Alan Whitehead Still on the Fence!

A month after I wrote to Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead asking for him to back my campaign for new school in Shirley Road, I have received his response.

His letter is very short and gives little or no commitment to the plan for a new school. He remains well and truly on the fence. I was hoping that he would back the idea and use his influence as an MP to lobby for Government funding for the project. It is really disappointing that whilst all three political parties on the city council back the idea, the local MP doesn't appear to want to commit.

Cawte Road

Residents' Parking

For nearly three years Freemantle's Councillors have been pressing for the Council to look at a possible residents parking scheme. We are very conscious that large numbers of residents have been petitioning the Council to tackle the problem but to date nothing has been achieved.

We have now received categorical confirmation from the Director at Southampton City Council responsible amongst other thing for roads and parking, that officers will begin looking at a scheme before the end of March. Officers will draw up a proposed scheme and will be writing formally to residents seeking their approval.


No to More flats in Cawte Road

As you may recall, in a recent newsletter, we spoke about a planning application for more flats in Cawte Road. The application was for 24 one and two bedroom flats at 2-10 Cawte Road. The application included only 17 car parking spaces. We objected to this application on the grounds that this was an insufficient amount of car spaces and that more cars would end up in the street, further adding to parking pressures. The application was refused by the Council in September. However, one reason for the refusal of planning permission was that too many spaces were provided for than are allowed under the Government's bizarre planning rules! The application has now been resubmitted with only 13 spaces! We are writing again to object.

All the details can be found online HERE. The planning reference is 06/01838/FUL.

Merry Christmas From Freemantle Conservatives

Council opening times over the holidays:

The Civic Centre closed at 12 noon on Friday, December 22 and re-opens on Wednesday, December 27, 7.30am.

It will close again for New Years Day, Monday, January 1 and re-open on Tuesday, January 2.


Opening times for libraries:

Click HERE for library opening times.


Art Gallery:

Open on Friday, December 22 10am to 5pm, Saturday, December 23 10am to 12 noon.

Closed from Sunday, December 24 to Wednesday, December 27.

Open Thursday, December 28 to Saturday, December 30 10am to 5pm, Sunday, December 31 1pm to 4pm.

Closed Monday, January 1 and open again on Tuesday, January 2 10am to 5pm.

Planning and Rights of Way Meeting - 9th January

Click HERE for a link to the agenda for the next Planning and Rights of Way meeting. This is a public meeting at the Civic Centre.

A list of planning applications can be found by clicking HERE.

The only Freemantle application is the one for the needle exchange in Shirley Road. I have posted on this before.

Do We Really Need Another Set Of Traffic Lights In Hill Lane?

Council Officers are planning to install a set of traffic lights at the T junction between Raymond Road and Hill Lane. The proposals include a signal controlled pedestrian and cycle crossing to help people cross by the entrance to the Common. The scheme will essentially mirror the one at the T junction of Bellemoor Road and Hill Lane.

Shirley and Freemantle Councillors are to be briefed further on this in the New Year in advance of a formal public consultation.

I have been aware of these plans for a couple of years and have frequently voiced my opposition to yet another set of traffic lights. It would take the total along Hill Lane to 6!!!

More traffic lights will add to congestion along Hill Lane. It will further encourage cars to use back streets as rat runs (e.g. Greville Road).

There does need to something introduced at the Raymond Road junction I accept that. We need to help people cross the road. Also it is difficult to turn right out of Raymond Road into Hill Lane as it is quite hard to see round the corner.

I would much rather see a mini roundabout and a pedestrian island and not another set of lights.

I have had a number of conversations about this with Shirley Ward Councillor Terry Matthews and we seem to be of the same view. I have also had some representations for local people against more traffic lights.

I will be formally objecting if the scheme reaches the point of a public consultation.

Heritage Centre Plan for Old Law Courts

The ill fated RMS Titanic sailed from White Star's Dock in Southampton in April 1912

Southampton Conservatives announced yesterday exciting new proposals to convert the city's moth balled magistrates courts in the Civic Centre into a new heritage centre to celebrate the Story of Southampton and house a new Titanic Exhibition.

The old law courts have laid empty for the past 6 years. In 2008 the Police will out of the Civic Centre. This will leave the whole west wing of the Civic Centre empty.

The city has been searching for a site for it's new heritage centre for many years and a range of plans have had to be scrapped in the past due to difficulty in reaching agreement with partners such as ABP.

If the heritage centre was to sited in the Civic Centre this would mean that delivery of the project whole be soley in the hands of the city council. It would also mean that a fantastic, historic building would be put back into public use after years of neglect.

Merry Christmas

This E Chirstmas Card from MEP Nirj Deva has to best the best Christmas card I have received so far...!

Civil Service Ground Needs To Be Secured Against Gypsies

Travellers made a mess of the Civil Service Ground last time they were there.

I was walking past the Civil Service Sports Ground on Sunday and I had a look to see how secure the gates were. There have been 2 gypsy incursions in the last couple of years.

The gates at the Malmesbury Place and the Stafford Road end both have sturdy padlocks. However as past experience has shown this is insufficient to stop the travellers who will be armed with bolt cutters.

A few years ago I arranged for additional protections to be put on the land including laying down piles of rubble or scree behind the gates. This was to prevent vehicles gaining access.

I have spoken to Council Officers about my concerns and they are contacting Bovis Homes, the owner, to ask that additional measures are put in place to protect the land.

Gidley Calls for School Sports Days to be Scrapped in Favour of Skipping!!!

