The Real World

I've thought hard about what to write in this weeks blog. As you can imagine, a considerable part of my week has been taken up with one particular issue; that is not to say that life stops in all other aspects and more of that anon.

It can be very difficult in turning the other cheek when people take a number of jumps from what you say to what they promulgate across the web. An example being that firstly the council were accused of not having any plans for a council property. I said we did. Then the council was accused of wanting to sell off the property. I said we had plans to turn it into social housing. Then the council was accused of wanting to take the house all along and that it was some kind of conspiracy. I clearly get the distinct im pression that it does not matter what I say that it will be interpreted to fit the "facts" as some people see them.

Great to use when reading comments from Trolls

Suffice to say that comments of a personal nature only go further to strengthening my resolve. These comments only make a mockery of their campaign by degrading the argument to little more than a playground spat of name-calling.

I don't believe that this will be the last we will hear of this campaign; if I were in their shoes I would look to keep the Echo's coverage going by making a deputation at Council or by employing legal people to stall the process. I await to hear what the response is.

So....outside of this issue, I have mostly been....

Monday - Monthly briefing session with senior officers; talking amongst other things, Biomass, resurfacing, prioritising roadsworks, preferendums and a planning partnership with Eastleigh (income generating, no redundancies for SCC).

Tuesday - Cabinet, which saw me present a report for agreement on £500,000 spend on improvements to bus stops and bus shelters across 13 of the 16 wards of the city. I was chastised (thats a familiar feeling now) when I came to be cabinet member in May for saying on a number of occaisions that I needed to check the books. Turns out that I found half a million pounds from developers which needed spending on capital projects pretty smartish or they would be returned to big business. Oh dear Dan. Tut tut.

The highlight of Wednesday was a visit to a company called Selex, which is tucked away on the Millbrook Industrial estate. These guys build infra red detectors, which are put into a range of military and civiliian vehicles. Who'd have thought that something the size of a grapefruit could cost tens of thousands of pounds. The best part was finding out that the two previous Mars Rovers - the little machines running around on Mars have one of these indicators each on board. So...a little bit of Southampton is currently driving around on the surface of Mars some 140 million miles away!

Someone, somewhere will probably be very excited

about seeing the inside of this machine. Probably.

Thursday afternoon was a whistlestop tour of a number of our bases of operations across the city. Dropping in on the enforcement teams and the ladies who make judgements on the parking appeals as they come in; unfortunately they wouldn't let me refuse an appeal on the grounds that some one was from London or that they drove a Volvo. I will keep trying on your behalf though! Also visited the team which looks after some of our parking maintenance issues and got to see the inside of a parking machine...these guys are like the borrowers and save us thousands of pounds a year by making do and mending a number of our machines. Thanks to Mark and his team.

Dave & Marie, on Redbridge Hill

On Friday morning I met up with Councillor Furnell on Redbridge Hill. As you may recall, a few weeks ago there was a very nasty attack on a lone female late at night. One of the local residents, Marie, got in contact with Dave to ask how they could go about making change happen in our community. With a lot of negotiation and a good working relationship with campaigners, we are able to get a significant area of the scrub cleared at the bottom of Redbridge Hill. This will be carried out over the next few weeks, with letters going out in the community to let them know why. A good case of realistic expectations combined with clear dialogue. My thanks go out to Marie for all her hard work in raising this issue and to Dave for liaising with me, the Council and the Police.

Oh and yesterday I was out and about leafletting with Councillor Laming. We're out every weekend either leafletting and dorr knocking. Theres a lot of homes to get around, but we'll be coming to a street near you soon.

When worlds collide

This has been a tough old week I can tell you. Politically it has been one of the most intense and that has been combined with a work schedule which has been rediculous. But as has been pointed out to me, these are the things that you put yourself forward for - no one put a gun to your head.

Monday saw my start the day with an update on our Biomass situation. Suffice to say that I have given officers a steer on the way in which the council will need to respond to the formal consultation response from Helius. My fear is that this is a done deal in terms of the long drawn out process and that in reality we should be concentrating on lobbying the Government Ministers who will make the decision. I'm sure that if this was your council making the decision then cross party unity on this issue would've meant it died a death some months ago.

