Bournemouth Liberal Democrats

• Phone: 07525 355982
• Email: lisa.northover@bournemouth-libdems.org

Find out more at http://lisanorthover.com/

Know Your Representative

In November 2003 Lisa Northover was elected with 955 votes to the neighbourhood management board for Boscombe West, the resident-led board of the neighbourhood renewal project.[1]

In the Council (2007-2011)

In May 2007 Lisa was elected to Bournemouth Borough Council in Boscombe West with 626 votes.

In June 2007 Bournemouth Council awarded a contract allowing exclusive supply of Nestle ice cream for five seafront kiosks contrary to a 1994 council motion endorsing a boycott of Nestle products for contravening the World Health Organization's code on marketing baby formula in third world countries. Cllr Northover wrote to all councillors asking for the decision to be reconsidered and be brought to a scrutiny committee.[2]

In July 2007 Cllr Northover supported a scheme that allowed drugs offenders to be given conditional cautions which deliver swift, victim-focused justice. The conditional cautions require users attend a rehab course. Cllr Northover said "Rehabilitation is more effective than people going in and out of prison or being fined."[3]

In November 2007, as the council's blueprint for housing was being released, the Echo reported that more than 80% of new developments since 1997 were flats. Cllr Northover spoke of the need for family homes in the town saying "I know people who have the money to buy a three or four-bedroom home, but they are not there to buy". Figures in the report showed that the average house in Bournemouth costed more than £200,000 - 12 times the average annual income.[4]

Later in November Cllr Northover pioneered a £70,000 community project to offer free public wireless internet access in Boscombe Precinct.[5]

In January 2008 the Echo reported on a YouGov survey which found that 71 per cent of adults plan to makes changes to their lifestyles such as using less electricity and recycling more. Cllr Northover, described by the Echo as a 'passionate advocate of green issues and saving the environment' said "I think there is still a lot more people can do. It's the small things that make a difference."[6]

In July 2009 interior designer Wayne Hemmingway launched Boscombe's "surf pods" a part of the multi-million pound surf reef and Boscombe Overstrand development. A few streets away a 25 year old man was assaulted and left with life-threatening injuries. Hours earlier a man was stabbed nearby. The month before Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellword was punched by youths after confronting them about playing ball in Boscombe Precinct. Cllr Northover commented "There are still problems [in Boscombe], but you can't just change things overnight. Recently the police have been doing an awful lot and they've had quite a good strategy for dealing with things in the precinct and surrounding area.

"It's a long process. These people that are drink and drug users or violent are often living in bedsit houses that are privately owned and it's very difficult to do anything about it.

"The way we can change that is to improve the area so that landlords want more affluent people living in their houses. It would be really silly to just say 'there's still crime happening, it's all a waste of money' because it's not."[7]

In August 2009 Boscombe Chine Boredom Busters suddenly closed after OFSTED inspectors identified a raft of problems with basic standards and procedures at the centre. Cllr Northover whose children attended the scheme said she was "appalled" by the findings. She said: "The main thing I am concerned about is why the council was letting it operate at all.... [t]he council must have known it didn't meet basic requirements but still carried on."I think it's very sad that it's taken Ofsted to come along and point out it wasn't safe for our children."[8]

In October 2009 Cllr Lisa Northover spoke to the Echo in opposition to bringing back traffic through Boscombe centre[9]

Later in October Lisa Northover helped raise awareness of the alleged abduction of 2 year old A'ishah Sabra in the Hurghada resort in Egypt.[10] After an eight month investigation and legal battle A'ishah was reunited with her mother[11]

After a police crackdown on drugs in the town in September 2010 Cllr Northover set out her position on drugs to the Echo saying "[d]rugs have been a problem in Boscombe for as long as I can remember.

"It's a very difficult thing to tackle as it causes so many other problems, and so really needs a holistic approach like this which looks at housing, drug rehabilitation and mental health services."[12]

Cllr Northover 'slammed' the level of consultation over the implementation of new legislation to regulate sexual entertainment venues. Councillors approved plan to adopt new government policies that will give the council more power to control venues such as lap dancing clubs. It means that clubs will be restricted to the town centre and will have to apply for a special license costing £7,000.

She told the meeting of Bournemouth council that she supported regulation of such venues and pointed out that the legislation makes it possible to decide that the number of them should be zero; she said that residents would be shocked to discover that a decision had been taken that lap dancing clubs were suitable for their area.[13]

Post-Council (2011-Present)

After losing her re-election bid to the council Lisa campaigned as a member of the Boscombe Area Regeneration Group to stop meter high railings being put up in Boscombe Crescent. Pointing to a vomiting man slumped over a bench at 10am Lisa said "That's the sort of reason I don't want it to be enclosed,

"These railings are going to stop me coming in here, and it's almost giving it up to people like that"[14]

The plans were eventually approved but Lisa managed to get the railings scaled down from 1.5 meters to 1.05 meters high and remove the railings along Christchurch Road.[15]

In December 2011 Lisa launched a petition calling on Bournemouth Council to inspect all Dave Wells' properties within six months. This was after Channel 4 Dispatches sent an undercover reporter to a Dave Wells bedsit, he said that it "stank of damp" and had a "disgusting carpet". Lisa said: "We have got to know how many there are in this condition rather than tinkering around the edges.

"I wasn't surprised at the TV report, but I am really pleased they picked up on it, because I think in Boscombe we have just become complacent about it."[16]

In January 2012 Lisa's campaign was successful in getting the Council to increase inspections, she said: "I'm really pleased the council is taking action. We need proactive inspections, not just reactive ones.

"It doesn't take long to find homes that are in dire need of improvement."[17]

Later that same month a national newspaper reported on one family in Boscombe that had to wash their children in a washing bowl because the communal bath was broken. In another property a 24 year old veteran lived among rat droppings and mould. Lisa called the council "complacent" of the problem.[18]

In March 2012 Lisa was subject to alleged intimidation after Dave Wells made a bogus complaint resulting in a Bournemouth Council letter saying it was investigating a claim her home was being used as a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). A planning officer from the council then visited her propert and confirmed it is her family home, and not a HMO. She had just reported one of Mr Wells' properties for the same offence and was continuing to campaign for more inspections of his Boscombe HMOs.

Lisa has been going into Dave Wells Properties HMOs, with the permission of tenants, and then sending on reports of faults to the council. She had been asking the council to take action over an unauthorised Dave Wells HMO on St Clement's Road.[19]

In May 2012 the council said in a letter to Lisa that Dave Wells Properties (DWP), which had owned the house in St Clements Road since in 2004, had been "uncooperative" since the complaint.

But it decided that because it first heard about the property in 2007, it would be "unreasonable" to now enforce the planning law. Lisa said that it "beggars belief" Bournemouth Council has decided not to take enforcement action over a DWP house "I appeal to the planning board to overturn this decision and demonstrate a commitment to sort out housing in Boscombe."[20]

In July 2012 the council announced that more than 900 properties in Boscombe had been inspected and landlords faced possible legal action over 60 of them. Lisa took a Daily Echo reporter into Boscombe homes, the reporter noted that "Most people who had reported problems did not think anything had been done to fix them." Lisa said: "The council should have been doing these inspections all along."[21]