Romsey MP Sandra Gidley

Romsey's Lib Dem MP has uproar with her mad comments in the House of Commons about scrapping school sports day. This describes competetive sport as one of her pet hates and thinks it would be far better if schools spent more time organising skipping. She thinks that team sports can damage children. Personally I think being made to do skipping rather than football and hockey at school would have had more of a negative impact on me!

Iain Dale has a post on this on his Blog.

It has also been covered in the Daily Echo over the last few days. Click here for Echo comments.

Why do we elect people with such crazy views???

Lib Dem Needs to Get a Grip on his Job!

The Magistrates Courts in Southampton have been mothballed since 2006.

Lib Dem Steve Sollitt writes about what a good job he is doing promoting culture and heritage in the city (In My View 11th December).

Here are some facts he conveniently omitted.

Under his watch the city's £130m art collection remains uninsured and at risk.

I asked him a few months ago what his strategy was for our art collection. He sensibly said he wanted to display more of it. His record is very poor though. 90% of the collection is in storage at any given time and the average painting is in storage for 4 years before being shown.

He says that the Council are doing a good job in loaning out works of art. However this programme generates a mere £40,000 a year, a 0.03% return on the city's £130,000 asset.

Under his watch the magistrates courts in the west wing of the civic centre remain closed. They have now been left empty and deteriorating for 6 years!

Tudor House remains closed and is likely to stay closed for another 3 years!

Cllr Sollitt needs to spend his time getting a grip on his job rather than sending self congratulatory letters to the Daily Echo.

Get off the fence Alan and back our campaign for a new school!

MP Alan Whitehead protesting with a hand made sign at the

Civil Service Ground. Alan is offering no positive solutions.

3 Weeks ago today I wrote to Southampton Test’s Labour MP, Alan Whitehead, calling for his support for Conservative proposals for a new school in Freemantle, on the St Marks School site in Shirley Road.

Whilst Alan Whitehead has sat on the fence, Conservative Councillors have secured sufficient funds to purchase the former Civil Service Sports Ground, which lies unused next to St Marks School.

In a recent debate in Council I received cross party support for my call for the land, which is currently in the hands of house builder Bovis, to be bought by the Council for St Marks Junior School and for use by Regents Park Community College and the wider community.

The plan is then for the Council to bid for Government Building Schools for the Future money to build a brand new school on the St Marks site.

On 6th December, Gordon Brown, announced more funding for schools and promised thousands of new or refurbished schools across the country.

This presents a fantastic opportunity for Southampton. The city needs to make sure it succeeds in bidding for a share of this money. A new school in Freemantle would be a huge boost to the area.


No reply to my letter

I have received no reply to my letter to Mr Whitehead. At a public meeting at the Freemantle United Reform Church, about the Civil Service ground, he was very clearly on the fence. This is really disappointing. It will be much harder to convince Government without the support of the MP.

Conservative Students Online Forum

Southampton University Students have set up an online discussion forum for political debate. Click HERE.

The University Conservative website has moved. The new site can be found at http://www.suca.org.uk

Malmesbury Road Resurfaced

I have just driven down the newly resurfaced Malmesbury Road. It is fantastic. The Council have even managed to get rid of the huge dip at the Shirley Road end. I have been banging on about this for a while and I am very pleased it has now been sorted!

Creating Safer, Better Lit Streets

About half the streetlights in Southampton have concrete cancer and need replacing.

The money being spent at the moment barely covers the costs of reactive repairs and energy, and there was until recently no programme of planned replacements.

In 2000 the proportion of columns in Southampton over 30 years old was 54%, twice the national average, and a report in 2003 estimated that an investment of some £1M would be required annually ad infinitum to bring the stock eventually within its 25 year design life.

The City Council is bidding for Government money (PFI credits) to finance the replacement of Southampton's streetlights. There is a pot of £600m put aside by Government for the whole country and the Council is hoping to be awarded about £1m of this money to replace 28,000 streetlights and illuminated road signs.

Southampton's Conservative Councillors in principle approve of this proposal, especially insofar as it involves new or extra money. In addition we feel that this opens up lots of additional opportunities. We would like to see the business community informed and involved so far as possible. They may have a real contribution to make. There is talk of advertising revenue, commercial use of the columns, and that kind of thing.

Other ideas and benefits include, prevention of crime, promotion of public safety, prevention of accidents and more efficient use of energy.

Other councils have introduced new streetlights with plugs fitted to the top to which Wireless (WiFi) CCTV cameras can be attached. This would allow CCTV to be put in where there is problem with crime in an area. Cameras could be removed and put elsewhere if the problems are then resolved.

In effect this would mean, for very little cost, CCTV cameras could be put in any area of the city to reduce crime and catch criminals. This would have a big impact on dealing with crime and disorder.

I have proposed that WiFi CCTV is included in the Council's PFI bid and am delighted that this has been agreed.

Travellers Moved On

The former car rental site in Millbrook Road East has now been vacated but it is not known where the Travellers have moved on to.

The local agents of the owner were about to serve notices on the travellers but they left before this was done. The site has been secured by bailiffs.

The City Council is now liaising with the company regarding cleaning up the site.

Silverdale Road Public Meeting

A public meeting is being held at St Marks Church in Archers Road on Monday 4th December at 7pm.

The meeting is to discuss the parking situation in Silverdale Road. Feed back will be given on the recent survey of residents' views. There will be a presentation from a council officer about the sorts of options available to help people park.

Cllr Brian Parnell will be chairing the meeting. I am hopeful that some positive solutions can be found.

Freemantle Community Association

Southampton City Council's Day Care Services are working with the Community Association to redevelop the site to enable them to deliver services from there, similar to the work at St Denys Community Centre.

The swimming pool, which is behind Freemantle Community Centre, also needs the fabric of the building to be rebuilt.

