The cost of Labour's deal with union bosses in Southampton has become a little clearer today. Labour have announced that they will introduce a Summer mini budget if they take power at the City Council elections in May.
Labour have already said that they will be giving pay rises to council staff and that the price for this will be hundreds of extra job cuts and cuts to council services. It is already clear that non statutory services like libraries and SureStarts will be first to be in the firing line if Labour win in May. However this news that Labour cuts could start as early as the Summer is very worrying. Labour needs to be clear which services will be hit by their extra cuts and as the election approaches they need to be honest and upfront with voters.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Southampton Schools Move Up The League Tables
At a visit to Mayfield Academy earlier today. Mayfield's results showed a huge improvement last year and their new school building is due to open next month.
The Department of Education today published its GCSE league tables for 2011 and the figures are hugely encouraging for Southampton. Schools and colleges in Southampton completed a clean sweep of the best ever results at GCSE, Key Stage 2, and A Level in 2011. This will reassure parents that education in the city is improving across the board and will provide the city’s children and young people with the opportunities they need and deserve. In 2011 Southampton achieved a 9% increase in 5+ GCSEs A*-C, and a 4.2% increase in 5+ GCSEs A*-C, including English and Maths.
I would like to offer my congratulations and to the pupils who have worked so hard to achieve these results and wish them every success in what they choose to do next. I’d also like to thank the city’s fantastic headteachers for their leadership and dedication, as well as all the committed and talented teaching and support staff for everything they do.
The City Council will continue to work alongside the city’s schools to keep up the momentum and build on this success. We are fortunate to have some of the best headteachers in the country working within the city and this can only be good for the education of Southampton’s children and young people.
We are not complacent and there is still work to do, but these results move us closer to achieving our goals.
I would like to offer my congratulations and to the pupils who have worked so hard to achieve these results and wish them every success in what they choose to do next. I’d also like to thank the city’s fantastic headteachers for their leadership and dedication, as well as all the committed and talented teaching and support staff for everything they do.
The City Council will continue to work alongside the city’s schools to keep up the momentum and build on this success. We are fortunate to have some of the best headteachers in the country working within the city and this can only be good for the education of Southampton’s children and young people.
We are not complacent and there is still work to do, but these results move us closer to achieving our goals.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Banister School Rebuild Given the Green Light
Freemantle Councillor, Michael Ball in Archers Road, outside Banister School
I am delighted to report that the City Council will be investing in a complete rebuild for Banister School. Conservative Councillors have been pushing for this for some time.
A number of schools in the city are expanding to meet the growing demand for primary places. The greatest demand is in the central part of the city and in Freemantle Ward. All of the Junior and Infant schools in the ward are going to become 'all though' primary schools and this includes Banister School from September 2013.The current Banister buildings are very old and in need of replacement and now with the need to grow the school, a complete rebuild is the only sensible option to pursue.
At the end of last year the City Council was successful in winning additional capital money from the government to help deal us fund our ambitious local primary school expansion programme. The council was awarded £3.1M. As a result I am pleased to report that we are now in a position to commit to the Banister School rebuild.
We will be able to produce a fantastic, state of the art new building, which will not only be excellent quality but superb value for money. The new build will be completed for September 2013 and so this will be the fastest school build that the city council has ever done.
Southampton Conservatives Launch 2012 Manifesto
Southampton’s Conservative Councillors today launched our Manifesto for the local elections in May 2012. We have published the document on our website, (CLICK HERE) and you can also download the document as a pdf. We hope that this will be of interest to you and we would welcome any comments or thoughts that you have. You can feedback to us on this email or via the website.
This election will be crucial for Southampton and residents will have a clear choice about what sort of council they want and what sort of political leadership they want for the city.
Despite the enormous challenge of having to find £75m of savings between 2010 and 2014, Southampton Conservatives are committed to doing everything possible to protect front line services, to keep costs down for local residents and to continue to move the city forward and bring in business and jobs.
We are ensuring that important front line services are maintained, keeping OPEN all our Sure Start centres, libraries and leisure centres and protecting the weekly bin collections and budgets for looking after vulnerable residents and repairing the roads and pavements.
We will freeze Council Tax for a second year running and avoid hiking up charges for council services like parking charges and adult social care charges.
