Southampton's Buried Art Collection

Southampton's art gallery in the Civic Centre.


Lately there has been a great deal of discussion about art in the pages of the local newspaper.

Having read various articles in the paper I thought it would be interesting to find out how much art the City Council actually has. So I tabled a question at the last full Council meeting.

I was astonished to discover that the City has over 135,000,000 pounds of art. This is the figure taken from 2001, the last time a valuation was done. Since then, no doubt it has increased in value and additional works of art have been added to the collection.

One such item of art that was recently added to the collection is Bridget Riley's Red Movement. The controversial purchase by the City Council hit the headlines several weeks ago and has been raging ever since.

The 250,000 pound work of art has been widely criticised as a looking like an old 1970s quilt cover. However Lib Dem polticians, who agreed the purchase have been lining up to defend their decision.

Cllr Adrian Vinson, Lib Dem leader of the Council said with his typical arrogance "At least the decision is being made by people who know something about modern art." He went on to add, "Why can't it be a pleasant arrangement of line and colour? Why can't it create an illusion of flow and movement on the surface?"

Fellow Lib Dem, Cllr Steve Sollitt (left), Cabinet Member for Lesiure is also said to love the piece of art and feels it is well worth the money. Purchasing the painting was Cllr Sollitt's first big decision since being elected to the Council in May, after a failed bid to become Southampton Test's MP.

As a tax payer I certainly don't feel that I am getting full value from the 135,000,000 pound treasure (much of which is buried away in the dusty vaults of the Civic Centre). I asked Councillor Sollitt what his strategy was for the city's art. After much 'umming' and 'ahhing' and shifting about he eventually came up with an answer. He said that we should try and display as much of it as possible. I am not sure Councillor Sollitt has a grip on his job. I certainly don't think he is up to the job of representing the city in Parliament.


Update 6th October - Article on Southampton's art in today's Daily Echo.

Lord Hurd in Freemantle Ward

The Freemantle Conservative Branch has invited distinguished politician and novellist, Lord Hurd to come and speak in Freemantle Ward in October.

Lord Hurd of Westwell, was a Conservative minister under Margaret Thatcher and the John Major. A former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, Lord Hurd entered the House of Lords in 1997. Lord Hurd was MP for the Oxfordshire seat of Witney, now David Cameron's seat.

Lord Hurd will be speaking at a cream tea at the Blue Keys Hotel in Northlands Road, Banister Park from 4:30pm on 16th October.

Tickets are £8. For tickets please email me at testoffice@southamptonconservatives.co.uk.

The events comes ahead of an Lord Hurd appearing at the Nuffield Theatre on the same night.

Let Parents and Governors Decide the Future of Southampton's Schools

Head teachers, parents and governors all want their schools to be good schools. In the future they will be able to have greater autonomy and greater flexibility in shaping their own future.

The Government, backed by David Cameron's Conservatives is pushing forward with Trust School initiative.

Legislation to establish Trust schools is currently passing through Parliament and Royal Assent for the Education and Inspections Bill is expected in November 2006.

This is the backdrop against which Southampton's review of secondary school provision is being played out.

There are a number of compelling arguments for Southampton Schools to apply for Trust Status. An explanation of how Trust Schools work can be found here, on the Department for Education and Skills website.

There are growing fears that the City Council plan to sell off the valuable playing fields at Grove Park and Millbrook schools. If these schools became Trust Schools they would be able to manage their own land and assets for the benefit of the community and of local children.

Also of particular importance to Southampton schools are the statistics that show that specialist schools are achieving higher standards at GCSE.

It is certainly worth Southampton Schools looking closely at the option of a Trust. Schools could apply individually or a group of schools in an area could apply together.

One key advantage of the Trust School option is that it would place parents and governors firmly in the driving seat.

Appointment to the Hampshire Pensions Panel

I have been appointed to the Hampshire Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Panel. The Hampshire LGPS is the pension fund for Hampshire County Council staff as well as staff from Southampton City Council, Portsmouth City Council and the 15 district councils and various town and parish councils. I have been appointed to represent the two unitary authorities, Southampton and Portsmouth. Employees from Southampton City Council make up 14% of the active members of the fund and Portsmouth 11%.

So far I have been to two meetings, a business meeting on Friday and the fund's Annual General Meeting this morning.