Shirley Swimming Pool

There is also a Health Centre on the site. A meeting is being organised to ensure that the site will be designed and used to meet its full potential.

The matter will also be coming to the Full Council Meeting January.

Should The City Council Be Giving The Police 1m Pounds?

At a meeting yesterday the Liberal Democrat Cabinet took the decision to sell a piece of Council land in Southern Road to the Police for their new HQ. This story was carried by Matt Dean on Sunday and appeared in yesterday's Daily Echo newspaper.

The site at the Junction of West Quay Road and Mountbatten way is worth £3m. However the Lib Dems have agreed to sell it for £2m, £1m lower than it's market value.

Furthermore should the Police move its headquarters from the Civic Centre to a new building on the site, this will leave a back hole in Council finances of nearly £300,000 a year, from lost rent.

I asked the Lib Dem Cabinet member for Resources David Beckett about this a few weeks ago in a public meeting and he wasn't even aware that the decision was coming up! I think this is outrageous!

Why should the City Council be giving another public body £1m of council taxpayer's money. I wonder if it is even legal. The Council has a duty to ensure that it gets the best prices when disposing of land. Only in exceptional circumstances can they sell it for less. One reason is if they are contributing significantly to the wider social good. I am not sure how strongly one could argue this point in this situation. Will the £1m we are giving them be spent directly on front line policing in Southampton? If the Police need more money to buy the land then they should petition the Home Office and not the local council. Also what is happening to all the money the Police will make when they sell their land in Hulse Road for flats?

I am the Vice Chairman of the Council's Resources Scrutiny Panel, which amongst other things scrutinises Council property decisions. The panel has the power to call in controversial decisions and question the reasons behind them. I have requested that the Chairman of this panel calls the decision in, so that it is delayed and a proper discussion can be had.

I would like to know why the Lib Dems are writing out a cheque for £1m with taxpayers' money.

I also want to know what the plan is to replace the lost revenue if the Police move out of the Civic Centre. This will leave the entire west wing of the Civic Centre empty. What is the plan for the building? Will it remain empty like the magistrates courts has done for the past 6 years? I think we deserve the answers to these and other questions before such large sums of public money are given away.

Update 30/11/06: The Chairman of the Resources Panel indicated that she was going to call this decision in. Subsequently however she has changed her mind. Apparently a 6 minute dicsussion on the subject at a meeting on Tuesday was sufficient to convince her that no further debate was necessary!

Government Underfunding Means Another Inflation Busting Council Tax Hike Next Year

Picture from isitfair.co.uk

The Government today announced what funding it will provide local councils next year. There is an informative article on epolitix.com.

Once again Government funding will be insufficient to match spending demands on local councils. Every year the Government requires local councils to do more and more but fails to provide sufficient money. The Government has forced up council tax by astronomical levels since 1997. It is a stealth tax pure and simple. The Government has wanted to spend more money and rather than directly raising taxes, they have under funded local government, imposed spending obligations on councils and forced up council tax to pay for it. The Government then pretends otherwise.

This is causing enormous distress to those on fixed or low incomes, who are finding a disproprionate amount of their income is going on tax bills.

Locally in Southampton the Conservatives commit to keep council tax increases below the rate of inflation. We are working on our budget proposals now in preparation for the budget meeting in February. Conservatives will seek to protect our vital front line services like social sevices and education whilst at the same time eliminating bureaucracy so tax can be kept down. Like last year I will do a posting on the detail of Conservative budget proposals.

Every year Labour and the Lib Dems produce an inflation busting council tax hike and then do a deal with each other to implement it. I wonder if this year will be any different.

Planning Meeting - 5th December

The next Planning and Rights of Way Panel meeting is being at on 5th December at the Civic Centre. Click HERE for a link to the list of applications being decided upon.

Each planning application has a reference. All the paperwork can be viewed online. Click HERE to see details of all planning applications under consideration by the Council.


The following Freemantle Ward applications are being discussed:


06/014341/FUL - 78-79 The Avenue & r/o 3 Archers Rd

The proposal is to demolish Archers House, 1A Archers Road. Redevelopment of the site to provide 79 dwellings, a terrace of 8 houses and 4 three and four-storey buildings (including accommodation within the roofspace) to provide 71 flats (56 x one-bedroom, 15 x two-bedroom) with associated parking, landscaping and a new vehicular access from Archers Road.

Archers House was until recently offices for the Social Services department of the Council. It was orginally built as a nurses' home.

The site is massive and this development will have a big impact on the area. Only 37 car parking spaces are being provided for. This is not sufficient and will lead to more parking problems in the area. I have written to the Council asking that greater parking is provided for. I have also written strongly urging that the planning panel require as a condition that the development is properly in keeping with the 19th Century character of the Avenue Conservation Area.

06/01442/FUL - 14-20 Shirley Road

This is an application by the Society of St James to change the use of this building to a drug rehabilitation centre and needle exchange. This application came before the planning panel recently for a site in the High Street. It was rejected by the panel following presentation by local restaurant owners.

I have objected to this application. I have pasted my letter of objection below so you can see my reasons.

I would like to object to the above planning application.

This is a very controversial application. The last time this application came forward it was rejected by Councillors on the planning panel.

I recognise that it is a social necessity and there is a serious drugs problem in the city.

I also have a great deal of respect for the work done by the Society of St James.

However it will inevitably impact on the residential area about it.

My ward colleagues and I have received no communication or information about this application. We have not been consulted or had the opportunity to discuss the matter.

I am very disappointed that we have not been consulted, given the nature of the application. In the past we have been consulted over similar matters and it was a worthwhile and constructive exercise.

