Statement on Warsash Planning Decision

January 25, 2018

The decision made yesterday to allow hundreds of homes to be built in Warsash can only be condemned in the strongest possible terms. While I am unsure of the background forces that encouraged senior Conservative councillors to vote in favour, one thing we can be certain of – it stinks. One thing we can take from this as a positive, is the inspiration from those who fought so hard against this shambolic decision – we must show them our thanks.

So where do we go from here?

Well first of all we must look within ourselves. We must realise that politics was the reason why this monstrosity and others (such as Welborne) went ahead. Democracy is only as strong as the means to facilitate it – if we shy away from discussion, decisions like this are made on our behalf by people who do not represent us. Politics caused this problem, but politics can also fix it – everything is political whether we like it or not. Secondly, groups that have fought this decision must unite with other groups across the borough. The will and determination of groups across the borough can only be effective if we all work together and unite to defend our communities, our quality of life and our environment.

If nothing else, the decision made last night is a wake up call to residents across Fareham – Get informed, get organised and vote against career politics.

The Green Party’s record number of candidates

April 8, 2016

I’m very pleased to announce, in this year’s local elections in Fareham, The Green Party has its highest ever amount of candidates standing. We have five candidates and they are as follows:

Fareham North – David Harrison
Locks Heath – John Burdfield
Park Gate – Anthony Stainer
Titchfield Common – Fiona Harvey
Warsash – Miles Grindey (me)

Some of those people who are standing are doing so for the very first time. I am very proud that we were able to get the signatures very easily, I am impressed about how many people in our area were keen to support the Green Party. After a grueling couple of days walking (and lots of steps, I think I worked off all the chocolate from Easter!) There more than enough signatures and then it was a matter or registering our candidates at Fareham Borough Council. I was very happy to help out with the organisation of this and want to thank them all for being part of the democracy in the area.

We are making history in Fareham, especially since we are fielding more candidates than UKIP.

This is going to be a very interesting election.

Thanks for reading,

Miles Grindey

The Conservative Party is a threat to Fareham.

November 4, 2015 — 1 Comment

For too long now we have remained complacent. We have had the wool pulled over our eyes by the smiles, the handshakes, the pleasantries and where has that left us? Losing our land and heritage to development. The argument is that this is for future generations, when? When will any of my generation, the next one and future ones ever be able to afford these so called “affordable housing”? At an average of £240k a pop, even with prospects after getting a degree, they remain un-affordable to us. This is an indictment of our society, and this is the price we are paying for it.

You can see the beginnings of the end of valued spaces in our communities. For instance, as recorded in the minutes from the last Warsash Residents’ Association meeting, it was announced that there may be a shelter built at the bottom of Strawberry Fields in Warsash. At the same meeting it was announced that the Warsash Sailing Club would be seeking to lease part of Strawberry Fields for “dinghy parking”. However it will be subject to reaction/discussion with local residents – but how will this be done? Will it be through a proper, well-advertised consultation or will it just lay dormant on the FBC website with only a few “in the know” (presumably Sailing Club members) responding? My point is this, we must be aware of a subtle series of political manoeuvres by the Tories to divide up precious green spaces, it may be the case that they turn around and say “Well it’s been divided up so much, we might as well develop on this now!”

It was announced on Monday that Fareham must build another 2000 homes. This is, of course, on top of the (approx) 6.5 thousand homes to be built as “Welborne” (see plan here, page 5) and the perpetual building in every part of our borough. It’s not as if our roads are packed enough as it is already? When I was running to become Fareham’s MP I received countless emails about the traffic situation. I spoke to many parents who said it was frustrating to get their kids to school alone without having to get on the effective car park that is the M27. Do the Tories seem to care? All we ever hear from them are kind gestures as if to say “Oh I know it’s bad, but what else can we do?”. How utterly patronising and complacent.

Last year, I stood with residents to fight against congestion by having more bus routes. What hope we have with careless developments cropping up everywhere?

Last year, I stood with residents to fight against congestion by having more bus routes. What hope do we have with careless developments cropping up everywhere?

Yesterday I saw that the Leader of the Lib Dems on Fareham Borough Council, Cllr Paul Whittle, made the call for the “Executive” Leader, Cllr Séan Woodward, to resign following the announcement of the additional two thousand homes. I say good on Paul for making the call. We don’t often see eye to eye. There are times when political allegiances should be placed to one side for the common good of all residents in Fareham, this is now. I too am joining Cllr Whittle in calling for the resignation of Cllr Woodward.