We are continuing to invest in the city’s public realm and infrastructure and despite the gloomy financial outlook nationally we are attracting businesses and jobs to the city.
We are cutting out waste in the council and reducing back office costs. We have cut the numbers of directors at the council in half and have reduced the numbers of senior managers by a quarter. At the same time we are protecting jobs at the front line so they can deliver important services to the public.
The Conservatives have been in office in Southampton since 2008 (with a period of minority administration in 2007) and we have stuck to ALL the promises we made to Southampton residents. We have done what we said we would do, we have been honest with residents and we have dealt with the significant challenges the city faces in a responsible and robust way. We have not made promises we could not keep and we do not intend to do so now. However with key elections in May it is important that we set out our new commitments to the city as we ask residents to vote for us again, to run the city until the next set of local elections in 2014. This document is a manifesto for 2012 – 2014 and it is Our Contract with Southampton.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Southampton Conservatives Launch Campaign to Save Our Libraries From Labour Cuts
We can't let this happen! Southampton's Save Our Libraries campaign needs your support.
Friday, January 06, 2012
2012 Will Be Another Amazing Year for Southampton Schools
Southampton’s schools made tremendous progress in 2011.
GCSE results were up again, our improvement outstripping the national average, with a 4.5% jump in 5 GCSEs including English and Maths – our largest ever single increase. Our A-Level and Key Stage 2 results were the best ever too. In the last couple of years Southampton has shot up the national league tables for SATs.
We have some fantastic head teachers with real leadership and dedication, as well as committed and talented teaching and support staff. We are fortunate to have some of the best head teachers in the country working within the city and this is really bearing fruit locally.
2011 saw the first year of the new Pupil Premium; additional money for schools to support disadvantaged children. In 2011, on average, Southampton schools received an extra 3.4% in funding from government and this included more than £2.7m extra in the form of the new Pupil Premium.
This year Southampton’s Pupil Premium from government will rise to an incredible £5.7m. This is great news and we are already seeing the benefits, with some schools taking on additional teachers.
The city council has in place a major investment programme for the city’s schools, with £4.5m allocated last year for repairs and improvement works to secondary schools and over £14m allocated for primary schools, to help meet the demand for extra places from the growing number of primary school children in the city.
We have also installed solar panels on the roofs of Bassett Green, Beechwood, Tanners Brook and Shirley Warren schools so that these schools will have cheaper energy and the council will benefit from the government’s ‘Feed In Tariff.’
All the evidence shows that a good start in life has the biggest impact on a child’s education and so I am delighted that the current council has made a cast iron commitment to keep open all the city’s SureStart centres and to support the ongoing good work that they do.
Schools are taking advantage of new freedoms available to them with a number of schools opting for academy status or applying to convert in 2012. We even have our first successful free school application.
Parents value choice and diversity in local schools and it is important that over the coming years we meet the needs of local children and parents and that attainment continues to progress at the incredible rate we have seen in the last year. I have every confidence that this will happen and that 2012 will be another amazing year for Southampton schools.
GCSE results were up again, our improvement outstripping the national average, with a 4.5% jump in 5 GCSEs including English and Maths – our largest ever single increase. Our A-Level and Key Stage 2 results were the best ever too. In the last couple of years Southampton has shot up the national league tables for SATs.
We have some fantastic head teachers with real leadership and dedication, as well as committed and talented teaching and support staff. We are fortunate to have some of the best head teachers in the country working within the city and this is really bearing fruit locally.
2011 saw the first year of the new Pupil Premium; additional money for schools to support disadvantaged children. In 2011, on average, Southampton schools received an extra 3.4% in funding from government and this included more than £2.7m extra in the form of the new Pupil Premium.
This year Southampton’s Pupil Premium from government will rise to an incredible £5.7m. This is great news and we are already seeing the benefits, with some schools taking on additional teachers.
The city council has in place a major investment programme for the city’s schools, with £4.5m allocated last year for repairs and improvement works to secondary schools and over £14m allocated for primary schools, to help meet the demand for extra places from the growing number of primary school children in the city.
We have also installed solar panels on the roofs of Bassett Green, Beechwood, Tanners Brook and Shirley Warren schools so that these schools will have cheaper energy and the council will benefit from the government’s ‘Feed In Tariff.’
