Brown's Borrowing Binge

The legacy of a decade of Labour and Gordon Brown is that Britain is worst placed amongst major economies to weather the economic storm.

Yesterday Labour embmarked on a massive borrowing binge which will leave the country more indebted that at any time in history. With national debt set to exceed a trillion pounds Brown will borrow more than Dennis Healey did before he went cap in hand to the IMF and more than Winston Churchill during the Second World War. Gordon Brown will next year alone borrow in excess of £100b and more than the entire NHS budget.

The country now faces huge unexploded tax bombshell with taxes set to rise dramatically in the future to pay off Brown's debt mountain; rises in national insurance, income tax and car tax.

The Coolest Place in Southampton!

With Cllr Royston Smith at the Launch of the Christmas Ice Rink

Southampton's Christmas Icerink was officially opened last Thursday night by City Mayor, Brian Parnell and ice skating star Robin Cousins.

Sited on the forecourt of the Civic Centre it is a fantastic location and its already proving extremely popular. Click HERE for more details.

Action to Curb Cycling on the Pavements

A campaign was launched in Shirley last week to stop cyclists riding dangerously on the pavements. I have been working with the city council and the police over the past few months to tackle the problem of dangerous cyclists. Large numbers of residents from Shirley and Freemantle have contacted me. They are concerned that the problem is getting worse.

New signs, like the one above, have been installed along Shirley High Street. Initially the plan is to persuade and educate people. However as a last resort the police can hand out £30 fines.

C&A Building Demolition Underway

The demolition of the former C&A building on Northern Above Bar has now begun, to make way for a new modern office block in two years time.

The new building will house Southampton City Council and Capita staff and will provide a new customer service centre on the ground floor, along with retail outlets and a restaurant.

The office block will be an important component of the Northern Above Bar regeneration project. I am really pleased that demolition of C&As is going ahead and that we are on course for the new building in 2010.

US Election Night

Tuesday was a late night at the University Students Union. I, along with several hundred politics enthuiasts gathered to watch the US election results as they started to come in during the early hours of the following morning. It was an historic night with America electing its first black president and voting overwhelmingly for change. I thought John McCain's concession speach was tremendous and was a testament the character of the man.

Connect2 Signing

Tuesday was the offical signing date for the new Connect2 cycle way which will connect up St Denys and Northam. The new £450,000 pedestrian and cycle route will run along the waterfront between Horseshoe Bridge and Northam Bridge. The project is a partnership between Southampton City Council, The Lottery and Sustrans (the cycle charity) and the money was awarded after Southampton won a national competition for lottery funding.

Community spirit is alive and well in Waltham Crescent

Congratulations to local residents in Waltham Crescent and to the members of the Four Walls Tenants and Residents Association who spent yesterday planting daffodil bulbs on the grass verges around the close.

I am looking forward to seeing the area in bloom come the spring!

Lottery Boost For St. James' Park

St. James' Park in Shirley

St. James' Park has received a £65,000 cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This will allow detailed plans to be drawn up for the full £1.5million park improvement scheme.

The lottery funding awarded will enable work on the detailed designs to progress over the next 6 months and is a key step towards converting the vision of park users into a reality.

The Friends of St James’ Park have been working with local people on ideas for the park. Plans for the park include:

- fully refurbishing the WW2 building with a café and community room,

- creating two new entrances to the park,

- refurbishing the tennis courts,

- improving play facilities with something for both young and old!

Lord's Hill Academy

At the launch of the Lord's Hill Academy

On Monday I went to the inaugural meeting of the council of the newly opened Lord's Hill Academy. I have just been appointed to the school council as the local authority's representative.

There have been some big improvements made to both the Oaklands and the Millbrook site, with the buildings freshly painted and with new signs. The new school has had to make huge changes in to prepare for the new term in a very short space of time and it is a tribute to the new headmaster and his team that everything has gone so smoothly.

A Two Year Council Tax Freeze

Southampton along with the rest of the South East is chronically underfunded by central Government, with a disproportionate amount of the taxes we pay being transferred to the North of England.

Locally whilst Southampton’s Labour MPs have defended the situation and refused to stand up to Gordon Brown, the Conservatives have campaigned for a fairer deal for the city.

