district level.
“Roger is a huge loss and
very much missed by us all.
“I’m determined to fight this
election as he would want and
to continue on with his fantas-
tic work, ensuring the best deal
possible for the people of
Thatcham.”
He said that a Conservative
win would allow Thatcham’s
voice to be heard at district
level as him “working with the
Conservative group at West
Berkshire Council would
achieve more than having
someone from another party
battling all the time”.
Mr Collis said that his prior-
ity was how future develop-
ment of the town would unfold.
He said: “A lot of our prob-
lems with parking on streets is
how the estates have been
designed and the way we have
let developers build these
estates.
“With all the planning appli-
cations around the town it
affects all of Thatcham because
it affects infrastructure and
traffic levels.
“We need to change the way
we deal with it.”
Mr Collis said that the ulti-
mate end game would be the
creation of a town plan, if there
was a need for one.
However, he said it would be an
“incredibly involved process”,
but “we need to ask these sort of
questions because they impact
on us for so long”.
By-election candidates
Roger Croft
Death ofRoger Croft leaves vacancy tofillontown anddistrict councils
Conservativecandidate – JasonCollis
GreenPartycandidate – SteveMasters
UKIPcandidate – IanWaters
LibDemcandidate –OwenJeffery
NB: At the time of going to press, the Labour Party had not
announced its candidate
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