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

Silverdale Road Parking Survey

Thank you to everyone who has replied to our Survey on parking problems in Silverdale Road, especially those that have taken the time to write detailed letters or telephone for a chat.

We have had lots of responses which we are sorting through. We will write back to everyone very soon with an update and a date for the public meeting that we plan to have.

Bourne Road Parking

I wrote a posting a few weeks ago about parking in Bourne Road.
The Council is working with a private company to introduce new WhizzGo cars to the city. These are cars which you can hire by the hour. It is hoped that they will help reduce congestion by allowing people to use a car when the need one but not have own one themselves.

Southampton City Council is looking to create car parking spaces around the city for these WhizzGo cars to be parked when they are not being used.

The Council planned to have two such spaces in Bourne Road. This meant reducing the number of on street spaces in Bourne Road.

My colleagues and I opposed this and we argued that these spaces should be located where possible in car parks. Freemantle has chronic parking problems and we don't want it made worse.

Bourne Road has been withdrawn from the scheme and I have withdrawn my objection.

The Art Of Total Incompetence

I received another interesting item of correspondence today.

I recently posted on my blog that the City Council has an art collection worth 135,000,000.00 pounds.

This came to light after I asked a question of Lib Dem Councillor and Southampton City Council leisure boss, Steve Sollitt, at the last Full Council meeting. The subject of Southampton's art collection has been thrust into the limelight following Cllr Sollitt's controversial decision to buy a 250,000.00 pound painting, Red Movement, criticised by some as looking like a 1970s quilt cover.

I asked a supplementary question of Cllr Sollitt at the Council meeting. I asked how much the art collection was insured for. He said that he didn't know the answer but he would let me know as soon as he had found out.

Well I received the answer today. The answer is that it is not insured!

Here is what the letter said:

The whole Art collection was insured at the Authority's expense up until 1994, when budgetary pressures forced a review of financial priorities.

It was concluded after weighing risks against existing security and risk management measures that the "all risks" insurance premium was not a major priority compared to other key services provided by the Art Gallery. The Permanent Collection ceased to be insured against any risk, and therefore there is no current insurance evaluation.

The letter went on to say:

Consideration during budget preparations in recent years has been given to whether this issue should be raised as an upwards pressure, but ultimately other priorities have been allocated resources given the assessment of risk.

So there we have it, a 135m pound art collection which is uninsured!

A 135m pound perishable asset belonging to the City which if destroyed, say in a fire, would leave us with nothing to show for it.

Frankly, if we can't afford to insure such a valuable asset, should we really be looking after it on behalf of the city.

Another thing which bewilders me is that we supposedly can't afford to insure our art but the Lib Dems have just agreed to spend an extra 250,000.00 pounds on additional design costs for a new art centre in Guild Hall Square (on the old Tyrell and Green site). Just to be clear, the 250,000.00 pounds isn't what the Council is paying for the project. This is simply the latest over spend!!!

Also I am very sceptical about the City's "risk management measures". My next question will be about what exactly these are. However I do know that security staff have concerns about how secure the Civic Centre is. I understand that in the past, homeless people have broken into the building in order to sleep in there for the night. It doesn't sound that secure to me.

I wonder if we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of Lib Dem incompetence. What will we discover next!?

Another Chance To See Lord Hurd In Southampton

Freemantle Conservative Branch are lucky enough to have Lord Hurd coming to speak at a ward event on Monday. The event comes ahead of him speaking at the Nuffield Theatre, later in the evening.

For those who can't make either of these, there is another opportunity to hear Lord Hurd speak.

I today received a flyer from the Turner Sims Concert Hall at Southampton University. Lord Hurd will be speaking at the 18th Wellington Lecture on the Subject, Wellington to Peel: from Tory to Conservative.

Here is an extract from the flyer:

Established in 1989, from an endowment from the Spanish Ambassador, the Wellington Lecture is given each year on aspects of the life and times of the first Duke of Wellington.

Over the years, the University of Southampton has welcomed a host of distinguished speakers to present the lecture. This year we welcome the Rt Hon Lord Hurd of Westwell CH CBE PC to present 'Wellington and Peel: from Tory to Conservative.'

The years 1832-5 were a turning point in British political history. Wellington was fundamentally opposed to parliamentary reform, believing that if the Great Reform Bill proposed by Lord Grey came into effect no gentleman would be able to pursue a political career. Peel the effective leader of the Tory Party in the Commons, also opposed the Reform Bill but refused to despair about the prospects if the Bill became law. He quietly set about changing the old Tory Party to cope with the new situation.

More information can be obtained from:

Kim Newton-Woof
Special Events Manager
University of Southampton
Tel: 023 8059 6827
Email: knw1@soton.ac.uk

I will be buying my ticket tomorrow.

An Ice Rink Would Be Great!

I think it would be fantastic if we had a temporary ice rink in Guild Hall Square over the Christmas period. It was a great decision to bring back the Christmas lights and we can look forward to them again this year. The City Council has done a great job over recent years with its various city centre markets.

Lets hope that the temporary ice rink comes off. It would really put Southampton on the map.

Soft On Crime

John Denham (Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, pictured left) says (Daily Echo 10th October) that the only way to deal with prison overcrowding is to send less people to prison.

Given that there are only 234 prison spaces left in the whole country, John Denham's approach is certainly an option.