All the evidence shows that a good start in life has the biggest impact on a child’s education and so I am delighted that the current council has made a cast iron commitment to keep open all the city’s SureStart centres and to support the ongoing good work that they do.
Schools are taking advantage of new freedoms available to them with a number of schools opting for academy status or applying to convert in 2012. We even have our first successful free school application.
Parents value choice and diversity in local schools and it is important that over the coming years we meet the needs of local children and parents and that attainment continues to progress at the incredible rate we have seen in the last year. I have every confidence that this will happen and that 2012 will be another amazing year for Southampton schools.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Houses in Multiple Occupation Consultation
In the past, a large number of people have written to us regarding the issue of Houses in Multiple Occupation throughout Freemantle Ward, raising a number of issues and concerns on the topic.
As you may know the council will be bringing in new planning rules (called an Article 4 Direction) on 23rd March 2012, that will make it necessary for planning permission to be obtained before existing family homes can be turned into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). These are rented properties with 3 - 6 unrelated people living there. Larger HMOs (6+ residents) have always required planning permission.
Over recent months the council has had a number of meetings with some residents associations, about having a policy to sit along side this new planning requirement, to help planners determine in which instances to give and refuse planning permission for HMOs. These meetings have been very helpful and we are grateful for all the input that has been have received from local people.
We want to bring to your attention that on 22nd December the council launched its formal consultation on the new planning policy. The details can be found online at: http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-environment/policy/planningdocuments/hmo-spd.aspx.
If you have comments please submit these before the consultation close date, which is 5pm on 1st February.
In short the policy suggests that there should be a maximum threshold of HMOs in a given area. It is proposed that for Freemantle Ward this threshold be set at 20%. New applications for an HMO that would take the number over 20%, or in an area that already exceeds 20%, would generally be refused. The percentage threshold will apply to a 40m radius (or a minimum of the closest 10 properties) from the property in question.
In addition to this, as your local councillors, we have been fighting hard to tackle issues rightly brought to our attention by local residents:
1. Improved parking standards for HMO’s. Under the new policy, if adequate parking is not provided this will also be grounds for refusal. New parking standards for planning application for flats and houses (non HMOs) came into effect on 26th September 2011 and this should also help prevent parking problems in the area from getting much worse, as new developments are built.
2. More purpose built accommodation for students. I am pleased that Southampton University is now looking to provide more purpose built student accommodation in the city, as this will also do a great deal to protect existing family housing in Freemantle Ward.
3. Extra resources for planning enforcement. An extra planning enforcement officer will be included as part of the February council budget. Extra resources into planning enforcement will help to ensure that developers who flout planning rules are brought to task.
We would urge you to have a look at the council’s consultation and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
Councillors Jeremy Moulton, Michael Ball & Brian Parnell.
As you may know the council will be bringing in new planning rules (called an Article 4 Direction) on 23rd March 2012, that will make it necessary for planning permission to be obtained before existing family homes can be turned into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). These are rented properties with 3 - 6 unrelated people living there. Larger HMOs (6+ residents) have always required planning permission.
Over recent months the council has had a number of meetings with some residents associations, about having a policy to sit along side this new planning requirement, to help planners determine in which instances to give and refuse planning permission for HMOs. These meetings have been very helpful and we are grateful for all the input that has been have received from local people.
We want to bring to your attention that on 22nd December the council launched its formal consultation on the new planning policy. The details can be found online at: http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-environment/policy/planningdocuments/hmo-spd.aspx.
If you have comments please submit these before the consultation close date, which is 5pm on 1st February.
In short the policy suggests that there should be a maximum threshold of HMOs in a given area. It is proposed that for Freemantle Ward this threshold be set at 20%. New applications for an HMO that would take the number over 20%, or in an area that already exceeds 20%, would generally be refused. The percentage threshold will apply to a 40m radius (or a minimum of the closest 10 properties) from the property in question.
In addition to this, as your local councillors, we have been fighting hard to tackle issues rightly brought to our attention by local residents:
1. Improved parking standards for HMO’s. Under the new policy, if adequate parking is not provided this will also be grounds for refusal. New parking standards for planning application for flats and houses (non HMOs) came into effect on 26th September 2011 and this should also help prevent parking problems in the area from getting much worse, as new developments are built.
2. More purpose built accommodation for students. I am pleased that Southampton University is now looking to provide more purpose built student accommodation in the city, as this will also do a great deal to protect existing family housing in Freemantle Ward.
