Councillors have said they will look into the possibility of taking action on chewing gum after it was revealed Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) will spend almost £10,000 cleaning it from the High Street. Councillor Ian Jeffrey asked if it would be possible to introduce a scheme “where money for the removal of chewing gum is raised by a sort of local tax on the people who sell chewing gum.” Cllr Phil North responded that it was “certainly something we [TVBC] can look into”. Chewing gum costs councils across the country a significant amount of money to remove every year. According to the Local Government Association, the average town centre spends £60,000 per year on removing it, totalling £56 million nationally.
Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) has agreed to write off the debts of a popular Andover café that closed in 2019. Members of TVBC’s cabinet voted to deem the debts of Butters Café “uncollectable” at a meeting on Wednesday. The café had closed in 2019, with TVBC saying there was “no realistic prospect” of recouping unpaid business rates. Councillors also voted to write off the debt of a timber business at the same time. Cllr Maureen Flood, the financial portfolio holder for TVBC, said that it was “inevitable” that these reports are received and there is “no other alternative option” to writing the debt off.
These pictures show what new art coming to Andover could be like as Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) recommended hundreds of thousands of pounds be set aside for public artworks in town At a cabinet meeting, councillors voted in favour of allocating funds towards art projects in the town centre, Picket Twenty and Picket Piece. This includes new artworks such as an art trail and art wall, as well as the “rejuvenation” of existing artworks such as the Poetry in Motion Trail. Councillor Ian Jeffrey, TVBC portfolio holder for community and leisure, said that the plans were a “no brainer” as they are funded from developer contributions, and these funds would otherwise be returned to the developers.
Test Valley residents will see their council tax increase by £2.50 in the next year – with Andover residents seeing a rise of £1 less than the rest. The cabinet of Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) voted to approve an increase in their council tax from £146.41 to £148.91 for a Band E property for the next year. They also approved a decrease in the Andover Special Expenses Levy, which pays for the maintenance of community assets such as cemeteries and sports grounds, by £1 after removing charges for community halls from the levy. Councillor Maureen Flood said that it had been an “incredibly challenging” year for the council, and that the rise would allow them to protect core services. She said that TVBC had ‘cushioned’ the blow by using its reserves to allow a lower council tax increase.