The First 100 Days of Conservative Administration

Today is day 100 for the new Conservative administration on Southampton City Council. The Conservatives took minority control of the council following the May local elections which saw the Conservatives top the poll across the city and form Southampton's first Conservative Council in 23 years.

Since May the new administration has been working tirelessly to improve the city and modernise the city council.

An enormous amount of hard work has been done in the past 100 days and the new administration has not shied away from taking bold decisions.

We have brought the secondary education review to a successful close. £5m has been awarded to secondary schools across the city and an education charity, Oasis, has been appointed to run two new city academies, a move which will attract £50m of investment.

Four years of discussion over the future of council support services such as IT, property and customer services has been ended and the Council has signed a £290m agreement with Capita to deliver these services over the next ten years. The partnership will transform and modernise these services, attracting over £25m of private investment, saving the tax payer millions of pounds, whilst securing jobs and creating the prospect of new employment in the city.

The uncertainly over the future of Eastpoint has been brought to an end and a decision taken to help facilitate Itchen College's move to the site.

We have got to grips with the appalling state of the roads. The Lib / Lab legacy is a backlog of more than £500m in roads and pavements repairs! It is not going to be possible to find the money for this overnight but a strategy is being put in place to bring much greater investment into the roads.

The new administration is sticking to its election commitments. A pensioner council tax discount will be introduced next year. Tackling crime and disorder is a top priority for the administration and Council tax will be scrapped for Southampton people who sign up to become special constables in the city, to help make our streets safer. Free bus nation wide bus travel for seniors will be rolled out in April.

A citywide energy strategy is being put in place to make Southampton a greener city and to tackle carbon emissions over the next 20 years.

Policies are being finalised to protect family housing in the city.

Daft policies such as the laser lights have been scrapped and we put forward our own suggestion for a wow factor in the form of a bronze spitfire on the roundabout by the DeVere; a proposal which attracted overwhelming public support. We are also progressing our plans to build a city heritage centre in the west wing of the civic centre, to celebrate the titanic and the city's trams. We will insure the city's £150m art collection which was scandalously put at risk by previous administrations. We will also ensure that this wonderful treasure is not left gathering dust in the civic centre basement. We are committed to delivering an ice rink as soon as we can strike the right deal with a provider and agree the site.

Major city developments are being pushed ahead. Carnival is on site and a planning application will soon go in for the redevelopment of Northern Above Bar.

We will be bring forward our draft budget proposals in October this year so that there can be a full public discussion before the city sets its final budget in February. We know that unpopular decisions may have to be made but by bringing up issues early we will enable true consultation and then hopefully make the best decisions for the city.

All this is being achieved against a backdrop of chronic under funding of Southampton by the Government. We are lobbying hard for Southampton to receive its fair share but of late much of the money has been given to local authorities in the north of England.

Only 100 days have so far passed but decisions are being taken, and the ground work is being laid for a bright future for Southampton.

No To New College Development Plans

I have written and formally objected to Linden Homes' plans to develop the former New College / La Sante Union site.

Linden have submitted 7 planning applications which include proposals for 200+ flats.

I wrote objecting to Linden's plans when they first came to light at their presentation to residents back in February. Click HERE for details of my letter to Linden and HERE for their reply.

I have objected on a number of grounds:

1. Firstly the design is totally out of keeping with the character of the local area, which is designated a conservation area.

2. Secondly I am concerned that only minimal efforts have been made to make the proposed development environmentally sound and sustainable. I would very much like to see any development on the site link into the city's combined heat and power station and was disappointed that Linden rejected this idea.

3. Thirdly I am concerned that there are too many flats and not enough family housing.

4. Finally inadequte parking will lead to increased parking pressure on the surrounding area.

Click HERE for the recent Daily Echo story on this.