3. Extra resources for planning enforcement. An extra planning enforcement officer will be included as part of the February council budget. Extra resources into planning enforcement will help to ensure that developers who flout planning rules are brought to task.
We would urge you to have a look at the council’s consultation and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
Councillors Jeremy Moulton, Michael Ball & Brian Parnell.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Boost to Pupil Premium will mean more funding for local schools
The government’s Pupil Premium to support disadvantaged children will mean a big boost to the funding of local schools. Next year the pupil premium is set to rise to £600 for each Free School Meals eligible pupil.
Taking pupil numbers for January 2011 this means that Freemantle schools will receive the following Pupil Premium next year, over and above their normal school budgets.
Regents Park Community College: £174,600
Banister Infant School: £21,000
Foundry Lane Primary School: £59,400
Freemantle Academy: £25,200
St Mark’s CofE Primary School: £77,400
The Pupil Premium is great news for Southampton Schools and the evidence is that many heads and governors are using this funding to support disadvantaged children, for instance by employing extra teachers.
Taking pupil numbers for January 2011 this means that Freemantle schools will receive the following Pupil Premium next year, over and above their normal school budgets.
Regents Park Community College: £174,600
Banister Infant School: £21,000
Foundry Lane Primary School: £59,400
Freemantle Academy: £25,200
St Mark’s CofE Primary School: £77,400
The Pupil Premium is great news for Southampton Schools and the evidence is that many heads and governors are using this funding to support disadvantaged children, for instance by employing extra teachers.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Southampton Pushes Ahead With Solar Energy Plans
Southampton City Council is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to install solar panels on schools, blocks of council flats and civic buildings.
This will mean cheaper energy for schools and ultimately the taxpayer, as well as being good news for the environment and a boost to business and jobs.
By installing solar PV we will also benefit by selling spare energy to the national grid and will earn money through the government's feed in tarrif (FiT), money that will help us meet the challenge of reduced council budgets and protect services to residents.
The decision to press ahead comes despite an announcement by government that they might bring forward the date at which they reduce the funding through the FiT, to 12th December from April as previously planned.
Because Southampton is ahead of schedule and through skillful procurement, we will be able to excelerate our scheme, with panels starting to go up as early as next week. This will mean we get the best return for our local investment possible.
Click HERE for further details.
This will mean cheaper energy for schools and ultimately the taxpayer, as well as being good news for the environment and a boost to business and jobs.
By installing solar PV we will also benefit by selling spare energy to the national grid and will earn money through the government's feed in tarrif (FiT), money that will help us meet the challenge of reduced council budgets and protect services to residents.
The decision to press ahead comes despite an announcement by government that they might bring forward the date at which they reduce the funding through the FiT, to 12th December from April as previously planned.
Because Southampton is ahead of schedule and through skillful procurement, we will be able to excelerate our scheme, with panels starting to go up as early as next week. This will mean we get the best return for our local investment possible.
Click HERE for further details.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Launch of Southampton's Junior Road Safety Officer Scheme
I was very pleased this morning to be part of the launch of Southampton's Junior Road Safety Officer scheme at the Saints football ground.
Southampton City council, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and Hampshire Constabulary officers were joined by pupils and staff from Harefield, Oakwood, Bitterne Manor, St Swithun Wells and Bassett Green schools.
The scheme has been piloted over the last few months by 6 year 6 pupils from Harefield who have been engaged in projects to raise awareness of road safety, cycling and green travel amongst their classmates. They have been doing assemblies, running competitions and designing posters to communicate with children and their parents.
In January volunteers from a host of other schools will sign up to the new initiative and next Summer they will compete against schools from North and South Hampshire and Portsmouth in a Champion of Champions competition run by the fire service to determine which is the best school in the county at improving the safety of children travelling to and from school.
Southampton City council, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and Hampshire Constabulary officers were joined by pupils and staff from Harefield, Oakwood, Bitterne Manor, St Swithun Wells and Bassett Green schools.
The scheme has been piloted over the last few months by 6 year 6 pupils from Harefield who have been engaged in projects to raise awareness of road safety, cycling and green travel amongst their classmates. They have been doing assemblies, running competitions and designing posters to communicate with children and their parents.