It's not the only option though surely. An alternative is to build a few more prisons. This Government (and Denham was a former Home Office minister) has overseen a massive breakdown in law and order.

Instead of spending vast sums of money on useless ID cards, why not built a few more prisons and lock up a few more criminals? This Government needs to get a handle on the mess it has created. Some of sentences being handed down to violent criminals are absolutely distgusting.

Improving Planning Meetings

I didn't go to today's Planning Panel meeting at the Civic Centre. I am told by a colleague (Cllr Terry Matthews) that Council officers are now making use of technology to improve planning meetings.

Cumbersome maps and diagrams have been done away with and Officers are now presenting planning applications using presentations on lap tops and overhead projectors. I imagine this helps everyone, allowing Councillors and members of the public to see exactly what is being discussed.

This all sounds great, especially if you are a Council Officer making a particular recommendation to the panel or if you are a developer making a presentation arguing for planning permission.

However I wonder if this places residents, who may be arguing from the opposite position, at a comparative disadvantage. Residents won't have access to fancy technology, such as expensive projectors.

Terry pointed out (rightly in my view) that the Council could let residents put their case using the same technology. All they would need to do is bring in their presentation on a memory stick and plug it into the Council equipment.

This would then make it a level playing field for all and surely much fairer.

Planning and Housing Decisions Should Be Taken Locally

Powers over planning need to be returned to local communities and the Government's regional and national house building targets need to be scrapped.

This Government has taken centralism to the extreme. It used to be that government would issue planning Guidance. Now, under Labour, they issue planning Statements. Local councils and their democratically elected local councillors are expected to rubber stamp planning diktat from the Labour Government. If they don't tow the line then they face having their decisions being overturned by the bureaucrats at the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol. It is quite wrong that democratically reached decisions by locally elected councillors can be over turned on grounds of design, parking requirements, density and such like.

I can think of nowhere else where this happens. In other countries local government decides planning and housing issues. Local councils have a better understanding what local people want and can be held accountable.

The Government's top down approach to housing is resulting new developments which are all too often small, tightly packed, poorly designed boxes, ugly, grey and grim. New communities should be well designed, centred around community facilities such a local pub and shops and green space. We need greener, healthier cities, however this government is concreting over our playing fields.

We do need more housing. In the south we are under pressure from massive inward migration from the north of England. External migration is also a factor. People are living longer and there are more single households than ever before. Labour are exacerbating the problem, depopulating the north of England, tearing down Victorian terraces. Meanwhile there are 700,000 empty homes in this country. There is plenty of wasteland and plenty of brownfield sites in the north and the midlands but the houses aren't being built there.

Furthermore, devolution of planning powers and housing policy needs to be linked to the reform of local government finance, allowing more of local authority funds to be raised locally, rather than coming from government grants which always come with strings attached. Where new housing means new people in an area, this should mean new local tax revenues. You would imagine that is how it works now. It doesn't though.

It much better to free up local government finance to fund the infrastructure that is needed for new communities, to pay for the new roads and motorway junctions that the government is manifestly failing to provide.

The Government's top down, socialist approach to planning and housing is failing on every level. It is much better to have local solutions to local problems.

Planning Meeting - 10th October

Click here for a list of planning applications being considered by Councillors at the next Council planning meeting (10th October). There are no applications within Freemantle Ward that are being considered at this meeting.

Senator McCain Speaking in Bournemouth

The main highlight for me, from the first day of conference was hearing US Senator John McCain.

I am very interested in US politics, having first studied it at A-Level and recently having my interest reinvigorated by the TV series The West Wing (just starting series 6).

McCain is seeking the Republican Party nomination to run for the US Presidency.

McCain is a very interesting political figure and he strongly identifies with David Cameron's new approach to politics. McCain combines a tough line on security and national defence, support for family values but with a moderate, liberal and compassionate approach.

The thing that most impressed me about McCain was his passion for clean politics, for challenging special interests and for doing the right thing. In his speech he explained how he thought it was far more important to stand by your principles and make what you think are the best decisions for people and the country. He said that some politicians and political parties get obsessed with incumbency. Everything is about staying in power for power's sake. Whereas really obtaining elected office is means to achieving good things for society. He said that if you take that approach then electoral success will eventually follow. I feel exactly the same way. The disappointing thing about our Labour Government is that they are only interested in the next election. With huge parliamentary majorities they could have achieved anything. However when you listen to Tony Blair, the thing he is most proud of is winning 3 elections in a row.

McCain has had an interesting life. He was a naval pilot and was shot down during the Vietnam war. He suffered years of abuse in the infamous Hanoi Hilton at the hands of his captors. In 1986, he was elected to the United States Senate to take the place of the famous Arizona Senator, Barry Goldwater. In 2000, McCain ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for President of the USA.

I did an interview with the BBC World Service after the speech and I said I would be pleased to see McCain become US president. I think he would combine a tough approach on national and world security, whilst at the same time ditching George Bush's ridiculous and dangerous gung ho attitude. I think we could trust him to be strong but reasoned and compassionate at the same time.

It's interesting that this Conservative Party Conference is about the future. We a have bright, energetic leader in David Cameron and we were lucky enough to have McCain, potentially a future US President, speaking to us.

By contrast the Labour Conference was about the past. They had Tony Blair on his last legs politically, his successor Gordon Brown, a political dinosaur and their guest speaker from the world of US politics, another man of the past, former US President Bill Clinton.