Council Tax has more than doubled under Labour in the last 11 years. Locally we all remember the 18% hike of the last Labour City Council administration.

I was therefore delighted to hear the announcement at our October party conference, that an incoming Conservative government would freeze council tax for 2 years, saving families in Southampton around £200 and providing an extra £4m of government funding for the city.


Other Conservative policies to help with the rising cost of living:

HELP AT THE PUMPS
We will introduce a Fair Fuel Stabiliser - when fuel prices go up, fuel duty would fall.

HELP FOR FAMILIES
As we save money on wasteful welfare, we will abolish Labour's couple penalty in the tax credits sysetem - giving 1.8 million couples an extra £2,000 a year.

HELP FOR FIRST TIME-BUYERS
We will permanently abolish Stamp Duty for first-time buyers on purchases up to £250,000 - nine out of ten first-time buyers will pay no Stamp Duty at all, saving an average of £2,000 each.

HELP WITH YOUR BILLS
We will cut the energy and gas bills of up to four million people by £100 by reforming Post Office Accounts to allow families without bank accounts to access cheaper tariffs.

HELP FOR MOTORISTS
We will oppose Labour's new tax on family cars, which will hit 1 million owners of family cars bought up to 7 years ago with tax rises of up to £250.

Hill Lane Crossing Works Underway

Work on the junction of Hill Lane and Raymond Road is now well underway.

Southampton City Council is installing a new pedestrian and cycle crossing. The pavement has also been widened on Hill Lane to improve visibility for cars turning right from Raymond Road. Click HERE for further details.

Plan For Change

Back From Conference

I have just got back from Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.

We have had an excellent few days, capped by David Cameron's leader's speech this afternoon. In his speech he pledged to rebuild our battered economy, renew our bureaucratised NHS and repair our broken society. David Cameron stressed that in these difficult times, Britain needs leadership, character and judgement.

I have attached the full speech below:

New Conservative Websites

The Conservative Party has today unveiled its new look website.

I have a new updated campaign website for my campaign to represent Southampton Test in Parliament. I have added a section under "activities" which has a map of Southampton and shows what I have been up to across the Constituency.

Nuffield Theatre Board

I have just been appointed to serve as a Director of the Nuffield Theatre, representing Southampton City Council on its board. The theatre is supported by Southampton City Council, Hampshire County Council, the Arts Council and Southampton University.

Southampton University is perhaps unique in that it a theatre (Nuffield), an art gallery (John Hansard) and a concert hall (Turner Sims)

It's a fantastic theatre and I had backstage tour which was extremely interesting. The theatre does a great job; not only putting on some excellent productions but also providing training for young people embarking on a career in the theatre. Without local theatres such as the Nuffield providing that crucial training ground it is very unlikely that the West End would be the huge success that it is.

Your Views On Regents Park Community College Move

Plans to relocate Regents Park Community College in Regents Park to the St Marks School site in Shirley Road have taken a step forward with the launch of a formal public consultation on the proposed move.

I have been lobbying for money from the government to rebuild the school as part of a new learning campus with the civil service sports ground in Stafford Road serving as playing fields, for the schools and for the local community.

For further information click HERE and select the report labelled: Regents Park Community College: Relocation.

Mansel Park Gala Day

Well done to Millbrook Towers and District Community Association, The Friends of Mansel Park and The Mansel Pavilion who organised a fantastic Gala Day.

Backing Bingo

I recently spent an afternoon at the Mecca Bingo in Portswood. I met members of staff and bingo players and had a go at calling out the numbers.

Bingo halls up and down the country have been closing, with the industry under huge pressure from double taxation and the effects of the smoking ban. Unlike other forms of gambling bingo suffers from an anomaly in the tax system whereby it must pay both gaming duty and VAT. Conservatives have pledged to abolish this double taxation and save bingo halls up and down the country from closure.

The Mecca Bingo Hall on Portswood Broadway is a fantastic old building. I found an interesting article on Portswood.info which tells its history.

It was be a disaster for local people if it were to close. With over 34,000 members in Southampton (including me!) it would have big detrimental impact on the community.

