Half A Million Pound Boost For Civil Service Sports Ground

At today's Council meeting I was very pleased to approve £550,000 for improvements to the former Civil Service Sports Ground and to bring it back into use for the benefit of local schools and the wider community.

Conservative Party Political Broadcast Lists Areas Where The Government Has Delivered on the Tory Manifesto

Southampton Conservatives Will Fight Latest Helius Scheme

Yesterday Helius Energy announced a new scheme to build a massive biomass power station in the Western Docks, close to houses in Regents Park and Freemantle.


Southampton Conservatives have vowed to fight this new scheme, which will be hugely damaging for the local community. Council Leader Royston Smith yesterday stated, "we have had no consultation at all about this new proposal which has come completely out of the blue and we will move heaven and earth to stop this dreadful scheme."


Conservative Councillor for Freemantle, Michael Ball and Steven Galton, Conservative Candidate for Millbrook and leading No Southampton Biomass campaigner have also lined up to fight the proposal.


Steve's comments can be found HERE on the BBC News website.

Banister School Rebuild Consultation Evening

A consultation meeting for the proposed redevelopment of Banister Infant School is taking place at the school in Archers Road between 18:00 and 19:30, on 12 March 2012.

At the event, you will be able to view plans for the new building as well as the projected programme of works for the entire scheme. You will also have a chance to discuss these with the school, the local authority, the scheme architects and the preferred bidder for the scheme and have the opportunity to provide us with feedback on what you think of the proposals.

Cllr Michael Ball will be at the event in case you wish to speak with one of your councillors.

Labour Behind Council Strikes

Labour Councillors and Labour Activists in the trade unions have been working together to disrupt services and cause misery for Southampton residents.
 
Last summer Labour even went as far as supporting the strikes that threatened to damage the port and disrupt the local economy.

As recently as the February Council Meeting Labour were holding rallies with the unions and backing further disruption in the city. Labour activists in the unions have said that intend to try and disrupt the opening of the city's new Sea City Museum on 10th April, coinciding with the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, a commemorative day and a day when the media will be focused on Southampton.

Labour's behaviour has been disgraceful and they have made it very clear that they put their own narrow political interests ahead of the city and local residents.

Further details of how Labour and the unions have been working together to try to wreck Southampton can be found HERE.

Campaign Success: Civil Service Sports Ground Saved!

Cllr Michael Ball at last year's Foyes Corner Festival on the Civil Service Ground

A 10 year campaign by local residents and Freemantle's Councillors has finally ended in success! The former Civil Service Sports Ground (behind Malmesbury Road) has been saved from residential development, safeguarding it for use by the local community and local schools, and ensuring that it stays green.

As your local Councillors, Michael Ball, Brian Parnell and I have been pushing the council to buy or compulsory purchase the land for many years and as of now it is in council ownership.

We have set aside funds to immediately improve the site; cleaning it up and replacing the old walls that back onto neighbouring houses.

In the longer term we are keen to put in sports pitches and facilities and possibly even a club house. We are setting aside further funds to support applications for grant funding and bids to the lottery. Having seen the incredible transformation at St James' Park we would like to aim for something similar.

We want this to be a community asset and we need the support of local people to make it work. Already we have excellent support from the Friends of the Field community group and local schools but we do need more people involved. The Friends of St James' Park has 400+ members and this was a key reason they succeeded in their £1M lottery bid.

Talking About The Government's Education Reforms

City Wide Clean Up Announced

Southampton Conservatives have today announced that we will have a city wide council clean up of Southampton, in order to get the streets looking spick and span after last Summer's bin strikes.

Dozens of young people will also be given the chance to join in the cleaning operation in order gain to work experience.

The £100,000 clean up will take place over several weeks and is being funded from a VAT tax rebate that the council has recently received from HMRC for commercial waste collections in the past.

This is great news for Southampton and the clean will mean we can tackle the harder to reach places like hedges and back alleys and have a proper deep clean of the city.

Talking About Southampton's New Museum

Council Tax Should be Frozen for Southampton Residents

Southampton City Council and now Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service have said that they will be freezing their share of the Council Tax bill in 2012/13.

The Hampshire Police Authority is due to set its budget next Tuesday and I am calling for it to freeze Council Tax too.

Southampton residents should not have to pay a penny more in Council Tax in the coming year and with everyone struggling with bills and the cost of living and with the government offering an extra grant to help freeze council tax, any increase is totally unjustifiable.

I will be voting for a freeze on Tuesday and I hope I will have the support of all the other Police Authority Members.

New Play Park for Albany Road

Freemantle Councillor, Michael Ball, at the current play park in Albany Road 

Freemantle's Conservative Councillors have helped secure £72,000 for improvements to play equipment in Albany Road.

The funding is coming from local developers who are required to set aside money for improvements to the local area when new developments are built.

A consultation is due to take place and the improvements are due to complete this year.

Free Tickets For The New Sea City Museum!

Southampton City Council today announced that free tickets for the new Sea City Museum will be offered to each Southampton household, to celebrate the opening of the attraction in April 2012.