In January volunteers from a host of other schools will sign up to the new initiative and next Summer they will compete against schools from North and South Hampshire and Portsmouth in a Champion of Champions competition run by the fire service to determine which is the best school in the county at improving the safety of children travelling to and from school.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Rosewood School to Become Southampton's First Free School
I was delighted to hear this afternoon that Rosewood special school (in Lordswood) has been successful in its application for free school status.
This is good news for Rosewood and a boost for parental choice and the diversity of education provision in Southampton.
The council worked closely with Rosewood on their application for free school status and the school will continue to have our support. Rosewood is a strong institution and will be well-placed to help the city manage the increasing demand for school places in the coming years.
This is good news for Rosewood and a boost for parental choice and the diversity of education provision in Southampton.
The council worked closely with Rosewood on their application for free school status and the school will continue to have our support. Rosewood is a strong institution and will be well-placed to help the city manage the increasing demand for school places in the coming years.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Save Our Sure Starts
This weekend Southampton Conservatives launched our campaign to protect all of Southampton's Sure Start children centres.Labour have made it clear that they will cut up to 1,500 council jobs, putting at risk vital local services such as SureStart and libraries if they gain control of Southampton City Council in May 2012. We can't let this happen!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Southern Water's £26M Upgrade to Millbrook Water Works in Western Docks
I have received correspondence from Southern Water today, with details of new investment that they are putting into the Millbrook Wastewater Treatment Works in the Western Docks.
A £25.8M upgrade will involve rebuilding part of the site and enhancing the treatment process. New facilities will be built that will allow the removal of nutrients, such as nitrogen, from treated wastewater before it is recycled into the Solent.
Southern Water explained that when the levels of nutrients are too high, algal blooms can grow in coastal waters. These may reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and smother fish and other creatures. Southern Water say that the removal of these nutrients will ensure the water leaving the site is of the best possible quality and continues to meet tightening Environment Agency standards.
The work on the site is due to start in late 2011 and will be carried out by Southern Water's supplier 4Delivery. The project is due to be completed in the summer of 2014.
Our local Conservative team have been campaigning hard for improvements to the treatment works and in particular highlighting the concerns of local residents about the smells that occasionally emanate from the site. Click HERE for more details on our campaign.
A £25.8M upgrade will involve rebuilding part of the site and enhancing the treatment process. New facilities will be built that will allow the removal of nutrients, such as nitrogen, from treated wastewater before it is recycled into the Solent.
Southern Water explained that when the levels of nutrients are too high, algal blooms can grow in coastal waters. These may reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and smother fish and other creatures. Southern Water say that the removal of these nutrients will ensure the water leaving the site is of the best possible quality and continues to meet tightening Environment Agency standards.
The work on the site is due to start in late 2011 and will be carried out by Southern Water's supplier 4Delivery. The project is due to be completed in the summer of 2014.
Our local Conservative team have been campaigning hard for improvements to the treatment works and in particular highlighting the concerns of local residents about the smells that occasionally emanate from the site. Click HERE for more details on our campaign.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
We Need to do More to Improve Adoptions
Adoption can make an extraordinary difference to a child's life. Adoption transforms the lives of some of the most neglected and abused children in the UK. Vulnerable children in our city need a loving home and we need to find adoptive parents to give them just that.
This week is National Adoption Week, which aims to raise awareness of adoption and to encourage more people to consider adopting. There is a national shortage of approved adopters which at the moment means the average time a child being taken into care and being successfully placed for adoption is two years and seven months.
Ofsted recently inspected Southampton City Council's adoption service and their judgement was that the service is performing to a good standard across the board and this a testament to the hard work of our staff. But we can always do more. We should be adopting more children and doing so faster and we should be careful not to discriminate against potential adopters.
As a council - and as a society - we need to step up to the challenge of improving the system to improve outcomes for children in care. We need processes to work more quickly for both prospective adopters and for the children who just want a warm, loving home.
We need to cut through the unnecessary red tape and make placements more quickly. We need a legal system that will work faster than it does at present. We need social workers to be able to allow white families to adopt black and mixed race children, and vice versa, and single people and older couples should not be discriminated against.
Of course, the debate surrounding this will continue. But I agree that it is a scandal that children remain in care when there are families out there who would love to take them in.
Every child deserves a loving family. Making space in your life for a child is an amazing thing to do. If you have ever considered adoption, there has never been a better time to get in touch.