As I see more and more of these insults to the communities across our Borough, I am finding myself with one question on my mind. Are they in it to boost their pension pots and to elevate their status within their social groups? The answer I am coming to is “Yes”. It is an utter disgrace what they have done to our home. It is a betrayal of trust to those in our Borough who were conned into believing they would look after our green spaces.

The time is now to fight for our future, to stand together for Fareham, to get the change we desperately need.

Thank you for reading,

Miles

The Itchen Chapter has finished, let the next one begin…

July 9, 2015 — Leave a comment

On the 18th of June I finished my final exam at Itchen College, I can’t believe it’s been two years already! When I first started at Itchen, I had no idea what to expect. For me, the choice to go to Itchen was just to go to the nearest college in order to finally finish my A level exams to go off to University. I did not expect the intense and life-changing experience that I had received.

I always joined my teachers on the front lines… often bringing them a little something for their hard work! (L-R, Me, Allison Burns, Sadie Garner)

There were many struggles that were overcome. The most prominent one was that of the students union. On my induction day in 2013, I was approached to join it. I thought it would be that, the likes of which are common at university. I was wrong. It was nothing more than a lunchtime club (run by teachers) to sort out charity events, is there anything wrong with that? No. But there were other functions the student union had to do in order to actually be a proper “students union”. After many battles, I finally became Vice-Chair for 2014/15 with Gregory Smith as the Chair. Greg is probably one of the best people to work with in situations like these, so I’d like to thank him for his hard work and his good humour when times were tough. Last year, to ensure the students union was just that – we created the 2014/15 Strategy, multiple committees (and “job” descriptions for potential officers), a whole structure for the election for the next chair (we worked with Fareham Borough Council for ballot boxes, creating a notice of poll, nomination papers, finance sheets for spending) and even a constitution. After the Itchen Student Union (ISU) election, the winning candidate Reet Chen became Chair and the runner-up, George Presdee became Vice-Chair. I wish them both every success for next year’s student union. I’d also like to thank every member of the ISU for their hard work in everything we’ve accomplished. We were the most successful students’ union in recent times and you all deserve congratulations for that.

For a short time I was on the Itchen Governing Body as a Student Governor, a role in which I had enjoyed but had to resign after I soon realised that I couldn’t do everything. In order to be able to do your A Levels, run a general election campaign and be the chair of your local residents’ association there are some sacrifices you must make, and for me it was a hard decision but I had to call it a day. I’d like to thank Trevor Little, the clerk of the Itchen Governing Body, for his help and support while I was on there.

But overall I’d like to thank my teachers David Bown, Sadie Garner, Allison Burns, Mel Lockheart, Caroline Counsell, Lucy Scovell, Bridget Jones, Marcus Whitney, Chris Bluemel, Dawn Hitchcock, Adrian Blakey, Tim Dennis and whoever else I’ve (sorry) forgotten to add! You’ve all been tremendously inspirational to me and thank you all for giving me hope. I certainly enjoyed being on the front line with you every time there was a strike… it seems the battle is far from over there!

To finish, I’d like to finally thank the principal, Barry Hicks. We’ve disagreed pretty vocally about many things, often matters with the ISU, however I can’t say goodbye without saying thank you for keeping the college afloat in these times of austerity to allow me and many people to get an education at Itchen.

Now what next? Well we won’t know for certain until the 13th of August which is results day. Should I get into University, I will resign my post as Chair of the Warsash Residents Association and I am determined to continue on the committee to help promote them on social media. If I don’t get in, then I shall continue on and look for work. Regardless of the outcome I will stand again for Warsash in next year’s local election, I am determined to represent the people who have given me so much growing up in Warsash.

But until then, I’m still taking a bit of a break…

Thanks for reading.

Miles

BIG NEWS: I’m now the Chair for the Warsash Residents’ Association

November 21, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’m extremely pleased to announce that I am the new Chair of the Warsash Residents’ Association. I’d like to start by thanking the members of the association for making me feel so welcome and the members of the committee for giving me the opportunity to help out in my home community. I feel it is also important to thank the former chair, Chris Bridges, for all his hard work as Chair for the last year.

I’m very happy to be in a position where I can give back to the community I’ve grown up in. Warsash is my home – it’s where my heart lies. I hope to raise the profile of the Residents’ Association and engage the whole of the Warsash community into what is happening in our local area, to keep everyone in the know and not just a few.