This is fantastic news for Southampton! It is the people's museum and it tells the story of Southampton people and so it is right that local residents should all have the chance to see it for free at least once.

I am particularly pleased that children in the city will all get the chance to visit. Most local schools are teaching about the history of the Titanic disaster 100 years ago and a number of children will be involved in the opening event. Now all children in the city will have that chance.

Read the full story HERE.

Labour Needs to Come Clean Over Their Extra Cuts to Council Services

The cost of Labour's deal with union bosses in Southampton has become a little clearer today. Labour have announced that they will introduce a Summer mini budget if they take power at the City Council elections in May.

Labour have already said that they will be giving pay rises to council staff and that the price for this will be hundreds of extra job cuts and cuts to council services. It is already clear that non statutory services like libraries and SureStarts will be first to be in the firing line if Labour win in May. However this news that Labour cuts could start as early as the Summer is very worrying. Labour needs to be clear which services will be hit by their extra cuts and as the election approaches they need to be honest and upfront with voters. 

Southampton Schools Move Up The League Tables

At a visit to Mayfield Academy earlier today. Mayfield's results showed a huge improvement last year and their new school building is due to open next month.

The Department of Education today published its GCSE league tables for 2011 and the figures are hugely encouraging for Southampton. Schools and colleges in Southampton completed a clean sweep of the best ever results at GCSE, Key Stage 2, and A Level in 2011. This will reassure parents that education in the city is improving across the board and will provide the city’s children and young people with the opportunities they need and deserve.  In 2011 Southampton achieved a 9% increase in 5+ GCSEs A*-C, and a 4.2% increase in 5+ GCSEs A*-C, including English and Maths.

I would like to offer my congratulations and to the pupils who have worked so hard to achieve these results and wish them every success in what they choose to do next. I’d also like to thank the city’s fantastic headteachers for their leadership and dedication, as well as all the committed and talented teaching and support staff for everything they do.

The City Council will continue to work alongside the city’s schools to keep up the momentum and build on this success. We are fortunate to have some of the best headteachers in the country working within the city and this can only be good for the education of Southampton’s children and young people.

We are not complacent and there is still work to do, but these results move us closer to achieving our goals.

Banister School Rebuild Given the Green Light

Freemantle Councillor, Michael Ball in Archers Road, outside Banister School

I am delighted to report that the City Council will be investing in a complete rebuild for Banister School. Conservative Councillors have been pushing for this for some time.  

A number of schools in the city are expanding to meet the growing demand for primary places. The greatest demand is in the central part of the city and in Freemantle Ward. All of the Junior and Infant schools in the ward are going to become 'all though' primary schools and this includes Banister School from September 2013.The current Banister buildings are very old and in need of replacement and now with the need to grow the school, a complete rebuild is the only sensible option to pursue.

At the end of last year the City Council was successful in winning additional capital money from the government to help deal us fund our ambitious local primary school expansion programme. The council was awarded £3.1M. As a result I am pleased to report that we are now in a position to commit to the Banister School rebuild.

We will be able to produce a fantastic, state of the art new building, which will not only be excellent quality but superb value for money. The new build will be completed for September 2013 and so this will be the fastest school build that the city council has ever done.

Southampton Conservatives Launch 2012 Manifesto

Southampton’s Conservative Councillors today launched our Manifesto for the local elections in May 2012. We have published the document on our website, (CLICK HERE) and you can also download the document as a pdf. We hope that this will be of interest to you and we would welcome any comments or thoughts that you have. You can feedback to us on this email or via the website.

This election will be crucial for Southampton and residents will have a clear choice about what sort of council they want and what sort of political leadership they want for the city.

Despite the enormous challenge of having to find £75m of savings between 2010 and 2014, Southampton Conservatives are committed to doing everything possible to protect front line services, to keep costs down for local residents and to continue to move the city forward and bring in business and jobs.

We are ensuring that important front line services are maintained, keeping OPEN all our Sure Start centres, libraries and leisure centres and protecting the weekly bin collections and budgets for looking after vulnerable residents and repairing the roads and pavements.

We will freeze Council Tax for a second year running and avoid hiking up charges for council services like parking charges and adult social care charges.

We are continuing to invest in the city’s public realm and infrastructure and despite the gloomy financial outlook nationally we are attracting businesses and jobs to the city.

We are cutting out waste in the council and reducing back office costs. We have cut the numbers of directors at the council in half and have reduced the numbers of senior managers by a quarter. At the same time we are protecting jobs at the front line so they can deliver important services to the public.

The Conservatives have been in office in Southampton since 2008 (with a period of minority administration in 2007) and we have stuck to ALL the promises we made to Southampton residents. We have done what we said we would do, we have been honest with residents and we have dealt with the significant challenges the city faces in a responsible and robust way. We have not made promises we could not keep and we do not intend to do so now. However with key elections in May it is important that we set out our new commitments to the city as we ask residents to vote for us again, to run the city until the next set of local elections in 2014. This document is a manifesto for 2012 – 2014 and it is Our Contract with Southampton.