This week is National Adoption Week, which aims to raise awareness of adoption and to encourage more people to consider adopting. There is a national shortage of approved adopters which at the moment means the average time a child being taken into care and being successfully placed for adoption is two years and seven months.
Ofsted recently inspected Southampton City Council's adoption service and their judgement was that the service is performing to a good standard across the board and this a testament to the hard work of our staff. But we can always do more. We should be adopting more children and doing so faster and we should be careful not to discriminate against potential adopters.
As a council - and as a society - we need to step up to the challenge of improving the system to improve outcomes for children in care. We need processes to work more quickly for both prospective adopters and for the children who just want a warm, loving home.
We need to cut through the unnecessary red tape and make placements more quickly. We need a legal system that will work faster than it does at present. We need social workers to be able to allow white families to adopt black and mixed race children, and vice versa, and single people and older couples should not be discriminated against.
Of course, the debate surrounding this will continue. But I agree that it is a scandal that children remain in care when there are families out there who would love to take them in.
Every child deserves a loving family. Making space in your life for a child is an amazing thing to do. If you have ever considered adoption, there has never been a better time to get in touch.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Houses In Multiple Occupation Decision
The Council’s Cabinet today confirmed a decision to implement planning rules which will give the council more control over the number and spread of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). This decision follows several months of consultation with residents groups, landlords and the universities. The rules which come into force on 23rd March 2012 will mean that family homes in Southampton will require planning permission before being able to be converted into HMOs. This is called an Article 4 direction.Between now and 23rd March further work and consultation take place, looking at a suitable planning policy to sit alongside the Article 4 direction. This policy will also come into effect on 23rd March and will set out when it is suitable and not suitable for HMOs to be given planning permission. Areas like Freemantle are likely to have more protection as there are already large numbers of HMOs in the ward.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hypocritical Labour Shut Local Facilities But Say Don't Blame Us
The hypocrisy of Southampton's Labour Party over the closure of Portswood and Shirley police stations is absolutely incredible. It also offers a very clear picture of the approach they would take if they ever run Southampton City Council.
Southampton has two representatives on the Hampshire Police Authority; myself a Conservative and Cllr Jacqui Rayment, the Labour representative and Chairman.
At every recent Authority meeting I have spoken out against the loss of our community police stations. I spoke out against it at the public meeting at St Georges School along with 11 other Southampton Conservative Councillors. I have fought for future replacements to have front desks that are open to the public. I have suggested numerous ways to keep front desks, such as sharing facilities with Southampton City Council and the use of police volunteers. I voted AGAINST the closures.
Labour's Chairman voted FOR the closures, and has repeatedly defended the decisions in meetings, saying that our local police stations don't need to be open to the public in an age when people have the internet and telephones.
Now for Labour to say that they shouldn't close is not just hypocritical it is utterly deceitful. Their excuse? Don't blame us, blame the government. This is exactly the same excuse Labour in Manchester and Liverpool are using as they close libraries and Sure Start centres. Don't blame us they say when they close the local facilities, blame the government. Don't blame us for wrecking the country's finances, blame the banks, blame the Americans, blame anyone other than us.
They will do exactly the same in Southampton if Labour run the City Council. They will close our libraries, our Sure Start centres and leisure centres, cut the weekly bin collections and hike up council tax. And they will say don't blame us, blame the government. However it doesn't have to be like that. Southampton Conservatives will keep open ALL our libraries, Sure Start centres and leisure centres and we want community police stations that are open to the public and we will fight to keep them!
Southampton has two representatives on the Hampshire Police Authority; myself a Conservative and Cllr Jacqui Rayment, the Labour representative and Chairman.
At every recent Authority meeting I have spoken out against the loss of our community police stations. I spoke out against it at the public meeting at St Georges School along with 11 other Southampton Conservative Councillors. I have fought for future replacements to have front desks that are open to the public. I have suggested numerous ways to keep front desks, such as sharing facilities with Southampton City Council and the use of police volunteers. I voted AGAINST the closures.
Labour's Chairman voted FOR the closures, and has repeatedly defended the decisions in meetings, saying that our local police stations don't need to be open to the public in an age when people have the internet and telephones.