Forthcoming Road Works

Below is a list of forthcoming road works in Freemantle Ward:

Hill Lane - Junction with Darwin Road
Nature of work: Gas main & water main works
Traffic Control: Temporary traffic signals
Start Date: 10th September
Duration: 4 days
Organisation: Southern Gas / Southern Water


Howard Road - Shirley Road to Stafford Road
Nature of work: Kerb & footway works
Traffic Control: Partial closure & temporary traffic signals
Start Date: 24th September
Duration: Four weeks
Organisation: Southampton City Council


Shirley Road - At Howard Rd Junction
Nature of Work: Gas Main Works
Traffic Control: Temporary signals Tied in with above
Start Date: 24th September
Duration: One week
Organisation: Southern Gas


Archers Road - Between Carlton Rd and The Avenue
Nature of Work: Highway alterations
Traffic Control: Partial Road Closure
Start Date: 8th October
Duration: Six weeks
Organisation: John Reilly Civil Eng


Howard Road - Shirley Road to Stafford Road
Nature of Work: Carriageway resurfacing
Traffic Control: Road closure
Start Date: 22nd October
Duration: One week
Organistion: Southampton City Council


Shirley Road - Junction Landguard Rd
Nature of Work: Gas main works
Traffic Control: Temporary traffic signals
Start Date: 29th October
Duration: Two weeks
Organisation: Southern Gas


The Avenue - Northbound from Northlands Road
Nature of Work: Carriageway resurfacing
Start Date: Feb/March 2008
Duration: 3 to 4 weeks
Organisation: Southampton City Council

Forthcoming Social Events

Below is a list of forthcoming social events for 2007.

Click HERE for full details.

Southampton Social Events

Monday 27th August

Freemantle Cream Tea, Elizabeth House Hotel,

3pm

£5 p.p

Thursday 20th September

Supper Club, Bowlers, Golf Course Road,

7.30pm

£15 p.p

Sunday 14th October

Clay Pigeon Shoot

details from Linda Norris 8076 8885

£30 p.p

Friday 23rd November

Supper Club, Bowlers, Golf Course Road,

7.30pm

£15 p.p

The Case for a Referendum

SUMMER CREAM TEA
ON MONDAY 27 AUGUST 2007 at 3pm
at Elizabeth House Hotel, The Avenue, Southampton

The guest speaker at this year's Freemantle Conservative Ward Summer Cream Tea is South East Euro MP, Dan Hannan.

A Daily Telegraph columnist (Click HERE to visit his blog) and Conservative MEP for South East England, will talk about the revived Euro-constitution and Labour’s attempt to renege on its promise of a national referendum.

Daniel was the first person in Britain to call for a referendum on the EU Constitution, back in 2001, and is President of the Referendum Group, a pan-European alliance campaigning against closer integration.

He is a co-author, together with a number of Conservative MPs from the 2005 intake, of Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party, which was serialised in the Daily Telegraph.

Government Must give Southampton its Fair Share

Below is the text from a letter sent last month to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling MP asking that Southampton receives its fair share of government funding.

In the 2007-08 budget round, the government gave Southampton City Council £90.1m in grants - just 54.7 percent of the money it needs to serve the people of Southampton - equal to £403.20 per head. The rest has had to be made up from council tax.

Every year Southampton faces a severe financial squeeze as the government puts more obligations on us than it pays for in its grants. This means our council tax is pushed up and we are forced to identify millions of pounds in savings in every budget. In comparison, northern authorities receive considerably higher settlements than southern authorities such as Southampton.

This year we are planning for a zero percent increase in government grant. We may in fact get less. If inflation goes up again inline with the current trends our wage bill could increase by £2m. The grants will not. As Chancellor you cannot continue to put this pressure on local authorities, while expecting us to deliver safer communities, better transport networks and higher standards of education.

In essence it is a stealth tax. Increased public spending driven by the government is being engineered through council tax increases. As well as highlighting the unfair pressure upon the tax payer I call for you to look again at how local government grants are calculated.

As well as cutting our funding year on year, the government is also not taking into consideration our rapidly increasing population. Between 2003/04 and 2007/08 we estimate between 10,000 and 12,000 migrant workers have moved to the city. However, Southampton’s official population, which the government uses to calculate our grants, has only increased by 6,000 residents in the same period. That is up to 6,000 people who we are providing services for without adequate funding.

I estimate that just these two issues - inflation and inaccurate population calculations - are costing the city council, and ultimately the tax payer around £5m a year. This would be equivalent to a seven percent increase in the council tax bill. With this sobering fact in mind, I urge you to give Southampton its fair share.

Cllr Jeremy Moulton