Southampton Conservatives Launch Campaign to Save Our Libraries From Labour Cuts

Labour in Southampton have made it clear that they will cut up to 1500 council jobs, and vital services such as Libraries & SureStart will be first in the firing line if they gain control of Southampton City Council in May 2012.  

We can't let this happen! Southampton's Save Our Libraries campaign needs your support.

2012 Will Be Another Amazing Year for Southampton Schools

Southampton’s schools made tremendous progress in 2011.

GCSE results were up again, our improvement outstripping the national average, with a 4.5% jump in 5 GCSEs including English and Maths – our largest ever single increase. Our A-Level and Key Stage 2 results were the best ever too. In the last couple of years Southampton has shot up the national league tables for SATs.

We have some fantastic head teachers with real leadership and dedication, as well as committed and talented teaching and support staff. We are fortunate to have some of the best head teachers in the country working within the city and this is really bearing fruit locally.

2011 saw the first year of the new Pupil Premium; additional money for schools to support disadvantaged children. In 2011, on average, Southampton schools received an extra 3.4% in funding from government and this included more than £2.7m extra in the form of the new Pupil Premium.

This year Southampton’s Pupil Premium from government will rise to an incredible £5.7m. This is great news and we are already seeing the benefits, with some schools taking on additional teachers.

The city council has in place a major investment programme for the city’s schools, with £4.5m allocated last year for repairs and improvement works to secondary schools and over £14m allocated for primary schools, to help meet the demand for extra places from the growing number of primary school children in the city.

We have also installed solar panels on the roofs of Bassett Green, Beechwood, Tanners Brook and Shirley Warren schools so that these schools will have cheaper energy and the council will benefit from the government’s ‘Feed In Tariff.’

All the evidence shows that a good start in life has the biggest impact on a child’s education and so I am delighted that the current council has made a cast iron commitment to keep open all the city’s SureStart centres and to support the ongoing good work that they do.

Schools are taking advantage of new freedoms available to them with a number of schools opting for academy status or applying to convert in 2012. We even have our first successful free school application.

Parents value choice and diversity in local schools and it is important that over the coming years we meet the needs of local children and parents and that attainment continues to progress at the incredible rate we have seen in the last year. I have every confidence that this will happen and that 2012 will be another amazing year for Southampton schools.

Houses in Multiple Occupation Consultation

In the past, a large number of people have written to us regarding the issue of Houses in Multiple Occupation throughout Freemantle Ward, raising a number of issues and concerns on the topic.

As you may know the council will be bringing in new planning rules (called an Article 4 Direction) on 23rd March 2012, that will make it necessary for planning permission to be obtained before existing family homes can be turned into houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). These are rented properties with 3 - 6 unrelated people living there. Larger HMOs (6+ residents) have always required planning permission.

Over recent months the council has had a number of meetings with some residents associations, about having a policy to sit along side this new planning requirement, to help planners determine in which instances to give and refuse planning permission for HMOs. These meetings have been very helpful and we are grateful for all the input that has been have received from local people.

We want to bring to your attention that on 22nd December the council launched its formal consultation on the new planning policy. The details can be found online at: http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-environment/policy/planningdocuments/hmo-spd.aspx. 

If you have comments please submit these before the consultation close date, which is 5pm on 1st February.

In short the policy suggests that there should be a maximum threshold of HMOs in a given area. It is proposed that for Freemantle Ward this threshold be set at 20%. New applications for an HMO that would take the number over 20%, or in an area that already exceeds 20%, would generally be refused. The percentage threshold will apply to a 40m radius (or a minimum of the closest 10 properties) from the property in question.

In addition to this, as your local councillors, we have been fighting hard to tackle issues rightly brought to our attention by local residents:

1. Improved parking standards for HMO’s. Under the new policy, if adequate parking is not provided this will also be grounds for refusal. New parking standards for planning application for flats and houses (non HMOs) came into effect on 26th September 2011 and this should also help prevent parking problems in the area from getting much worse, as new developments are built.

2. More purpose built accommodation for students. I am pleased that Southampton University is now looking to provide more purpose built student accommodation in the city, as this will also do a great deal to protect existing family housing in Freemantle Ward.

3. Extra resources for planning enforcement. An extra planning enforcement officer will be included as part of the February council budget. Extra resources into planning enforcement will help to ensure that developers who flout planning rules are brought to task.

We would urge you to have a look at the council’s consultation and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Councillors Jeremy Moulton, Michael Ball & Brian Parnell.

Boost to Pupil Premium will mean more funding for local schools

The government’s Pupil Premium to support disadvantaged children will mean a big boost to the funding of local schools. Next year the pupil premium is set to rise to £600 for each Free School Meals eligible pupil.

Taking pupil numbers for January 2011 this means that Freemantle schools will receive the following Pupil Premium next year, over and above their normal school budgets.

Regents Park Community College: £174,600
Banister Infant School: £21,000
Foundry Lane Primary School: £59,400
Freemantle Academy: £25,200
St Mark’s CofE Primary School: £77,400

The Pupil Premium is great news for Southampton Schools and the evidence is that many heads and governors are using this funding to support disadvantaged children, for instance by employing extra teachers.