New column from leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

We carry out a survey with a representative sample of residents as a snapshot of what people feel about living here. The latest survey shows that 93 per cent of people are satisfied with their local area as a place to live. 

We know that, as a borough council, we aren’t responsible for everything that impacts on how people feel about Basingstoke and Deane. For example, good health services and low levels of crime and antisocial behaviour came highest in the list of things people felt were most important. To improve these, we work in partnership with other public sector organisations. We have far more influence over what came third – clean and litter-free streets.

The same is true of climate change action. We have set challenging targets for our own activities to be carbon neutral by 2025 and have already cut emissions by 66 per cent. This green thread must run through all we do, but reaching the challenging target for the borough to be carbon neutral by 2030 will need sustained focus from our communities and businesses, with our support and encouragement.

We know that many residents are struggling with the national rising cost of living. We have tried to do our bit to help, launching an assistance fund to help those most in need to pay their bills. We are also proposing to freeze council tax and car parking charges from next April in our draft budget.

Three quarters of those asked said that they were satisfied with the way the council runs things, and that leaves us room for improvement in what we do directly. It is so important that we listen to what residents think and we are currently consulting on our draft Council Plan for 2024 to 2027 and the budget to support it – see basingstoke.gov.uk/councilconsult2023. I hope lots of people will take this chance to give us their views.

For more general comments about the borough and the council, please do email me via councilleader@basingstoke.gov.uk.