Not only am I the youngest Chairperson in the Association’s 82 year history, but at 19 years old I may very well be the youngest chairperson in the entire country!

I’m getting very hopeful for the future.

Thanks for reading,

Miles

Parking Restrictions Eased in Lower Spinney

November 8, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’d like to commend the residents of Lower Spinney who petitioned the council to ease counter-productive parking restrictions along one side of their road. Local people worked very hard to agree to a petition with councillors and I am very glad that they called on me to help their cause.

Because of the hard work of local people and their co-operation with myself, we managed to help ease the headache across Warsash that is Yellow Lines. I’d like to thank the residents who invited to come help them by making a deputation at the Council on the 6th of November.

Here is my speech in full:

“Yellow Lines have been used by the council as a short term solution to tackle a long term problem. Yellow lines in Warsash are just being used to kettle students away because of the failure of the Maritime Academy to provide adequate parking, there has clearly been a failure to work with them in resolving this situation. This has subsequently created a dangerous situation for children to walk to Hook.

Earlier in the year, I spoke to residents in Queens Road who said that until recently they hadn’t had to worry about their kids crossing the roads, but because of the dangerously parked cars moved their by those yellow lines – they’re worried sick and they’re organising safety groups that they didn’t think they’d ever have to organise.

Parking permits are a much more reasonable solution as a whole across Warsash in certain zones.

The consultation to this has been lazy and has been used as a show off around election times. This “Democratic” consultation has been an utter sham and is an insult to the electorate who earlier this year placed their trust in you once more to represent them.”

After other residents made their cases for and against the measure to ease the restrictions (3, including myself, for the motion and one against) – the yellow line is to be removed.

Thanks for reading.

Miles

September Viewpoints

September 21, 2014 — Leave a comment

Well this week has been rather hectic, I think my highlight must have been when I was sat in World Development and my teacher asked me what my thoughts on Scottish Independence were and the whole class froze to listen – that was nice! However much has happened locally that needs to be talked about.

On Wednesday I attended another Warsash Residents’ Association meeting. One thing I feel I must point out is that when Cllr Keith Evans gave his report he spoke about “the top five foreign languages spoken in Hampshire” – I felt rather uncomfortable, because that part of the report just seemed pointless for a WRA meeting and just seemed to be some kind of rhetoric, I don’t know – it was just seem to just be placed there… I reckon it’s to “woo over” potential “kippers”. At the end of the meeting we were given a very interesting talk about “dowsing” (I’ll be frank, I never even heard of it till that day).

At the meeting the current Chair, Chris Bridges announced he will be stepping down in November – I wonder who will replace him?

On Thursday was the day of the Scottish Independence referendum and I had at least 30 people come up to me and ask me my views, it was rather nice of people to ask me. However there were reports of flash flooding in Fareham, and the one alarm bell that rang in my head and I instantly worried about the potential devastation that Welborne will have. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if you build 6000+ homes you’re taking away potential areas of land that will absorb the rain water. The weakest drizzle could end up having the most devastating of impacts and just think about how much more that could cost local authorities, especially Fareham, in flood defence expenditure!

At my college we have had a fantastic response to our new strategy for this year. So far many people have taken a keen interest in our new committee structure and I’m very grateful for Gregory Smith (the current chair) for his support in setting this up. Our members seem much greater than they ever were last year, we better make sure we don’t let them down by getting lazy and complacent, our work is certainly cut out for us this year – it is indeed a challenge that we shall win. We are getting ever closer to joining the NUS. As my previous blog post about my visit to South Downs suggest – they have been hugely influential for how this year has begun.

And finally the local party earlier on this month began their selection process for candidates for the general election, I’m not saying anything but the thought of standing for Fareham is something that I have pondered since the last election when someone put it forward as an idea!

Thank you for reading.

Miles

Go Green folks, every time.

Another one down, gains made!

May 23, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’d like to thank the people of Warsash for voting for me, all 170 of them. We have made significant progress since last year, where I only received 6% of the vote and only managed to beat the Lib Dems. This year I have recieved 8% of the vote and have not only beaten the Lib Dems, but also Labour too!

The response I’ve had since canvassing in November has been immensely wonderful – the people of my hometown were very welcoming and agreed with The Green Party’s ‘bottom-up’ approach to local politics! Canvassing has also really helped my confidence in public speaking (although some of my friends may argue I’ve always been confident, or just not willing to stop!) and I would like to also thank the Portsmouth News and their team of reporters for giving me an impressive amount of media coverage as of lately.