The panel itself is predominantly made up by County Councillors and is chaired by the Leader of Hampshire County Council, Ken Thornber. The panel itself has great deal of industry and business experience and working in the pensions sector myself I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience so far.

Public sectors pensions are very much in the limelight at the moment. The Local Government scheme is widely considered to be an extremely good scheme relative to private occupational pensions. The LGPS has a normal retirement age of 65, although under what is called the 85 rule it is currently possible for some members to retire from age 60. This is in the process of being phased out by Government.

The scheme is known as a funded scheme. This means that the local Councils and Council staff pay into the scheme with the aim of providing sufficient funds to meet people's pensions when they retire. Not all public sector schemes are funded, and instead pensioners paid out of general taxation. The LGPS is very costly to the taxpayer. This has been made worse by growing fund liabilities, people living longer, lower gilt yields, and until recently, poor investment markets. This means that Council Tax is rising each year, partly to pay for the growing deficit.

The scheme is under review at the moment by Government. The aim is to be fair to tax payers, staff, those with deferred benefits and those already in receipt of their pensions. Whatever the decision that the Government takes, it is likely to upset some as change always means winners and losers.

New Logo Revealed

I received my Conservative Party Conference pack through the post the other day. It has the new party logo on it.

The new logo has already attracted considerable comment. On the Iain Dale site there are over 100 postings on the subject.



The other day I received an email from an interested resident who feels that the new logo closely resembles that of the Green Logo of Portland Oregon USA.

I understand that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I will let you decide which you prefer!

Oaklands School Debate

On Thursday the City Council held the second of its secondary school public meetings. This was held at Oaklands School in the Coxford Ward.

This meeting was far less vociferous than the Millbrook School meeting, although parents are clearly still very anxious and upset over the Lib Dems' plans and the way the surplus school place review has been handled so far.

A number of issues were raised. There were concerns that the school would potentially lose its specialism, or have to reapply for it, if it were to merge with Millbrook.

One suggestion was to move the two schools on to the Ordnance Survey site. This would give both schools a fresh start and neither set pupils would feel like outsiders. The suggestion had mixed response from Council officials; however it is not practical at this stage as the land technically is not up for sale.

Incidently none of the 3 Lib Dem Councillors for Coxford Ward bothered to turn up to listen to parents.

Millbrook School Meeting Descends into Chaos

I attended the first of the Learning Futures (MK2) public debates last night. The meeting was held at Millbrook School - one of the schools threatened with closures by the Lib Dems.

Lib Dem Education boss, Councillor Ann Milton chaired the meeting, which was packed out with parents and concerned residents.


Is the financial case for closing schools a sound one?

The logic behind closing a school on the west and a school on the east of the City, is that there are too few children to fill out secondary schools. If we reduce the number of schools we can spend more money on teaching and the children and less on overheads, such as heating and lighting part empty buildings. I can see this argument and have some sympathy with it. However it is presented as a fait acompli that schools must close. This is not true. The Council can keep them open, although it would be costly to do so. This cost would need to be weighed up against the advantages of a local school and smaller class sizes.

Ann Milton presented various slides showing how the remaining schools might be upgraded and expanded. The money to do this seems to be readily available. What she didn't mention was that some of that money comes from Government grants that would otherwise be spent on primary schools in the City. The Council is also banking on large sums of money from the Government in 2010. It's not guaranteed that this money will materialise and it's likely that it will be conditional on Private Finance Initiative arrangements.


Building Houses on the Sports Fields?

The general view of those attending the meeting was that the Lib Dems are keen to sell off Millbrook School to allow the playing fields to be developed for housing. This would mean a big cheque for the Council but a terrible loss of green space for local children. Councillor Milton poured fuel on suspicions by refusing to rule out housing development should the land be sold off. Quite sensibly people asked the question, if more houses are going to be built, where are the new children going to go to school?


How many children will the City have in the future?

Council Officers talked through their projections for future school roll numbers. However the figures quoted were greeted with some suspicion. The Council has only allowed for an extra 2% increase in roll numbers, to take account of the growing Polish population in the City. Official Council figures put the number of Polish residents at around 10,000. The true figure is likely 2 or even 3 times this! No wonder people don't have much faith in the official statistics!


Do we need larger schools to provide a more varied syllabus?