I would ask that the decision at the very least is deferred to a future planning meeting so ward Councillors can be properly informed and dialogue can be had.

I did wonder about doing a posting on this application given its nature. However it was pointed out to me that if I didn't I would be guilty of the same thing that I am acusing the Council of.

UPDATE 30/11/06 - The application for the drugs rehab centre is being postponed until a future meeting in January. This will allow for further consultation.

London Road Improvements Scheme Is Coming Off The Rails

Those responsible for the so called improvements to London Road seem to have completely lost the plot!

The Council introduced a no right turn into Brunswick Place from London Road some time ago. Since then cars have either been cutting right down Carlton Place and through Bedford Place or have been going left down Bellevue Road, down Kings Park Road and then turning right into Brunswick Place. The former is causing further traffic congestion and the latter is extremely dangerous.

The no right turn at the end of London Road was intended to force cars round the Charlotte Place Roundabout and reduce congestion along London Road. If this is to work it should be made much clearer to motorists. Also the Council needs to stop right hand turns out of Kings Park Road before there is an accident.

In Carlton Place bizarre modifications have been made to the road layout at the junction of Carlton Crescent. There appears to be a taxi rank there now, although I have never seen a taxi parked in it. There are no road signs so motorists are left confused as to where they should and shouldn't be driving.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax payers money has been spent to so far on London Road. Now the Council are asking for another £700,000 to make more changes along London Road. The main change seems to be to make the pavements enormously and pointlessly wide. The Council are unhappy with the work by the contractor they have used up until now and so they are planning to spend even more money on procuring the services of a new company to do the additional work.

Would it not make more sense to can this project and rather than spending the money on frustrating motorists, spend it on repairing some of the road in our city suburbs that are in a terrible state of repair?

Full details of Council plans for London Road can be found by clicking HERE.

20 mph For Mandela Way

The City Council is planning to reduce the speed limit in Mandela Way from 30mph to 20mph. Deadlines for objections to this proposal must be received by 18th December. To object you must write to Mark R Heath, Solicitor to the Council, Southbrook Rise, Millbrook Road East, Southampton, SO15 1YG. Further information can be obtained from Parking Services on 023 8083 4416.

Bevois Conservatives Blog Site

Bevois Ward Conservatives have set up a blog site. Visit it HERE.

Travellers In Millbrook Road East

A group of Travellers are occupying a vacant property in Millbrook Road East.

There are six caravans and associated vehicles on site and they are believed to be part of a group that have been evicted from a number of sites in Southampton, most recently the Library car park at Lordshill.

The land that they are on is owned by Sixt Rental whose registered office is in Derbyshire. They had operated a vehicle rental business from the property.

Action is being taken to remove them. I will post an update when I have more information.

Tour of Our Art Collection and the Magistrates Courts

On Saturday morning I had a tour of the City Council's art collection followed by a look around around the former Magistrates Courts at the Civic Centre. It was absolutely fascinating and I could have spent the whole day looking around.


The City Art Collection

As well as briefing looking around the gallery, I had a look at where the art is stored and also where paintings are restored.

The Boat on the Lake, by French Impresionist artist Renoir, was generously donated to the City last month.

I had a close look at Renoir's Boat on the Lake which was recently donated to the City. The painting doesn't have a frame at the moment! Although it soon will have and it is planned to be displayed in January next year.

The city has an art collection of over three and a half thousand paintings worth a staggering £130m. Only about 200 paintings are ever on display at any one time. A few are loaned out. The vast majority however are kept in storage. On average a painting might remain in storage for 4 years before it is displayed!

At the moment the city's gallery costs the tax payer about half a percent on their council tax. Really though with such a valuable asset it should be making money and not losing it. I wonder whether the Council could make significant sums of money by lending paintings out to businesses and wealthy individuals.

Furthermore the art collection really should be insured. The Civic Centre is a very old building and parts of it leak. It would be a terrible waste of public money if the paintings suffered water damage.

The Magistrates Courts

Built in the 1930s the Civic Centre consists of four blocks. The east block houses the Guildhall. The north block or arts block consists of the art gallery and library. The south block consists of the municipal offices. The west block of the Civic Centre opened in 1933 and houses the former law courts and the city central police station.

The west wing, originally courts, now hosting the police station, and the monumental clock tower.

Tragically the parts of the building that house the former law courts have been closed for the past eight years. The building needs serious repairs to the roof which could cost millions of pounds. The building has a steel frame. Rusting steel is expanding and putting pressure on the stonework.

The police plan to move out of the Civic Centre in a couple of years time. When they do the whole west block will be empty. It will be a tragedy for such an amazing building to be empty and mothballed.

One idea is for the west wing to be used as a heritage centre and linked through to the art gallery. It could house a Titanic exhibition and show off some of Southampton's incredible history. Such a venture would cost significant sums of money. However if heritage grants are available then it might be worth pursuing. If the building is left it will deteriorate further and we do have a duty to maintain such a fantastic building for future generations.

Coxford Conservatives Online

Neil Fitzgerald, Conservative Candidate for Coxford Ward has set up a blog.

Neil has been working very hard in Coxford Ward, since his selection earlier this year, as the Conservative candidate in next May's Council elections. In particular Neil has been helping residents with problems of crime and anti social behaviour.

Neil's interests are in education, promoting Southampton's heritage and the protecting the environment.

Well Done Eddy!

Councillor Edwina Cooke (Mayor of Southampton 2005-2006)

On Wednesday Cllr Edwina Cooke was awarded the title of second best Mayor of the year by the Co-Operative Bank.

Councillor Edwina Cooke was Sheriff of Southampton in 2004-2005 and became the 783rd Mayor of Southampton in May 2005.