All I can really say is that this is not the last Warsash, or even Fareham, has seen the last of me! I’ll most definitely be back in 2016 to stand again. Although someone mentioned standing as a parliamentary candidate, a tempting idea to keep me busy over next year indeed…

I’m not going to stop campaigning for local buses, an end to parking issues and also fight for better crossings in Warsash. These issues, although appear small to some, are big to many. I would like to take the time to congratulate Cllr Cartwright for his victory and I’d like to thank him and the other candidates for keeping the campaign clean and also his wife Ruth for her lovely home-baked banana bread she gave me yesterday!

I think I’ll take a week off, perfect timing too – it’s half term, though some revision for my World Development exam will be done as well.

Thanks for reading,

Miles Grindey

Getting it done!

April 30, 2014 — Leave a comment

When I started campaigning for the local elections I’d never had thought I’d come as far as I have done. It’s not even the election yet but the mood has never been this encouraging. I’ve had people email me asking me how they could help, I’ve had others saying that they’ve never voted before because they’ve never seen anyone else actually try and help out before.

The bus campaign is going very well, ever since we received some media attention we have had the Green Party South-East MEP – Keith Taylor – sign our petition. That’s some major backing!

We have received almost 200 signatures overall! 76 on Change.org and a further 95 on paper petitions. It’s amazing what a positive response this has received from the people of Warsash. I can only hope that things get even better after May 22nd. I’ve also gone back round to the many people who’ve been affected by these double yellow lines, they too were happy to see that someone was finally speaking up for local people – and that parking permits were a suitable alternative to yellow lines.

It seems to me that the other local parties seem to have this mentality:

From what I can see, The Greens are the only ones who support local people

I’d like to thank everyone who has gone out and leafleted and canvassed with/for me. Without them and the support of The Green Party couldn’t have even come this far without them. It just goes to show that if we come together we can make a difference in our community – it’s this grassroots democracy that binds us together as a society and allows us to gain the things we need to be able to get by.

The amount of people joining and supporting the Greens is snowballing heavily, and it’s an avalanche about to hit the Tories.

Thanks for reading,

Go Green on May 22nd

Miles Grindey

Trouble in Paradise

April 17, 2014 — Leave a comment

Well last night I had the pleasure of attending yet another Warsash Residents’ Association (WRA) meeting, this time however I brought along a friend of mine from the Western Wards People’s Voice and resident. After each of the councillors finished speaking, she raised her hand and started asking about the Council’s commitment to cutting carbon emissions and also to increase buses as a vital part of keeping transport links. After this, councillors attempted to appease her frame of mind by saying “there wasn’t enough money” and one councillor said that he would love to “wave a magic wand and get all these services” – quite patronising I felt. A bit like Sir Humphrey Appleby from Yes, Minister saying “oh you can’t do that minister” without a sufficient explanation. After they finished talking, I noticed one councillor say to another “He’s planted her”. When I updated people on Facebook, one said “You’ve been out punned by a Tory!”

After the meeting had finished, and after getting another few signatures for the petition, I went over to one councillor that I’m on good terms with and he seemed most displeased. I was attacked for being “political” and disrupting the “neutrality of the Residents’ Association” and that my friend was a Green Party plant. I called her over and asked her in front of this councillor, “Are you a Green Party member?” she was absolutely shocked that someone people voted for became so scared and threatened that they would go so low as to accuse people of having a different opinion as being a “plant”.

The councillor tried to defend the council’s position of “not our problem” regarding buses, to which I made the following point:

You have been chosen by the people of this ward to represent their interests, their interests are more buses – how do I know this? Because unlike you lot I’ve been out canvassing and instead of pushing issues on them, I’ve asked them what bothers them. You have a position to say to Seán Woodward that people want these buses, so you’re here shrugging your shoulders when in fact you aren’t clearly representing people of this area – don’t tell me you just joined with this lot because it was Blue since time began?

I mean it is true, how can you justify denying people you’re supposed to be representing what they want? The funniest thing was that they thought it was most inappropriate that I, a person living in a “free society”, should dare criticise councillors! They need to start listening and taking action rather than giving every excuse not to.

Residents having a different opinion without any political intervention? Perish the thought!

Thanks for reading

Miles

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