The Council has gone back on its promise to rebuild Redbrige Primary school. They don't have the money.
There were 2 big capital overspends in Redbridge recently:
1) The building of Brownhill House in Lower Brownhill Road went over budget by hundreds of thousands of pounds. This started under Labour and was completed under the Lib Dems.
2) Also expenditure on Mansel Park was a couple of hundred thousand over what was planned.
Had the Lib Dems controlled expenditure they would have had money for Redbridge Primary school. At the time I heard the argument that we should be happy with the wonderful new facilities and should not moan about the extra cost incurred. However there is a limited pot of money and if it is wasted, other worthy projects like rebuilding Redbridge Primary suffer the consequences.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Southampton Political Blogging Takes Off
Political web blogs are all the craze now in Southampton. In the last couple of weeks two new sites have been set up!
MattDeanSouthampton - A blog from Matthew Dean, Southampton resident, publican and Officer of Southampton Test Conservative Association.
Dick's Blog - Diary of a Conservative Councillor in Southampton, representing Sholing Ward.
I feel that we may be on the brink of an explosion of poltical blogging in the City. Who knows...
Meanwhile Award Winning Sandra Gidley MP hasn't updated her Blog since 31st January 2006. This one hasn't been updated since 2005! - Gidley Watch.
MattDeanSouthampton - A blog from Matthew Dean, Southampton resident, publican and Officer of Southampton Test Conservative Association.
Dick's Blog - Diary of a Conservative Councillor in Southampton, representing Sholing Ward.
I feel that we may be on the brink of an explosion of poltical blogging in the City. Who knows...
Meanwhile Award Winning Sandra Gidley MP hasn't updated her Blog since 31st January 2006. This one hasn't been updated since 2005! - Gidley Watch.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Planning Meeting on 20th June
There is a Planning and Rights of Way pannel meeting on 20th June. 4 out of the 6 applications being looked at are in Freemantle Ward.
You can get all the details of each application and all the diagrams by clicking here.
The applications are:
06/00586/FUL
65 Howard Road Southampton SO15 5BE
Redevelopment of the site to comprise 7 x one-bedroom flats in a three-storey block.
06/00017/FUL
151 Hill Lane Southampton SO15 5AF
Redevelopment of the site by the erection of 3 no. three-bed and 1 no. four-bed townhouses.
06/00635/FUL
42 Landguard Road Southampton SO15 5DP
Conversion of house into 6 flats (2 x 2-bedroom, and 4 x 1
06/00723/FUL
143-145 Paynes Road Southampton SO15 3BW
Redevelopment of the site by the erection of a four storey building of 14 ...
You can get all the details of each application and all the diagrams by clicking here.
The applications are:
06/00586/FUL
65 Howard Road Southampton SO15 5BE
Redevelopment of the site to comprise 7 x one-bedroom flats in a three-storey block.
06/00017/FUL
151 Hill Lane Southampton SO15 5AF
Redevelopment of the site by the erection of 3 no. three-bed and 1 no. four-bed townhouses.
06/00635/FUL
42 Landguard Road Southampton SO15 5DP
Conversion of house into 6 flats (2 x 2-bedroom, and 4 x 1
06/00723/FUL
143-145 Paynes Road Southampton SO15 3BW
Redevelopment of the site by the erection of a four storey building of 14 ...
Monday, June 12, 2006
Pensioners and Free Bus Passes
I went to the Southampton Pensioners' Forum debate this afternoon. This was the second time I have gone and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were representatives from Labour (Dennis Harryman) and Lib Dems (Jill Baston).
They didn't really ask me many questions and I got off quite lightly. Jill Baston took most of the flak. There was one embarassing moment when I had to admit that I didn't really know who the Older Person's Champion on the Council was or what he/she did or should do. Fortunately most people seemed a bit unclear on the matter.
The main topic of conversation was free bus travel.
Free buses came in in April following funding of £1.5m from central Government to pay for it. (Conservatives had been calling for it for some time).
Pensioners in Southampton can now travel for free within Southampton's boundaries. Unfortunately they can't travel out of Southampton and back again for free.
The Lib Dems blame the Government for botching the free bus pass scheme. Labour blame the Lib Dem Council. The Lib Dems say that the scheme can't be extended until 2008 and requires a change in the law. They are going to review the matter this year.