Edwina attended a staggering number of events in her mayoral year. In total she completed about 1000 functions on behalf of the city. Leaders of all political parties paid tribute to Edwina and congratulated her for her fantastic achievement.

Highlights of Edwina's mayoral year included awarding Freedom of the City to the Normandy Veterans and the Burma Star Association on VJ day, awarding Freedom of the City to the crew and officers of the world's most famous passenger liner the QE2, and riding a bucking bronco!

She was first elected to Southampton City Council in May 2002 as a Councillor for Shirley Ward. Her interests are Heritage, Housing, Conservation of the City Parks and Common, and supporting local shops and post offices. Edwina moved to Southampton in 1957 when her employer, Cunard, closed its offices in Liverpool. Whilst with Cunard she sailed on many of the great liners. Leaving Cunard to take become a self-employed Sub-Postmaster, Edwina worked at the Upper Shirley and Bitterne post offices. She became Regional President and then National President of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, and was the Federation's first woman President in its 97 year history.

It's Time To Buy The Former Civil Service Sports Ground

Tomorrow Southampton City Council is voting on the approval of £4.11m of funds to implement the Learning Futures: Secondary Education proposals, that were revealed earlier this month.

One of the proposals is to conduct as feasibility study and develop a business case for the eventual relocation of the Regents Park Community College as a mixed school onto the St Mark's CE Junior School site on Shirley Road, with the former Civil Service Sports Ground to be used as playing fields.

The site would be developed as a Learning Campus together with St Mark's CE Junior School in partnership with the CE Diocese of Winchester and St Mark's CE Junior School through Building Schools for the Future. (A Government fund which will be available in 2009/10)

Furthermore, the Learning Futures proposals call for the relocation of Regents Park Community College to the St Mark's site, including early discussions with the trustees of St Mark's Junior School (the owners of the St Mark's site; the Director of Education for the Winchester CE Diocese and Bovis Homes (the current owner of the Civil Service Ground).

£30,000 has been allocated to conduct the feasibility study. However no additional funding has been put aside for the purchase of the former Civil Service Sports Ground. This would need to happen for the project to be successful.

In 2003 a sum of money was allocated to the Strategic Reserve to acquire the Civil Service Sports Ground from it's former owners the Civil Service Sports Association. However the funds were insufficient and no progress was made. Then earlier this year the land was sold to Bovis Homes.

In tomorrow's Council meeting Conservative Councillors will be calling for additional funds to be allocated from spare resources within the current capital programme to be added to the money already allocated in the Strategic Reserve for the potential future purchase of the land, for the purpose of providing playing fields for the St Marks and Regents Park Schools.

The Learning Futures consultation has revealed that there is considerable support in the community for having new schools on the St Mark's site. This won't work however unless the Council acquires the former Civil Service Sports Ground. If the Council can acquire the land from Bovis Homes then this will strengthen the Council's position when applying for funding for new schools in 2009.

Conservatives will be calling on Labour and Lib Dem Councillors to support us in tomorrow's Council meeting. If they do then we can save the last remaining green space in Freemantle for local people and help pave the way for new schools for our local community.


UPDATE 17/11/06 - I am delighted to report that the amendment carried all party support. We are now in an excellent position to purchase the site in the very near future.

This Week

Despite no postings I have had a very hectic last few days. The week ahead is also pretty busy politically.

Tomorrow I am off to London for a day's pensions and investments training. This is for the Hampshire County Council Pension Fund Panel that I serve on. Then on Friday we have a pension fund panel meeting.

Wednesday afternoon is Full Council. The big item on the agenda is the approval of funding for the Council's re-organisation of secondary school education in the city. Click HERE for the Council agenda.

On Saturday, Cllr Royston Smith and I are having a tour of the city council's art stores, followed by a tour of the old magistrates courts. The magistrates courts are part of the Civic Centre but have been mothballed for a number of years. I am quite excited about looking around the old law courts as I have never seen them. They were described to me today as being a bit like the Mayor's parlour but much, much bigger. The purpose of the tour is to see whether the rooms can be used for something like a heritage centre or to display more of the city's £130m art collection.

Let Local People Decide

Conservative Leader David Cameron has called for local councils to be set free from central government and for a reduction in the powers of Whitehall and unelected quangos.

The Conservatives intend to table a Sustainable Communities Bill after the Queen's Speech. This will call for local councils to develop their own spending priorities and allow them the freedom to come up with local solutions to local problems. Click HERE to read the article in Friday's Guardian.

The Tar Barrels Of Ottery

Ottery St Mary Carnival - a tradition dating back 400 years.

I spent the weekend down in Devon in the small town of Ottery St Mary. Every bonfire night local people perform a bizarre ritual in which they run through the streets carrying lit tar barrels.

It's a pretty dangerous looking activity. There is a fire engine on stand by and a hoard of St Johns Ambulance people. I haven't heard of or seen anyone get seriously hurt. This year I saw one of the barrel rollers use his head to support the barrel causing his hair to catch fire. He didn't seem to notice but luckily his friends quickly patted it out!

It is a unique and fascinating experience. However, as the ominous yellow signs that dot the town say, you go at your own risk.

Below is a short video I found on YouTube, which gives a feel for the event:

Thoughts On Climate Change

Over the last week issue of climate change has dominated the news.

The Stern Report concludes that if we (businesses, governments and individuals) act now make the right choices we can avert the dire consequences of climate change.

The report argues that the cost of action to reduce greenhouse gasses is about 1% of global GDP each year. If we rise to the challenge we can have economic prosperity and preserve the planet.

