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Our focus As a Council, we are focused on improving the quality of life of everyone living and working in the Borough, both now and in the future. The stories in this issue are themed around the key areas where we are making a positive difference to people’s lives.
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Green Borough Maintaining an attractive and sustainable environment that residents value, and which can allow residents and businesses to thrive.
Health and Wellbeing 4
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Improving the health and wellbeing of people who live and work in the Borough and supporting and creating sustainable communities. We want all our residents and people working in the Borough to live long, healthy and happy lives.
What’s on Economy
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Securing sustainable economic growth, high yet stable employment and a shared prosperity for residents, now and for generations to come. It is about ensuring every one of us has a good standard of living in strong, safe, sustainable communities.
Housing and Development 12
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GREEN BOROUGH
eastleigh.gov.uk
Creating homes and communities to meet residents’ current needs now and in the future. To help support a buoyant house market, it is essential that there is a sufficient supply of suitable, high-quality homes that can meet the diverse needs of residents both now and in the future. Building new homes and communities provides opportunities for people looking for affordable rent, or a new home to meet their changing needs.
Your Council
Starting young Twelve-year-old Drew Mellor from Bishopstoke has taken climate change into his own hands by tackling environmental issues in his local area and is encouraging others to do the same. After seeing how much litter had been dropped, Drew became focused on cleaning up his local streets, river and woods. He became a member of the Conservation Club at Wyvern School and last year he took part in a climate march in Southampton. Drew wants to become a Marine Biologist when he finishes his education, but is worried that there won’t be any healthy oceans left for him to work in.
Drew is pleased to see more people are picking up litter in his area, it makes him feel like he’s not the only person concerned about the environment.
It’s sad to still see litter being dropped. I don’t think people realise how dangerous it is to drop litter. I don’t know why they do it. If everyone picked up one piece of litter everyday we’d see a big difference. Drew Mellor
Find out more and read the full story: eastleigh.gov.uk/ climatechangechampions
Could you be a litter hero? Local communities are being encouraged to become litter heroes and help give their local area a spring clean as part of a national tidy-up campaign. The Great British Spring Clean, organised by Keep Britain Tidy will be held across the country from 20 March to 13 April. Last year, residents organised local litter picks, clearing many bags of rubbish off the streets throughout the campaign. Litter spoils our environment and can cause harm to wildlife, both on land and in the ocean. It also costs tax payers money to clear away and is completely avoidable if people use public bins or take their rubbish home with them. As part of our commitment to making Eastleigh a greener, cleaner Borough, we can loan litter pickers and supply free rubbish bags to groups taking part. We can also arrange for the litter to be collected and disposed of.
If you’d like to host your own litter picking event or find one to join, visit: keepbritaintidy.org/litterheroes
Hiltingbury Lakes transformation update Work is continuing on the Hiltingbury Lakes project with the ongoing removal of invasive trees and plants to restore the woodland and wetland habitats. Over the next couple of months we will be sweeping pathways to allow visitors to enjoy the views of the lakes. A brilliant team of volunteers have been working to open up the pathways and improve the area for the local community.
Phase two of the work has begun to try to improve the water system that forms part of the Monks Brook main river. A plan will be developed to enhance the main lake, ponds and river banks, and identifying all locations where bank repairs are needed.
For information on how to become a volunteer or the project timetable, please visit: eastleigh.gov.uk/hiltingburylakes