On Monday evening I visited a family who had recently recieved some very bad news. I was not going as a politician, but rather to face up to the individuals concerned and apologise on behalf of the council. The issue has been in the papers over the past week or so, and I find it never conducive to a good relationship to carry out a conversation through the press. An emotional couple of hours, which will lead to a formal response on a number of questions raised by the individuals and myself. I await the officers decisions tomorrow. Sometimes things are no longer political decisions but rather operational, but the wider public don't always understand that. My role then becomes one of scrutiniser - I still have a job to do even if I'm no longer the one making decisions.

Tuesday saw me meet with the General manager of West Quay - one of the main reasons for visitors coming into our city at the moment. My reason for Meeting Mr Collyer was to discuss the problems of smoking and general hygeine in the area immediately around the entrances and exits. It was a frank discussion and I hope to be able to bring forward some new ideas; we want to make sure that as a considerable percentage of shoppers first impression of our city is in exiting West Quay, that it is as good an offer as we can make it.

saw this pinned on the door at the Civic Centre -

it took all my strength not to knock..!

Tuesday afternoon saw me meet with my policy team; Councillors Furnell and Jeffery (apologies sent from Whitbread). A good chance to update everyone on where we were in terms of our three priority areas for review: recycling, roads & structures and parking. Additionally, both Dave and Dan were able to let me know how things were progressing on their areas of business, namely Biomass and the bus review. Those of you who regularly read this blog will know that we PROMISED to restore two bus services on the east of the city. I am hopeful that we will shortly be bringing good news to our bus users in that part of the city.

Wednesday was a full day with the Cabinet discussing where we were, what lessons we'd learnt and most importantly where we were going.

Simon, Warwick & Richard

Matt, Jacqui & John

- Sarah not pictured

The end of the week saw me take in dicussions on Road Safety, Taxi provision within the city and a 5pm meeting on Friday with a student on the role of the port within our city.

Team Labour at the Freemantle Community Centre Open Day

with my wife, daughter and Councillor Shields

And yesterday I attended the Freemantle Community Centre Open Day - along with Labour Councillors from Redbridge (Andy), Millbrook (Dave), Shirley (Satvir) and Freemantle (Dave). Arriving to set up at 09.45, we stayed the distance until 15.00. It was really good to catch up with some familiar faces, make new friends and for Councillor Furnell to have a good chat about wether he thought Margaret Thatcher had been a good Prime Minister!

The line which seems to be played out time and time again by the Tories in Millbrook is that Labour doesnt care.

The Conservative table, circa 1:30pm

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Preferendum Update

Minister challenged on biomass Biomass preferendum hurdle

Southampton’s “preferendum” on the proposed biomass plant may still go ahead alongside the police commissioner poll in November, despite legal hurdles.

Different polls – such as council and European elections – have been previously combined to save administration costs. Southampton City Council has pledged to use public voting on key issues to set local priorities, of which biomass would be the first.

A legal complication has come to light, which means the police commissioner poll has not been set up in the same way as other elections. This election is to be run specifically under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2010, and not under electoral legislation.

Council leader Richard Williams has called upon local government minister Grant Shapps to revise Section 15 of the Representation of the People Act 1985, which would allow the two votes to be run side-by-side. He said:

“I am calling on the minister to personally secure his commitment to this course of action which will clearly not only benefit Southampton but the wider local authority community, both in relation to this year’s forthcoming election and police and crime commissioner elections in the future.”

The council’s head of legal services, Richard Ivory added: “My understanding is that this could be achieved by the passing of secondary legislation or by derogation order, but I am conscious that time is against us unless this is undertaken by the Government very shortly.”

The letter to Grant Shapps was sent on 25 July. The council awaits his response.

Insight

Unless people know you, talk to you or even read this blog on a regular basis, I don't think that people can understand you. You get lumped in with every other politician in the world; instead of association with the good ones, we all get put in with all of the greedy and insane examples. Politicians are ranked below journalists and estate agents in terms of trust.