The truth is they are both right and they are both wrong! The Labour did botch the scheme and that's why they are introducing new legislation for a new scheme in 2008. However the Lib Dems could extend the scheme if it wanted and if they were prepared to shell out and estimated additional £500k -£700k.
Despite campaigning for free travel outside Southampton's boundaries, Labour have not said how they would fund the scheme. Labour and the Lib Dems passed a joint Council budget for the year back in Febraury and there was no money for this. A pretty empty Labour election promise you might say!
My own view is lets look at it, understand how much it might cost and weigh up the scheme against all the other demands on the Council purse. After all in February the Lib / Lab budget agreed cuts of £150k to the home care budget for elderly people needing social services help! Social care for the elderly must surely be a higher priority?
I think Councillors need to be a lot more honest and open with residents and taxpayers.
They didn't really ask me many questions and I got off quite lightly. Jill Baston took most of the flak. There was one embarassing moment when I had to admit that I didn't really know who the Older Person's Champion on the Council was or what he/she did or should do. Fortunately most people seemed a bit unclear on the matter.
The main topic of conversation was free bus travel.
Free buses came in in April following funding of £1.5m from central Government to pay for it. (Conservatives had been calling for it for some time).
Pensioners in Southampton can now travel for free within Southampton's boundaries. Unfortunately they can't travel out of Southampton and back again for free.
The Lib Dems blame the Government for botching the free bus pass scheme. Labour blame the Lib Dem Council. The Lib Dems say that the scheme can't be extended until 2008 and requires a change in the law. They are going to review the matter this year.
The truth is they are both right and they are both wrong! The Labour did botch the scheme and that's why they are introducing new legislation for a new scheme in 2008. However the Lib Dems could extend the scheme if it wanted and if they were prepared to shell out and estimated additional £500k -£700k.
Despite campaigning for free travel outside Southampton's boundaries, Labour have not said how they would fund the scheme. Labour and the Lib Dems passed a joint Council budget for the year back in Febraury and there was no money for this. A pretty empty Labour election promise you might say!
My own view is lets look at it, understand how much it might cost and weigh up the scheme against all the other demands on the Council purse. After all in February the Lib / Lab budget agreed cuts of £150k to the home care budget for elderly people needing social services help! Social care for the elderly must surely be a higher priority?
I think Councillors need to be a lot more honest and open with residents and taxpayers.
Alan Whitehead's McFreebie
Breaking news about MP Alan Whitehead's free trip to the World Cup this weekend on Matt Dean's blog.
Park Hotel to the Rescue!
The Council has been struggling to find and agree a suitable place for a glass recycling bank in Freemantle.
Finally after months of searching, the Park Hotel in Shirley Road (90 Shirley Road on the junction of Sir Georges Road) has come to the rescue, offering to use its land as a site for the new glass bottle bank.
Click here to find the bottle bank on multimap.
Lib Dems do a U-turn on schools review
The plans to close Grove Park school have been temporarily shelved following a U-Turn by Lib Dem Education chief, Anne Milton.
Cllr Milton has admitted that the proposal to close Grove Park school was a pannicked response to opposition to her earlier proposal to close Woolston school.
The Council is going consult again and get views on the future of the most controversial schools, namely Regents Park/Bellemoor, Millbrook School/Oaklands School and Woolston/Grove Park.
A decision on the future of these schools will not be made until December.
The Conservatives have condemned the review of secondary education in the City as a total shambles.
Cllr Milton has admitted that the proposal to close Grove Park school was a pannicked response to opposition to her earlier proposal to close Woolston school.
The Council is going consult again and get views on the future of the most controversial schools, namely Regents Park/Bellemoor, Millbrook School/Oaklands School and Woolston/Grove Park.
A decision on the future of these schools will not be made until December.
The Conservatives have condemned the review of secondary education in the City as a total shambles.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Save Grove Park
The announcement by Southampton City Council that they want to shut Grove Park Business and Enterprise College (formerly Weston Park Boys School) has come has a huge shock.
An excellent website has been set up help campaign to save Grove Park. It has a message board and some excellent arguments about why the school should be kept open.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