Now for Labour to say that they shouldn't close is not just hypocritical it is utterly deceitful. Their excuse? Don't blame us, blame the government. This is exactly the same excuse Labour in Manchester and Liverpool are using as they close libraries and Sure Start centres. Don't blame us they say when they close the local facilities, blame the government. Don't blame us for wrecking the country's finances, blame the banks, blame the Americans, blame anyone other than us.
They will do exactly the same in Southampton if Labour run the City Council. They will close our libraries, our Sure Start centres and leisure centres, cut the weekly bin collections and hike up council tax. And they will say don't blame us, blame the government. However it doesn't have to be like that. Southampton Conservatives will keep open ALL our libraries, Sure Start centres and leisure centres and we want community police stations that are open to the public and we will fight to keep them!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Conservative Budget Will focus on Protecting Council Services
Today the council released its draft budget for 2012/13. The council's financial situation is extremely challenging and next year £15M must be saved to balance the books.
Conservative Councillors are focused on ensuring that front line services are protected. This means keeping all our Sure Start Centres, leisure centres, libraries and other community facilities open. It means protecting the road and pavement repairs budget and protecting the vital bus routes that the council supports. And it means ensuring more support for the most vulnerable children in the city. I am very pleased that in my area of responsibility, Childrens' Services and Learning, there are no service reductions planned.
It is important that in these difficult times we keep costs down for local people. We have committed to freezing the council tax again and are keeping the 10% discount for pensioner households. We are ensuring that other charges like parking charges are frozen.
An important priority for Conservatives on the council is keeping front line council staff in work, delivering the services that residents pay their taxes for. We recently changed staff terms and conditions and this saw some pay cuts for higher paid staff. This was done to protect jobs and services and we are sticking to our commitment to protect 400 council jobs. Next year's budget will keep compulsory redundancies as low as possible, likely to be less than 50.
This is all in stark contrast to Labour in Southampton, who have said that their plans involve big increases in council tax, of at least 4.5%, the axing of 1,500 council jobs and the serious damage this would mean to front line council services.
Conservative Councillors are focused on ensuring that front line services are protected. This means keeping all our Sure Start Centres, leisure centres, libraries and other community facilities open. It means protecting the road and pavement repairs budget and protecting the vital bus routes that the council supports. And it means ensuring more support for the most vulnerable children in the city. I am very pleased that in my area of responsibility, Childrens' Services and Learning, there are no service reductions planned.
It is important that in these difficult times we keep costs down for local people. We have committed to freezing the council tax again and are keeping the 10% discount for pensioner households. We are ensuring that other charges like parking charges are frozen.
An important priority for Conservatives on the council is keeping front line council staff in work, delivering the services that residents pay their taxes for. We recently changed staff terms and conditions and this saw some pay cuts for higher paid staff. This was done to protect jobs and services and we are sticking to our commitment to protect 400 council jobs. Next year's budget will keep compulsory redundancies as low as possible, likely to be less than 50.
This is all in stark contrast to Labour in Southampton, who have said that their plans involve big increases in council tax, of at least 4.5%, the axing of 1,500 council jobs and the serious damage this would mean to front line council services.
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Letter from No Southampton Biomass to Helius
Below is the text of a letter sent today to Helius Energy concerning their plans to develop a biomass power station in the Western Docks.
Dear Helius,
As the representatives of the public you are supposed to be consulting with, we are yet again politely requesting that you demonstrate some recognition of the fact that what is purely 'business' to you is actually impacting the lives of Southampton residents in a very negative way – we are the very same people that you continually say you want to work with and provide something which will be of great benefit to us all.
We still feel you are choosing to ignore the inadequacy of your application to date and we will summarise our reasons once again for your consideration:
· The original public consultation had to be extended after questions of its adequacy and timings were raised by residents and Southampton City Council who felt your efforts fell short of what they should have been.
· The consultation was then extended to include additional public exhibitions, but as previously detailed to you, as a community we felt that the public exhibitions fell short on a number of grounds. These failings prevented the community from fully understanding your project proposal and therefore gave rise to our calls of inadequacy as you failed to meet your statutory obligations with regards to the public consultation.
· Instead of submitting your application to the IPC after the completion of the public consultation, you chose to add an additional phase of consultations based on revisions to the scale and siting of the project. To us, that meant the project was changing so drastically that it could no longer be regarded as an extension but should form a completely new application for avoidance of confusion on what exactly this project is.