I stopped shouting at my TV in the summer of 2010. By May 2011 I was one of those politicians I used to shout at. A few short months ago I took charge of a major portfolio on behalf of the city I love. The reason I am doing what I do six days a week, it is to make the city a better place for my daughter to grow up in. I don't have a predetermined need to lie or cut everything in sight - but those are accusations which members of the public feel OK to throw about.

Family's are very important. As well as me trying to "be the man of the house", my family also get very protective. This week has been very testing for me personally. Wrestling with a very difficult decision that has massive impact on an individual and unknown impact on any number of possible other individuals. Suffice to say that I haven't been sleeping very well. The comments my wife and family see in the social media doesn't help either. But this is what politics is about. You make the best decisions you can with the information you have at your fingertips and have to accept that everyone else can't have access to that information.

Fairness is vital to how I want our council to be perceived, but there are some real traps which we have fallen into becuase they've been put into the too difficult pile before. Doing whats right politically can be very different from doing what you believe to be the right thing. There is your choice. I will make those difficult choices instead of just sitting on the sidelines shouting the odds. The important part is pulling together and being a part of the solution.

Choices have already been taken. And choices have to be made. Perhaps I'll sleep better soon.

100 not out!

Welcome to my 100th blog! Where does the time go? It absolutely flies past. The plan was to have something already polished and pre-prepared to wow you all with. But for those of you who know me and my life at the moment, you'll understand that there isn't always enough time in the day. This morning, although feeling a bit dicky, I've fielded pfamily phonecalls, had the chief whip knock on my door and wanted to spoend time with the little 'un. This is before getting washed and dressed before going out leafleting with Georgie and Dave.

In a very quick summary:

Monday - very good meeting with Ian Hall and representatives of the Hackney Carriage Drivers. I'll be having regular meetings with these guys and listening to what they have to say. If they don't know whats going on in our city, then no one does! Also had updates on our flooding strategy, and the role of ecology within the Council.

Tuesday - Met with officers and Councillor Mintoff (Swaythling) to make a decision on the setting up of a village green. In the afternoon I held the first cabinet member chaired meeting between the council, Eastleigh and our partners in the bus companies. A real opportunity taken to make a real difference to our bus services...and change is coming...

Inside the Leader's Office

Wednesday was taken up with a very interesting and productive meeting with Councillor Mel Kendal (Conservative Deputy leader of Hampshire County Council). Last year when I met the Chief Executive for the first time I asked him what our council was doing to improve our financial situation; namely outside of cuts and increased charges, what were they doing to bring in new money? Well, the municipalisation of energy may be the way forward. We want to be able to increase recycling, and generate power at Marchwood - power which can be used to heat homes through combined heat and power and raise money through selling electricity back to the grid. This is how we can do things differently - this is how you will see change.

Meetings at Southampton University. Now that is a good looking building..!

Thursday saw me meet with the Sustainable Travel City Board and chair the meeting. This is one of our multi-agency committees that will scrutinise the spending of our government grants. Its great to have the PCT, Southampton University and partners from the third sector attending.

Friday saw me delve deeper into an unfortunate situation regarding the loss of a job at the Council. We were elected to minimise job losses. This post was axed back in February. The person affected has been handed their papers and will cease employment in October. I can only hope that the individual grasps some of the job offers that they will continue to be offer right until their last day at the Council. It's not nice, but in order to save the remaining £25 million, we will have to make choices that people will think are wrong. People will say its only a couple of grand. I know what its like to be handed redundancy papers; what that means to tell my family; the impact it has on your life. I will make sure that this person is treated with the respect that they deserve.

Friday night supporting my brother at Hampshire Disabled Cricket Teams Quiz.

We came second!

And so this morning, its off out to leaflet like much of our party across the city. Bouyed by the great results of last night; Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Aidan Burley - "...multi-cultural crap..." - the Olympics brings our country together so that we can celebrate in what makes us great. We'll celebrate those who have been able to ride horses, row boats and those who have been persecuted. We'll celebrate because they're all British.

So in signing off my 100th blog, I just want to say that I am proud to have been elected for the best ward in the city. Proud to have been elected to serve in our Council's Cabinet. Proud to be bringing about different solutions to problems not of our causing. Our city will prevail, and prevail inspite of a Tory-led Government, not because of it.