Monday presented me with a chance to catch up on emails after a number of meetings were cancelled. Although I still caught up on some of our city centre conservation developments. Opposition from a local school in being included within the scheme, and not wanting to tie their hands in terms of development meant I favoured allowing them to remain outside of the conservation zone. The bigger prize to the scheme was for inclusion of one residential road, which would hopefully avoid changing its character; satellite dishes, poor quality double glazing etc to be prohibited. The community have spoken and this is what they wanted.
Tuesday saw me become embroiled in a yellow line issue on the Coxford Road; where it meets Southampton City Golf Course. For years we've had considerable fly tipping in the area and so it was common sense to put a gate across and stop us having to spend £4k a year on cleaning up the area. However, as these things are never as simple as they should be, if you have a gate, you need to protect access. Yellow lines. The original plans were overzealous (20 meters of lines in both directions) and the consultation challengeable. Suffice to say that the revisions were appropriate (now only effecting half of one property) and that officers from Balfour Beatty personally hand delivered letters to residents in the area. All good fun.
Wednesday saw the release of information from Helius that they were planning to submit an application in the Summer. Looks as though they are still trying to raise money, although I note that they recently sold 10% of their shares for a few million. However, we as a Council received no prior warning of any change and the Daily Echo are yet to contact me on this issue. And…beware of any plans which start quoting seasons for their start date. This one will continue to rumble on for some time yet.
The afternoon saw me play a very unfunny game called "Is my meeting cancelled or not..?". Eventually it was which meant that I got to spend much more time at City Depot, based in the best ward of the city; that's right, in Millbrook. Some good news regarding the take up of the new Green Waste Service, reduction of sickness rates and the introduction of a new GPS based software package - the power to direct our vehicles now puts us in a better position than some emergency services!
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| Up to the second, GPS driven, massive touch screen! |
Thursday saw me have a very fruitful meeting with the Ops Manager at Bluestar. I now have negotiated a very good deal for the city, but due to the commercial nature I can't reveal it...YET. Members of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel will be pleased to note that this included a discusssion on bus routes around the General Hospital.
Also did some prep work for the Norman Baker visit next Wednesday; see if we can't use some more funding from one Government Department to aid a bid from another Department. Robbing Peter to pay Paul always feels much better when it’s a Coalition Government.
Friday saw updates on casework, HMO licensing and another meeting with Highfield Residents Association.
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| A sneaky shot taken at our Awayday...Shhh! |
So to the weekend; a few days off. Unlikely. Saturday saw us gather as a group to discuss the past, present and future. It was an invigourating session and a good use of five hours of a saturday. So less time spent with the family this weekend, but more carried out on your behalf. Next week will see four evening meetings in a row and responses going out from the Council to residents in the Regents Park Road area.
So if you thought this week was busy, wait until next weeks update!
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