Backing Small Businesses

Southampton signs the Federation of Small Business Accord

This afternoon Southampton City Council signed up to the Federation of Small Business Accord, committing to work more closely with local businesses in the city.

As a local councillor I have been driving forward and supporting a range of initiatives to make Southampton a more business friendly city.

- The city council has cut car parking charges in the city centre. New pre payment cards provide a 20% discount and two car parks have had charges cut in half.

- Council procurement processes are being made simpler and easier for small businesses.

- I am ensuring that the city council is as proactive as possible in getting eligible businesses to take up small business rate relief and I am backing the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) campaign for Automatic Payment.

As a candidate at the next General Election I am very supportive of the policies announced by David Cameron that a Conservative Government would implement to help businesses struggling in this recession.

- Establishing a temporary National Loans Guarantee Scheme to get credit flowing again and help protect jobs.

- Allowing struggling firms to defer their VAT bills for up to six months.

- Cutting small firms' payroll taxes.

- Helping companies with the costs of hiring new staff by giving tax breaks for new jobs.

- Cutting the main rate of corporation tax.

- Cancelling Labour's planned increase in the small companies tax rate, and cutting the rate instead.

At October’s Conservative Party Conference, Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne announced plans to abolish national insurance for new companies during the first two years of a Conservative government. Under the scheme, any new business will not pay national insurance on the first ten workers it hires.

Ken Clarke also announced details of a new Green Paper, which sets out Conservative plans to combat excessive regulation and win the battle against red tape which is stifling business.

Housing benefit system is failing Southampton’s most vulnerable tenants

Gordon Brown’s changes to housing benefit rules are harming the most vulnerable tenants and reducing the availability of affordable accommodation.

Last year, Labour Ministers introduced a new ‘Local Housing Allowance’, with housing benefit being direct to the tenant rather than to the landlord. But vulnerable tenants often struggle to manage their finances and spend their rent money on other things. Homeless charity, Crisis, has warned that this can result in rent arrears and eventually homelessness.

Landlords who were previously happy to take on tenants on housing benefit have suffered from non-payment of rent. Many landlords now routinely refuse to let to Local Housing Allowance claimants. According to the National Landlords Association, half of all landlords are reluctant to lend to tenants on Local Housing Allowance.

11,662 people in Southampton are on local housing waiting lists, and a sizeable proportion of them are on housing benefit. Housing waiting lists have risen by 401 per cent under this Labour Government – reflecting the shortage of affordable accommodation.

Conservatives have pledged to change Labour’s failed policy. Tenants will be able to choose whether to have their housing allowance paid direct to their landlord. This will increase the availability of quality low-cost housing.

Labour’s new housing benefit rules are failing the most vulnerable in our society. Some tenants struggle to manage their finances and are getting into arrears and trouble as a result. Landlords are put off from renting to those on benefit because it is affecting their businesses, slashing the availability of decent places to live.

As a city councillor in Southampton I am responsible for finance and have overseen the implementation of the new housing benefits system locally. Southampton like other local councils have had to implement new system imposed on them by Government.

I have had landlords coming to me telling me first hand what a disaster the new system is proving. It is causing real problems for local landlords as well as hurting those vulnerable tenants who are most in need. I am also told that it has become a fraudster’s charter.

Tenants should have greater choice, and be free to specify that their housing benefit should go direct to the landlord. I have been lobbying the Conservative Party for some time on this matter and I am delighted that we will reform the system if they form the next Government.

In the meantime I will be working closely with council officers and landlords to find ways to make the current botched system work better.

No To Housing on Redbridge Lane

I am objecting to a planning application for 350 homes along Redbridge Lane.

My colleagues, Cllr Paul Holmes and Cllr Ben Walker have written formally to Test Valley Borough Council opposing the development.

Redbridge Lane is a very narrow country lane and is part of the local gap between Nursling and Southampton. It is also designated as countryside under Test Valley's local planning policies.

I think it is very important that we maintain the local gap between the city and Nursling and I think the traffic implications would be severe for the local area.

A Great Turn Out For Our Troops

Southampton did our troops proud today, turning out in huge numbers to greet the men and women serving in the 17 Port and Maritime Regiment.

The Marchwood based unit which has recently returned from Afghanistan, marched from Mayflower Park, up the High Street, through the Bargate before finally lining up at the forecourt of the Civic Centre. They were met by Princess Anne the Princess Royal who spoke at length with the soldiers and presented them with their service medals.

Lottery Boost for St James' Park!

St James' Park in Shirley is set for a £1.5m makeover after the announcement this week that the park has been successful in winning lottery funding.

The plans for the park include refurbishing the former air raid shelter to provide a café, community rooms, a ranger base and toilets.

The scheme will improve play equipment and provide features for all ages while popular tennis courts will be refurbished and there will be improved access to the park.

£1.1m from the lottery will be added to the £400,000 being invested by the city council.

St James' Park was picked by the lottery to receive the funding largely because of the huge amount of community backing for the scheme. The Friends of St James' Park have over 500 members and local people have drawn up the plans and will also be involved in the redevelopment of the park. Improvement works will be completed by 2011 in time for the 100th anniversary of the opening of the park.

Sorry is not good enough - House of Commons Committee should have ordered Jacqui Smith to repay expenses

The decision by local Labour MP, Alan Whitehead not to require Jacqui Smith to repay falsely claimed parliamentary expenses was quite wrong.

Mr Whitehead serves on the House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges and is one of 5 Labour MPs who asked merely for an apology from Ms Smith, refusing to call for her to repay up to £116,000 of expenses wrongly claimed by her between 2004 -2009. The committee’s decision followed an investigation by John Lyon, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, who was scathing of the former Home Secretary’s behaviour.

Ms Smith claimed that her main home was a house in Peckham, a property owned by her sister where she used a room when staying in London. This allowed her to claim expenses and allowances on a ‘second home’, the four bedroom family home in the West Midlands.

Mr Whitehead was quite wrong to let his colleague off the hook. Jacqui Smith has been proved to have acted wrongly. She has been misleading about which house was really her main home and where she spent most of her time and Police evidence directly conflicted with her own account.

Any jury in the land would have said pay back the money. Having a bunch of MPs of the same party make the decision is like picking a prisoner’s cell mates and asking them to act as his jury.

It’s a pretty clear cut case to me. I think the committee should have ordered to her to pay back any expenses that were wrongly claimed.

An Evening Out With The Street Pastors

I had the opportunity to spend an evening out in the town centre and in Bedford Place with the Street Pastors on Friday.

I had heard very good reports about the work of the Street Pastors beforehand, however on seeing them in action I think they are doing a tremendous job.

I certainly feel that the team made a big and positive difference to the lives of several people that evening.

I was also very impressed by how interlinked the Street Pastors are with other services; the Police and the CCTV control room. Also there seemed to be an excellent relationship with the door staff at the various pubs and clubs. I noticed too how helpful it was for the Police to have the Street Pastors deal with the low level disturbances, which then frees the Police up to deal with more serious instances.

The public really value the work and the presence of the Street Pastors. Despite only being up and running in the city for a short time they have a great deal of recognition and are making a huge impact.