· You originally stated a summer consultation for this additional phase; we requested you delayed this until Sept/Oct time to prevent any issues with the (School) summer holiday period. You refused this request and stated that was why it was planned as a 10 week consultation period.
· No direct contact was made with any of the parties that had registered an interest in this project to alert them to the new timetable. You advertised only through press releases and your own website.
· Then, four weeks later, during the very week when the planned consultation was supposed to start, you announced – via a Press Release – that you were delaying until Autumn for the benefit of the residents.
· Again there was no direct contact with any of the registered interested parties. To state your reasons as being for the benefit of the residents is laughable and, to cite the cliché, effectively added insult to injury. Your press release claiming your actions were for the benefit of the residents could be assessed as the most ill-advised piece of copy writing to date!
· By refusing to listen to and work with the community you affected peoples holiday plans and caused great distress and inconvenience.
· We waited throughout September for details of the Autumn consultation. Nothing was announced.
We now discover via an update to the IPC website that the expected application date has moved to April/May 2012. This indicates that there have been discussions between Helius and the IPC, yet nothing has appeared on the official site or the main Helius site.
The community feel that your previous actions to date have led to a complete mistrust and a feeling that you purposely plan things to go "under the radar" and co-incide with the worst possible times for the residents! We are also aware that there are legislation changes that could affect your business plans/investment chances and as such we are now asking for answers to the following questions:
1. Do you now have a definite time plan for the additional public consultation period that will enable you to submit an application in April/May 2012?
2. If you do not have the answer to the above could we have a definite statement of "not before this date" so that people can go about planning their lives without the fear and threat of missing something important from you?
3. In light of the unknowns, the obvious delays to your plans and the fact the consultation to date has been so inadequate, we ask once again whether you could abandon this proposal and come back when you have a project that is acceptable both to you as a business proposition and to us as a community?
In doing the above your company could create a project proposal in a timescale that fitted entirely with your company’s plans and with no pressure from a waiting community. This fully complete application could then be promoted by yourselves using the feedback received by the public and statutory bodies on the current inadequate application, to ensure that the new, changed project had the level of community involvement needed to adequately consult with us in explaining and presenting your new plans. The whole point of the IPC process was to provide speedy applications and decisions yet Helius seem to want to slow down the application at every point - In our opinion this in itself leads to mis-understanding and confusion with the public, as people ask why a developer would want to do the very thing the IPC was set up to prevent happening to developers?
As a community we would also benefit from having a well thought out project, one that is also fully organised and would then concisely and coherently be presented to us for our engagement and feedback. This would allow any new project to be judged purely on its merits, unlike the current project that is dogged by the ongoing mis-information conveyed by your poorly expressed plans and mis-management of the consultation process to date.
The advantages of your doing what we suggest is that your actions would immediately cease to have any negative affects on our community - in fact your company could benefit from being shown to have actually listened and worked with a community, allowing future plans to be accepted under a more welcoming banner than the response your company currently receives within our community due to the problems (outlined above) over your previous interactions with us.
Yours Sincerely,
Steven Galton
On Behalf of the No Southampton Biomass Group
Monday, October 03, 2011
Conservatives to Freeze Council Tax for a Second Year
Residents in Southampton will have no increase in council tax next year. This will be the second year running that council tax has been frozen.
The Conservatives went into the last election saying we would freeze council tax for two years and I am delighted that we are keeping to this commitment. We are all feeling the pinch at the moment and this will definitely help.
The Conservative freeze in council tax in Southampton is in stark contrast to Labour's last term in office locally. Few will forget their 19% increase in their last year. Labour have made it very clear that if they run the council again residents will face big increases in their council tax bill. Labour have also pledged to scrap the council tax discount for city pensioners, meaning even bigger rises for pensioner households.
The Conservatives went into the last election saying we would freeze council tax for two years and I am delighted that we are keeping to this commitment. We are all feeling the pinch at the moment and this will definitely help.
The Conservative freeze in council tax in Southampton is in stark contrast to Labour's last term in office locally. Few will forget their 19% increase in their last year. Labour have made it very clear that if they run the council again residents will face big increases in their council tax bill. Labour have also pledged to scrap the council tax discount for city pensioners, meaning even bigger rises for pensioner households.
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