In the past radical environmentalists have argued that we must make a stark choice between a consumer economy and destroying the environment or radically changing the way we live our lives and returning to some sort of pre industrial subsistance way of life.

Today there are those who deny that there is an overwhelming scientific consensus about the effects of greenhouses gases and who instead argue that it is a grand plot by politicians to provide an excuse to squeeze more tax out of us and interfere even more in our lives.

Unless you are a scientist it is difficult to truly know what is what. However I do feel that if we tackle greenhouse emissions we win either way. If the scientists are right and we rise to the challenge, then we will have saved the planet for future generations. If the scientists are wrong then we will have prevented the unnecessary waste of huge amounts of energy through investing in more efficient technologies. I for one am happy to pay the price.

David Cameron Was Right To Call For An Iraq Inquiry

Conservatives were right yesterday to support calls for an inquiry into the situation in Iraq.

A review is needed and although only a few Labour MPs voted against the Labour whip in yesterday's Commons vote I expect many more wanted to.

Even Defence Secretary Des Browne agreed with the need for an inquiry and said so after the vote.

I didn't watch it on television but did get a chance to read some of the debate as recorded in Hansard. I thought William Hague was brilliant. Despite attempts by Labour MPs to wrong foot him, he effectively slapped down all the feeble arguments against a proper review of the situation in Iraq. Labour were saying that by questioning the situation we are undermining our troops. What nonsense! There hasn't been a Commons debate on Iraq for 2 years. Some of the Labour language is so similar to that used by George Bush. You are either with us or against us, both Bush and Labour say. Everything is portrayed as black and white in an effort to destroy intelligent, rational debate.

We need a proper inquiry, perhaps not right now, but certainly in the near future. In calling for this the Conservatives are doing what they should be doing, acting as an effective opposition. I was disappointed that our local Labour MPs felt that they had to support the Government on this issue, rather than doing what was right.

EU Budget Fails To Be Signed Off Again

For the 12th year running auditors have refused to sign off the EU's budget. It becoming such a recurring theme that it doesn't even attract any media coverage now. Dan Hannan MEP has written a piece on it on his website, called "We are heading for an amicable divorce."

Alan Whitehead's Mixed Messages on Civil Service Ground

This morning I came across this article on the Civil Service Sports Ground in Freemantle on Labour MP Alan Whitehead's website.

The matter of the Civil Service Ground is still unresolved, howver there is a cross party view that the land should remain as green space and not be built on and that the public should have access.

The future of the land is tied up in the review of secondary education which is currently on in the city. The picture on the future of the schools will become clearer later this month when the Lib Dem Cabinet Member for Children's services outlines her preferred approach.

One idea being pushed is that the land could be acquired for St Marks school or a new school(s) on the St Marks site.

Alan Whitehead muddies the waters when he says "In 2004 the City Council approved the sale of the former Civil Service Sports Ground in Freemantle to a housing developer."

This is simply not true as he well knows. The land was not owned by the Council. It was owned by the Civil Service Sports Association which entered into a private arrangement with Bovis Homes to sell the land to them.

Council planners have designated the land as green open space in planning terms and will resist any attempts by Bovis to build houses or flats on the land. The only danger in planning terms is that planning rules from Government now are so prescriptive and there are Government central and regional planning targets exist which the Council must achieve. A developer might try and push an planning application through on appeal on these grounds. If this happened I would hope we would do everything we could to fight it each step of the way.

Labour have sought to make this a partisan issue in the past. I really hope that they don't try and do so again as it is very unhelpful and in no one's interest.

Greenpeace Meeting

This evening I went to a meeting run by Greenpeace at the Nuffield. The meeting was about how UK should source its energy needs in the future.

This is a very topical issue at the moment, as many of the UK's power stations are coming to the end of their lives and the Government needs to decide whether it is going to invest in natural gas, coal, renewable energies, nuclear or a combination of all of these.

Tony Blair has pre-empted his own energy review and nailed his colours firmly to the nuclear mast, much to the disappointment of local Labour MP Alan Whitehead.

By contrast Greenpeace are calling for investment in renewalable energies and decentralised local power stations using Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology.

I was very interested to hear the advantages of going down this route and it was an extremely interesting, well informed and moderate debate.

Southampton is one of the few places in the UK which has a CHP power station and there are plans to build another one in the City. Southampton has a gas powered CHP station which supplies the energy for most of Northern Above Bar, including West Quay, the Civic Centre and the new flats built on the site of the old Polygon Hotel. It used to be powered by a Geothermal Well, however this has largely reached the end of its life and it is powered by natural gas now.

Plans are underway to build a second CHP station in Millbrook to supply energy to thousands of homes on the Millbrook estate. The key benefit of CHP is that it is very efficient and there is significantly less energy loss and CO2 emissions. The downside is that it is very expensive to lay all the pipework.

The Millbrook CHP station is already running into difficulty. It was originally going to be fueled by Palm Oil, until it was discovered that this meant felling rainforests in the 3rd world and threatening the habitat of endangered Orang-utans. Now the Council is looking at using oil seed rape. Yesterday it was revealed in the Daily Echo that the private firm working with the Council to build the power plant, had pulled out over uncertainties surrounding the project.

I am all in favour of local solutions to local problems and so instinctively the idea of a Decentralised Energy (DE) appeals to me. The Conservatives and the Lib Dems nationally look like they are supportive of the idea. Labour remain opposed and look like adopting a centralised approach to the UK's energy needs, with a large emphasis on building a new generation of nuclear power stations.

At the meeting Greenpeace argued that the Decentralised Energy approach would mean less CO2 emissions over all and would be cheaper. Also lots of small power stations must be less of a target for terrorists than several huge ones powering large areas.