Better Lightning Needed On Our Estates

I spent Friday night out on the Millbrook Estate with residents of Lower Brownhill Road and with the new Conservative Councillor for the area, Paul Holmes.

Local people were keen to show us where improvements could be made to the area. The new city council administration is investing £1.5m next year into the Millbrook and Maybush estates. Top of the list for local people in Lower Brownhill Road was better lighting at the back of the flats, in the alley ways which connect through to Flamborough Close and in the flat porches.

Tackling Crime and Anti Social Behaviour

I attended two very different meetings last week on crime and anti social behaviour.

The first was on Tuesday and was hosted by my opponent at the next General Election, Labour MP Alan Whitehead. The meeting was to highlight the launch of his new guide to anti social behaviour and peoples' rights and the law. It was held at the Central Baptist Church in Devonshire Road. The book is very useful and can be downloaded on his website. The meeting was with all the different residents' associations in the west of the city and I went along with a number of councillor colleagues to hear peoples' concerns.

It was a rather negative meeting and I was struck at just how few ideas the Labour Government and Labour locally have to tackle crime. Unfortunately they are resorting to the old argument that simply more laws are needed. Since this government came to power there have been more new offences created than the number of days they have been in office! Yet crime is still a huge issue for local people and there are no positive solutions coming forward.

The second meeting was on Wednesday, at Freemantle Infant School in Mansion Road. This was a meeting with the local beat police, the fire and rescue service and all the new neighbourhood watches in the Freemantle and Shirley area.

It was an extremely positive meeting and I am really encouraged by the excellent work that the police are doing in the area. In recent months dozens of new neighbourhood watches have been set up. At the meeting we heard some of the things the police have been doing recently:

- Extra police patrols to tackle the problem of robberies along Shirley High Street.
- Cycling proficiency work in schools to tackle the problem of bicycles being ridden on the pavements.
- Trying to reduce speeding traffic along Hill Lane.
- Tackling crime hotspots in Albany Road and Shirley Towers.
- Recent arrests of drug dealers.
- Combined police/ PCSO / special constable patrols in the local parks and around the pubs at closing time.

Just as there was a stark contrast between my two meetings there is a stark contrast between Labour, who seem to have run out of steam and the Conservatives who on the other have a range of positive measures to make a real difference:

Nationally:
1. We are looking at having elected police sheriffs to bring democratic accountability to the police.
2. We will introduce honesty in sentencing so courts set a minimum and a maximum period of incarceration.
3. We will replace automatic release with earned release.
4. We will make community sentences tough and effective, and withdraw benefits for those who don’t attend.
5. We will enforce Drug Rehabilitation Requirements.
6. Offenders will compensate victims through a Victims’ Fund. Those serving custodial sentences will pay into the Fund through work in prison.
7. Prison and Rehabilitation Trusts and private sector prisons will be paid by results - with a premium awarded if the offender is not re convicted within two years.
8. We will accelerate the deportation of foreign national prisoners.
9. We will increase prison capacity by more than 5,000 places over and above Labour’s plans, to end overcrowding by 2016.
10. We will cut the paper work and bureaucracy which is tying the hands of police officers.

Locally:
1. We are encouraging more Southampton people to sign up as special police constables to help patrol the city streets. We seeking Home Office approval allow us to scrap council tax for local people who sign up.
2. We are improving lighting in the city and will replace thousands of old street lights in Southampton in the next few years. We are also improving lighting in city centre parks as a priority.
3. We are investigating whether mobile wireless CCTV could be mounted on new street lights, so cameras can be installed in crime hotspots.
4. We are supporting the 101 anti social behaviour number after the Government withdrew its funding.
5. We are looking at how we can better organise the council's uniformed officers, city patrol and wardens and how to better co-ordinate activities with the police.
6. We are looking at opening hours and numbers of pubs and clubs in the city.
7. We have launched an after schools sports scheme to get more youngsters playing sports.
8. We are installing measures to protect areas of open space around the city from traveller incursions.
9. We are tackling the problem of dangerously parked and untaxed cars.
10. We are investing in anti crime measures on our estates including rolling out a new concierge system in the tower blocks.