This was one of the arguments put forward by Cllr Milton and Council officers. The logic is that if you have small schools, they can't afford employ a large range of teachers teaching different subjects. I can understand this logic. However I don't see why Schools can't work together to provide a varied range of subjects and children can go to another school for specific classes. This already happens with Bellemore and Regents Park.

How confident can we be that Cllr Ann Milton is doing a good job?

At the meeting of the whole Council in July, a majority of Councillors called for Ann Milton's resignation. The call came after her disastrous handling of the schools review up until now. She refused to go. The feeling I got from parents and local people at the meeting last night was that she is not up to the job. Comments from people sat near me included, "how did she get that job?" and that she was "clueless" and "dim-witted". Parents are clearly upset by the process and I can understand their frustration. The comments are perhaps a little unfair, but it's clear that parents, like the majority of Councillors are unhappy with the situation.

The meeting ended with a walk out as Cllr Milton tried to sum up. Not a good start...

The next meeting is tomorrow at 6:30pm at Oaklands School.

Rose Bowl Gala Dinner

Southampton Test Conservative Association's annual dinner will be held at the Hambledon Suite at the Rosebowl cricket ground.

The guest speaker, Lord Tim Renton, is a former Conservative Party Chief Whip (1989-1990) and Minister for the Arts (1990-1992). Tim Renton was MP for Mid Sussex between 1974 and 1997. He stood down at the 1997 General Election and was then made a life peer. The seat is now held by another well known Conservative Politician, Nicholas Soames.

A diary of Southampton Conservatives events can we found at www.southamptonconservatives.com.

Learning Futures Dates

The Council is holding another series of public meetings to discuss it's secondary school proposals. The meetings are as follows:

Millbrook School - 12th September 6:30pm
Oaklands School - 14th September 6:30pm
Bellemoor School - 21st September 6:30pm
Regents Park School - 25th September - 6:30pm
Grove Park School - 28th September 6:30pm
Woolston School - 4th October 6:30pm

Update - 8th September 19:37: City Council property officers have been looking into whether the St Marks School site in Freemantle is large enough to accomodate a new secondary school and new junior school. The idea is that the former Civil Service Sports Ground could be playing fields for the new schools. Initial indications are that the site is sufficiently large. A display is being produced for the Learning Futures public meetings.

Planning Meeting - 12th September

There is a Planning and Rights of Way Panel meeting at the Civic Centre on 12th September.

There is only one application in Freemantle Ward that is being considered:

291 Shirley Road 06/01197/FUL

The Council Officers are recommending a refusal. I have written in support of the application.

Update 13/09/06: I regret to say that the above application was refused by Councillors on a split vote.

Freemantle's New Glass Recycling Banks Prove Popular

New glass bottle recycling banks were recently installed in the car park of the Park Hotel in Sir Georges Road. The new recycling point is already proving popular with local people. The two recycling bins were full up last week and were emptied for the first time on Friday. Thanks again the hotel land lord Matt Dean.

Travellers To Be Evicted Today

I went down to the Civil Service Sports Ground earlier today. In only a few days the travellers have started to make a mess and there is quite a bit of litter around. Some eggs appear to have been thrown at one of the windows of the school.

I was struck by how nice and new all the traveller vehicles were. The motor homes were almost all 06 registration. I saw one 05 registration. These travellers are clearly not short of a bit of cash! I certainly can't afford a brand new car. Then I suppose if I didn't have Council Tax and a mortage, income tax, VAT, car tax etc. to pay, I could afford a nice new vehicle.

I spoke to the Shirley police just a moment ago. I have been assured that the police intend to evict the travellers today.

I will post any updates as and when I receive them.

Update 16:41: The Travellers have now been removed by the police. If they return they are liable to be arrested.

Travellers Update

Here is the offical update from the Council, that was sent to me yesterday:

On Wednesday 30th August 2006 a group of 13 caravans moved onto the grassed area behind St Marks School in Shirley.

The Police visited the site that evening. Officers from Community Safety and the school visited the site to carry out Welfare checks and to request that the group leave the land.

Southampton City Council does not own the land but the school lease the land for recreation and sports.

The Council formally asked the Police to use their Powers of eviction, this was agreed and Police officers visited the site with Community Safety Officers yesterday afternoon. The Travellers will be served notice today (Friday) by the Police.

The site is clean and tidy and the Travellers friendly and co-operative. The site will be monitored by the Police and Community Safety Officers

For further information please contact Leanne Hubbard 02380 832329