Decentralised Energy CHP would still be reliant on natural gas (a fossil fuel). However Greenpeace went on to argue that natural gas could slowly be phased out in favour of more Bio Mass and Biogas powered stations.

I heard lots of statistics and I am sure that those pushing the centralised nuclear approach could produce equally convincing numbers. That said Greenpeace put forward a strong case.

However I cannot see a local, decentralised approach to energy working unless we have reform of local government finances. If local government continues to be primarily reliant on grants from government, I can't see how it can really engage with these sorts of projects on a sizeable scale. If local government is to take on the challenge it must be given the resources and freedom to do so.

Planning Meeting - 7th November

The next Planning and Rights of Way meeting will be held on 7th November. An agenda for the meeting can be found by clicking HERE.

A list of applications being heard can be found by clicking HERE. None of the applications being considered are in Freemantle Ward.

Labour's Outrageous New Council Tax Plans

Labour are now planning to hike up Council Tax for those living in "nice areas". New Big Brother computer systems will calculate the desirability of an area based on the quality of local services and the types of people who live there. The impact of all this could be tax increases for some of 4 times their current Council Tax levels.

Apparently an astonishing range of data will be held on people including sex, age, ethnic profile, the job you have and what you eat and drink. Fines of £1000 will be imposed on families who don't allow government inspectors to photograph the insides and outsides of their homes.

If this is allowed to go ahead it will mean a massive infringement on people's privacy. It will no doubt cost a fortune to administer. It will also see even more money transferred away from the South of England to Labour heartlands in the North.

What on earth are the Government thinking of!!? This story comes just after the Government's White Paper on local government (supposedly aimed at transferring powers away from central Government) and it comes before the anticipated Lyons Review on local government finance.

It shows that Labour, firstly has no real plans to devolve powers to local government and that it's willingness to hike taxes, interfere in peoples' lives and run roughshod over individual liberties knows no bounds.

The full story is on the Daily Mail website and is also covered on ConservativeHome.

Northlands Road Closure

My ward colleagues and I have been asked why part of Northlands Road has been closed.

No one told us either so we have looked into it.

Northlands Road has been temporarily closed between Archers Road and Westrow Road to allow a sewer connection to take place. This closure was expected to last for about a week.

From The (He)art

Over the past few weeks it has come to public attention that Southampton's magnificent art collection of over 3,500 works, is valued at more than £130m. Many, including myself, were astounded to discover that the collection is uninsured against damage or theft. Labour cancelled the insurance policy 12 years ago. Under the Lib Dems, the art collection has remained uninsured. Even more astounding is the fact that the Lib Dem Leisure and Tourism boss, Steve Sollitt didn't know anything about it.

When the matter was sensationally raised in the pages of the Daily Echo last week, there was barely a twitter from Labour or the Lib Dems. I was very disappointed with their lazy, disinterested responses.

Given the enormous value of the collection, I am determined to keeping pressing the point. I have sought some advice on how much the premium would be to insure our collection. Quotations range from £50,000 a year (for basic cover) to £100,000 a year for full cover against accidental damage and theft.

The value and location of the city's art collection is now in the public domain. I think this is a good thing. It is much better than keeping the matter secret, and the art hidden away in a dusty vault. However now that it is public knowledge it is even more important that we address the matter.

We urgently need a new valuation for the city art collection. The last one was done 5 years ago. It could be that it has risen significantly in value since then. We need an independent assessment of the risk to the collection and our security measures and procedures. We also need to get the collection insured. The money is there. We are sat on £130m of art after all! We could sell one or two paintings and insure the remaining thousands. I would imagine there are a number of paintings that don't fit with the rest of the collection.

I am told that not all art collections are insured and so Southampton is not unique. However I reminded that the Queen didn't have her art collection insured and many valuable items were destroyed in the fire at Windsor Castle.

Looking forward we need a proper strategy for our art collection. The London galleries get a return on their asset. We should be talking to them about how we can generate income through loaning out works to private collectors, company headquarters and the like. Even a 1% return on our asset would generate £1.3m a year. This is the equivalent of a 2% reduction in the Council Tax for the whole city.

Finally we should be displaying far more of the art locally for the benefit and enjoyment of local people.

The Lib-Lab Council needs to pull its finger out and start taking more of an interest. Even if they aren't interested in art they should at least take an interest in what is after all public money.

Latest Poll Gives Cameron's Conservatives A 10 Point Lead

Political Betting reports that an ICM opinion poll in tomorrow's Guardian puts the parties as follows:

Conservative 39%
Labour 29%
Lib Dem 22%

There is some discussion on Political Betting about whether recent media coverage of the Conservative policy on taxation may have helped boost the party.

My own view is that the Party is doing the right thing on tax. At the last two general elections the Party has gone to the electorate with proposals to cut a few specific taxes. Now the Party is being considerably more thoughtful on tax, saying economic stability must come first.

I think our guiding principles on any future tax policy should be, firstly ensuring that we simplify the tax system, secondly that we look to incentivise socially responsible behaviour and disincentivise irresponsible behaviour, thirdly that any tax cuts will genuinely stimulate the economy.

How Green Is Your Car?

I have been looking at the website How Green Is Your Car? It's a really good site; it's fun, interactive and informative.

You can put in details of the car you drive and see how much CO2 it produces.

In calling for the burden of tax to be shifted from things that are good to things that are bad, David Cameron is saying that we should have higher taxes on the most polluting cars rather than simply taxing cars with bigger engines.

The cars and lorries on our roads account for more than a quarter of the UK's CO2 emissions and the figure is going up all the time.

