Labour Plans Huge Council Tax Rise for Southampton

Labour run Manchester council are slashing front line services and closing community facilities like libraries and swimming pools. They are taking advantage of the financial crisis to make unpopular decisions and then blame the coalition government to score political points.

In Southampton the Labour Party refused to say what their plans would be if they ran the city. But we can be sure that they too would pursue the same cynical tactics; closing facilities and making the cuts as painful as possible.

In the last year that Labour ran Southampton City Council they hiked up council tax by a massive 18.5% and they have made it clear, that if they win the council elections in May, they will hike up council tax again; meaning rises of £300 or more a year.

By contrast, despite facing the toughest set of finances ever, Conservative run Southampton City Council is doing its utmost to protect front lines services and keep costs down for local residents.

In Southampton council tax will be frozen for the first time ever and care charges and parking charges won’t go up at all.All our swimming pools, leisure centres, Sure Start centres and libraries will stay open. In fact we will even be opening a new Library in the middle of the Millbrook estate.

More money will be spent repairing roads and pavements and looking after vulnerable children. This is all possible because we are tackling bureaucracy, stripping out layers of top management and getting better deals from suppliers.

We are also asking higher paid council staff to take a small pay cut whilst ensuring a pay rise for the lower paid. Those earning the most will have to take the biggest reduction. Labour instead want pay rises for those earning £70,000, £80,000 and even £100,000 a year and want big council tax rises, in particular on pensioner households, to pay for it. Some households could face over £400 more in council tax next year under Labour.

There is a clear choice at the local elections the May; a Conservative Party determined to protect services, keep council tax down and get the city through these tough times and a cynical Labour party dominated by the union bosses and hell bent on service cuts and crippling council tax rises to make their political points.

Conservative Plans to Support Older People

Lincoln Conservatives Win Battle To Cut Council Tax for Pensioners

Tomorrow Southampton Councillors will be debating the Conservative proposal a for pensioner council tax discount.

I was interested to read that a similar battle of ideas has just taken place in Lincoln where the Conservative run council, in the teeth of Labour opposition, has won approval for a similar scheme. Click HERE to read the story in the Lincolnshire Echo. In Lincoln Labour were pushing more more taxation and more means testing. I am feeling a strong sense of deja vu!

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.

Letter to Daily Echo

Dear Sir

I write in response to CONCERNED TAX PAYER who has asked how Conservatives would fund a 10% reduction in council tax for pensioner households in Southampton. The letter asked for specific areas where expenditure would be reduced to pay for this tax cut.

The cost would be £1.2m pa.

This would be paid for by: reduction in councillor allowances (£10k), discontinuing Neighbourhood Partnerships (£307k), discontinuing grants to UNISON (£100k), discontinue grants to SARC (£218k), reduction in budget for printing (212k), additional revenue raised through sponsorship (£100k), additional revenue raised through loaning out some of Southampton’s £130m art collection (£155k), smaller art grants (£70k), discontinue funding for Southampton Sustainability Forum (£23k), reduction in overseas trips for councillors and officers (£20k).

The Conservatives in Southampton believe we can deliver betters services and lower tax but focusing taxpayers’ hard earned money on the services that matter to people: collecting the rubbish, schools, social services, reducing crime etc.

Yours faithfully


Councillor Jeremy Moulton
Conservative Finance Spokesman – Southampton City Council.

Labour's Priorities For Southampton Are All Wrong!

Labour's proposals for next year's City Council budget show that they have all the wrong priorities for Southampton.

Labour want to impose a Council Tax increase of 4.5% on local residents. This is almost the maximum that they could get away with as the Government caps increases of more that 5%. By contrast the Conservatives want to keep council tax increases below inflation and propose a 2.7% increase. In addition we have proposed a 10% reduction in Council Tax for pensioners. Households where people are 65 or over would pay on average £160 less a year in Council Tax under the Conservatives than they would under a Labour run city council.

Labour claim that they are protecting services yet they want to cut £333,000 out of the children's social services budget and close family centres which help look after abused and vulnerable children. Last year they conspired with the Liberal Democrats to cut the budget for elderly people receiving home care and increased the fees charged by the Council. Surely looking after the most vulnerable in society should be the highest priority for the Council yet Labour do not seem to see this as being remotely important. Conservatives will do all they can to resist cuts to these vital services.

Labour have promised free bus travel across Hampshire for Southampton pensioners but unlike the Conservatives they haven't shown how they would pay for it.

Labour are promising free swmiming for under 11s but to pay for it they want to close Oaklands swimming pool. So it is free swimming unless you live in Lordswood or Lordshill!

Labour want to give £100,000 to subsidise the activities of trades unions in the City. I can't think of anywhere else in the country where this sort of thing happens!

It is also interesting to note that the only political party calling for cuts to be made to Councillor allowances is the Conservative Party.

Labour Hypocrisy Over Buses in Southampton

The Labour party in Southampton have repeatedly promised that they would provide free bus travel across Hampshire for Southampton pensioners. Click HERE to read what they say.

At the moment bus travel is free for pensioners within the boundaries of the city and to some defined places outside the boundary, such as Totton.

Labour made a manifesto pledge in the 2006 elections to extend the scheme across all of Hampshire and were deeply critical of the Council for not doing this. Despite this they did not include proposals to fund the increased service in their 2006 budget proposals for the City Council. I have now just discovered that they haven't included the funding in their 2007 proposals either!

How on earth are people supposed to trust what they say!!!

Conservatives agree that it's unfair that pensioners in the rest of Hampshire can travel Hampshire wide for free whilst Southampton residents can't. That's why we support the proposal to extend free bus travel to Hampshire. That's also why we have allocated money in our budget proposals to pay for it.