Simon Minas-Bound: Conservatives are ready to deliver for Basingstoke and Deane | Conservative Home

Cllr Simon Minas-Bound is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

From stalled housing projects to drifting regeneration plans, Basingstoke shows the cost of weak leadership. Council Leader Paul Harvey – ex-Labour after a very public falling out but now firmly aligned with the new Labour MP parachuted in from Lambeth in 2024 – typifies the problem. Local Conservatives, rooted in hard work and practical results, are ready to step up again.

Basingstoke and Deane has always been proud of being a place that gets things done. We’ve grown, we’ve built, and we’ve created opportunities. But ask residents today, and too many will tell you the same story: things feel stuck.

The Lib Dem/Independent coalition running Basingstoke since May 2023 is heavy on photo-ops and slogans, but light on delivery. Residents are facing a looming cut to general waste collections that was slipped through without a proper conversation. Our town centre has a masterplan initially drawn up by local Conservatives alongside residents, yet not a single step has been taken since. And on our biggest site, Manydown, access roads are laid but not a single house has been started. The Cabinet member for “Major Projects” is nowhere to be seen.

At the heart of all this is a lack of grip.

What local Conservatives delivered – and will again

When local Conservatives led the council, we delivered. We worked with residents and businesses to regenerate Basing View. We invested in sports and leisure, pushed recycling forward, and made Basingstoke and Deane one of the safest and cleanest boroughs in the South East. Crucially, we planned for growth in a way that meant infrastructure wasn’t an afterthought. Schools, roads, doctors and dentists were part of the plan, not an optional extra.

That’s the difference between local Conservatives and our opponents. We believe local government exists to get the basics right and create the conditions for success. The coalition believes in cancelling democracy in the public eye and replacing it with private briefings, endless photo opportunities, and carefully staged moments designed to leave you with a “warm glow” rather than real delivery.

Housing: The issue that defines us

Nowhere is the difference starker than housing. Everyone knows the country needs more homes – the Government has made its target clear. But here in our borough, residents are clear too: they want good quality homes, in the right places, with the services to match.

Instead, what do we see? National headlines about a new town at Micheldever – which the Government has denied, but which we know is being cooked up behind closed doors. On Manydown Garden Village – which was meant to be a flagship development – years of delay, lawyers still arguing, and not a single brick laid. And across the borough, speculative developers circling because the council hasn’t got its act together.

Our position as local Conservatives is simple: we’ll fight speculative development, we’ll stand up against a Micheldever new town imposed on us, and we’ll demand that developers deliver homes with infrastructure, not just housing estates. Councils need the right carrots and sticks – carrots for those who deliver the right homes in the right places, and sticks for those who play the system and leave local communities short-changed.

Town centre regeneration: Drifting while others deliver

Regeneration matters for more than just economic reasons. It’s about pride in place. Under local Conservatives, we brought residents, traders, and councillors together to co-design the masterplan for Basingstoke town centre in 2022. That should be moving forward by now.

Instead, nothing. Other local towns are pressing ahead with regeneration, turning plans into real investment and change. In Basingstoke, by contrast, the coalition can’t even get past the talking stage. Every month that passes is another missed opportunity for jobs, investment, and the kind of town centre our residents deserve.

It wasn’t always like this. Basingstoke and Deane used to be seen as one of the best examples of place leadership in the South East, according to the Local Government Association. Now, a key housing provider has suffered the pain of poor partnership in a regeneration project – impacting nearly 4,000 homes. Residents feel abandoned and thrown under the bus. What should have been a collaborative process has become what can only be described as a public relations disaster, and even more seriously, local people have been left distraught with anxiety.

The rural economy and rural crime

Our borough isn’t just a town – it’s villages, farms, and countryside too. Yet the rural economy feels completely forgotten by both the council administration and the Labour government. Farmers face uncertainty, rural businesses feel overlooked, and communities are struggling with rising costs and patchy services.

At the same time, rural crime – from fly-tipping to farm theft – continues to blight villages and isolated areas. Local Conservatives are clear: this can’t be ignored. That’s why we’re working closely with our new Mayoral candidate, Donna Jones, to put the rural economy and rural crime at the heart of the agenda for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Protecting our countryside, supporting those who work in it, and making villages safer must be central to any serious plan for the future.

The bigger picture: Getting local government right

There’s also the wider question of what comes next for local government in Hampshire. Everyone knows change is coming. The county is too big to function as a single unitary – residents in Basingstoke and Deane know it shouldn’t be run from Winchester.

That’s why we’re making the case for a North Hampshire council – bringing Basingstoke & Deane, Hart, and Rushmoor together. Big enough to deliver, but local enough to listen. A council that’s a one-stop shop for residents, not a maze of districts, boroughs and county departments passing the buck.

Looking ahead to May 2026

Next May will be a turning point. Residents will elect new councillors to Hampshire County Council, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, and, for the first time, a Mayor for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. At all three levels we will be fighting on a ticket of local leadership you can trust.

Trust to develop our economy – both urban and rural. Trust to stop the war on motorists. Trust to protect our outstanding countryside. And trust to focus relentlessly on the essential services we all need, from bins to broadband.

This is the choice in May 2026: drift, delay and photo-ops under the current coalition, or action, delivery and trusted local leadership with local Conservatives.

The local Conservative approach

At its best, local Conservative government is about common sense. Keep the streets clean. Empty the bins. Stand up for local communities. Live within our means. Back local businesses and jobs. And deliver.

Hard work and getting stuff done may sound dull – but people really do appreciate the results. Whether it’s bins collected on time, a regenerated town centre, or housing delivered with schools and GPs in place, people notice when the council actually works.

That’s the approach I’m proud to lead in opposition – and the one we’ll take back into leadership when residents next have their say.

Because right now, Basingstoke and Deane is drifting. Manydown is stalled. The town centre is stuck. Bin collections are being cut. The rural economy is neglected. And the council is missing in action on the issues that matter most.

Our message to residents is simple: local Conservatives will get a grip. We will fight for strong, reliable key services, for a town centre that works, for homes built with infrastructure, for a thriving rural economy, and for safer villages and countryside.

That’s what people want from local government: practical leadership, less talk, and more delivery. It’s what local Conservatives are known for when we’re trusted to lead, and it’s the record we’ll build on in Basingstoke.

Basingstoke deserves action, not excuses. And like many Conservatives in local government, we are ready to deliver it.