Conservatives want to see average emission levels from new cars in the UK reduce from around 170 grammes a kilometre to 100 g/km in 2022. By 2030 we want that to be the average for all cars on the road.

David Cameron is also calling for a Climate Change Bill to be supported by all political parties. This would set carbon emission targets each year. The Government at the moment has a distant target in 2050 but it is not clear how and whether we would reach it.

I went to quite a few environmental fringe meetings at the Conservative Conference earlier this month. Below is a video with some comments on the enviroment filmed during the Conference.

My main reason for putting this on here was to see if I could up load a video. If it works I will put some more on in the future.

University Conservatives Go From Strength To Strength

Tonight was the Southampton University Conservative Association's first social event of the academic year.

I popped along briefly to Bridge Bar at the University. It was a fantastic turn out. There were perhaps 100 students there and I am told that about 200 are signed up members.

The Conservative Student committee are a great bunch of people and the strength of the society today is a testament to all their hard work.

I had an interesting chat with Ben Rogers, president of the students union. I also met a couple of Labour activists who had come along. One guy was involved in the Labour election campaign in Freemantle earlier this year, so we had some fun sharing election stories.

Earlier today the University was host to Labour MP and at present the only formal leadership challenger to Tony Blair, John McDonnell. He spoke at the Student's Union (click here for link) and was apparently keen that they endorsed his leadership bid. They didn't incidently.

I notice on McDonnell's website he has former Freemantle Labour Councillor, Simon Letts down as a contact for Southampton. Presumably Letts is backing his campaign.

Can You Spot The Imposter?

A Conservative Councillor was recently spotted infiltrating a Unison Rally in Southampton.

Click here to see if you can spot him on the video on the Daily Echo website.

The Councillor was later seen in the Council chamber brandishing a requisitioned Unison banner.

Lord Hurd and Thoughts on the War in Iraq

Pictured above: Lord Hurd and Southampton Conservatives at the Blue Keys Hotel in Northlands Road.

Lord Hurd delivered a speech yesterday to Conservative Party members, at the Blue Keys Hotel in Northlands Road, before speaking again to members of the public at the Nuffield Theatre at Southampton University.

I won't go into too much detail about what he said, as Matt Dean covers this extensively in a posting on his blog earlier today.

Lord Hurd talked a great deal about British politicians that he had worked with and world leaders he had met as Foreign Secretary. It was extremely interesting to hear all of the human stories and insights into the personalities of famous statesmen, stories you would never normally hear.

Foreign Affairs

I was particularly keen to hear his views on foreign affairs. Lord Hurd was a diplomat before entering into politics, serving in Peking, New York and Rome. He served in the Cabinet during a period of remarkable change across the world. He dealt with the collapse of communism, the reunification of Germany, the first Gulf War in 1991, the Maastrict treaty and the hand over of Hong Kong

I was interested to hear his views of Britain's role in the world today and his thoughts on the situation we find ourselves in, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iraq in particular, is in a dreadful situation today and I was keen to hear Lord Hurd's assessment of the situation, as he was one of those arguing against military intervention.

As Prime Minister, Tony Blair has backed the United States to the hilt, supporting their foreign policy adventures at every stage, committing thousands of British troops to conflicts abroad.

Lord Hurd explained that firstly you go to war to protect yourself from foreign aggression. Secondly you will wage war to support your allies if they are attacked. Intervening in countries which are not directly threatening you or your allies is another matter entirely.

Saddam Hussein was an evil and brutal dictator, obsessed with increasing his own power. However, Lord Hurd argued that he was not mad. He would not have been so foolish to attack the West, when it would undoubtedly have meant his certain annihilation.

Hurd argued that in foreign affairs you will often adopt double standards, intervening in some circumstances but refraining from doing so in others.

He says that you "do good where you can" but you always know that when you go to war, civilians are doing to be killed.

Ultimately it is a judgement call. As Lord Hurd said we must bring our frail judgment to bear on the situation and take what we feel is the best decision.

In Iraq we have removed a bloodthirsty dictator. However the situation there now is arguably far worse than it was before. Even under Saddam you didn't have the daily death toll which we now see. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands have been killed in Iraq since the invasion.

It is further estimated that hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on the military and reconstruction effort in Iraq. The economy however is shattered and the country possibly on the bring of civil war.

Whatever the arguments were at the beginning for going to war, in hindsight it has been a foreign policy disaster.

Blair has blindly followed the United States in a way that previous British Prime Ministers never did. In the past the British have influenced US foreign policy, being a staunch ally but a constructive critic where it was needed. We entered this conflict with absolutely no idea of what we would do once the war was over. Rebuilding the country and the economy and establishing a new government and the rule of law were after thoughts.

One thing Lord Hurd said, that I agree with, is that we should not again intervene militarily in another country when half the British people do not support it. It is not fair to our servicemen and servicewomen.

The world is looking ever more dangerous by the day. North Korea has exploded a nuclear bomb and Iran are hell bent on developing nuclear weapons. The world today needs politicians like Lord Hurd, who can show wisdom and moderation as well as resolve. Sadly today our leaders do not show such qualities.

Read and Write And Spell In English

Below is a poster that should be going up around Freemantle soon. I will try and get some up in the local pubs.

READ AND WRITE AND SPELL IN ENGLISH!

Can you speak some English?
but...

is reading and writing a problem?

Free classes for European Union Citizens intending

St Marks C of E Junior School Stafford Road Shirley SO15 5TE
Starting Thursday 2 November 2006 1830hrs

These are not classes for beginners; students must
be able to speak some English already
Teaching by tutors from Eastleigh College

Arranged by EU Welcome Project
euwelcome@yahoo.co.uk 07786 392886