I AM writing in reply to a letter from Mr Flippance in last week’s edition of the Andover Advertiser.

Firstly it is obvious that Mr Flippance was not in attendance, or if so paying full attention, at any of the meetings, so I will go back to the start of the process.

Firstly, due to commercial confidentiality the first time that the plans were presented to full council was in November 2016 as only the officers and members dealing with the confidential procurement process knew the details of what was planned for the Andover Leisure Centre.

At that meeting, I made comments regarding the contract and the fact that the leisure centre pool would be closed for a period of two years, until the new centre was ready.

This led to further discussion taking place and it was decided to investigate the possibility of a temporary pool for the two years until the new one was ready.

A confidential meeting was held to vote on the issue and a recorded vote was called, by Cllr Borg-Neal, the result of which is available in the minutes of the meeting, on the TVBC website.

Next came the planning application for the new leisure centre which I spoke strongly in favour of, on planning grounds.

With the further knowledge that with no planning permission the management contract with PfP may be jeopardised, or even leave TVBC with no one to run our leisure facilities from the 1 April. Potentially this could have meant that none of the leisure centres in Test Valley would remain open, staying closed for an extended period until a new contract could be arranged.

The next planning meeting was to approve the pop up pool as a temporary measure, and although I was disappointed it couldn’t have been done sooner, I again spoke in strong support of it and stated that I hoped it could be kept on if needed beyond the opening of the new leisure centre and pool.

Also at that meeting, in conjunction with Cllr Borg-Neal I put forward amendments to the hours of opening to fit in with the requirements of the main users, namely the Andover Swimming and Water Polo Club.

In conclusion Mr Flippance, I hope you can see that I always have the interests of the residents at the forefront of my thinking as I have had for the last 17years that I have been a councillor on Test Valley Borough Council.

TVBC Cllr Jim Neal JP, Millway Ward, Andover.