Roads Contract Council Officer Turned Tory Councillor's Loose Words Costs Council More Than £25,000

 

Conservative Councillor Rob Harwood
Photo: Southampton City Council

A former senior Council officer who left his role and in the next year became a Conservative Councillor at the same Council, has now cost Southampton City Council more than £25,000 in costs for an investigation into him.

If Councillor Harwood had been more careful with his words, the Council could have spent this on services instead. 

Rob Harwood's name appeared on reports for decision at the Council by councillors, up to 2017. These included two reports relating to the Council's deal with Balfour Beatty for the Highways Service Partnership. 

One report had his name on it in 2010 when the Tory-controlled Council signed the original deal. And Harwood's name was at the top of another report in 2017 on the same subject.

In 2018, Harwood was elected as a Conservative councillor for Bitterne Park ward.

In 2022, he lost his seat, being defeated by Tony Bunday, who later quit Labour.

And in 2024, he was elected to a different ward, this time Harefield.

Not that you would know from the Council's website. His current Councillor page does not mention that he had been a Councillor before. It must be an oversight.

Not many months after being elected, Councillor Harwood made some loose comments in the Council Chamber and on LinkedIn.

As reported by Local Government Lawyer and the Daily Echo, these resulted in an investigation into him (and another councillor who was exonerated, so is not named publicly).

He was found to have breached the Code of Conduct.

The internal investigation cost £6,703. The external investigation cost another £18,964 and 31 pence.

This is a total cost of £25,667.31 that had to be found from Council reserves.

If Councillor Harwood had been more careful with his words, the Council could have spent this on services instead.

You would think that he would have learned his lesson.

But it seems not.

Because he has been offensive in his response to questions that Southampton Independents sent him about how he managed any potential conflict of interest in relation to the Balfour Beatty deals, bearing in mind he had been an officer first and a councillor in the next year.

He first ignored our questions. Then when pressed again, after we copied in his Group Leader Peter Baillie, he refused again to answer them, and said our questions were "irrelevant", and that Southampton Independents is "irrelevant".

Our questions are very relevant, because the Tories signed the deal and Labour extended it. We hold them to account for their failures.

They did the deal and extended it at taxpayers expense, despite the failures of the deal in the eyes of the Southampton people.

The people of our City constantly complain about the state of our roads.

Yet neither Labour nor Tory councillors have cancelled the deal with Balfour Beatty.

Labour or Tory, same old story.

Southampton Independents has obtained detailed information about the deal, and this includes how decisions were made in secret without the public being able to see. We are not talking about small amounts of money, either. 

We think this lack of transparency is wrong. Do you?

We will be publishing more information when the time is right.  

 

Labour or Tory, same old story. Your money robbed.

Who Turned The Lights Out? Labour Councillors including Now MP Satvir Kaur Did!

 

Labour Robbing Your Money to Pay for "Arts"

In 2023, Labour councillors on Southampton City Council turned the lights off on Southampton streets from 1am to 5.30an.

At tht time, now Labour MP Satvir Kaur was the Leader of the Council. A consultation was launched. Kaur said:

"We’re really keen to listen to the results of the consultation but also make it an evidence-based decision.

Satvir Kaur in the Daily Echo

"We’re really keen that people do feel safe within our local communities and within the city so this isn’t coming as a detriment to that." 

It seemed like another sham consultation where Labour pretended to listen, and went ahead anyway. 

Co-Founder of Southampton Independents and campaigner on safety, Andrew Pope, says:

Andrew Pope Finding Safety Issues in Shirley Towers
Photo: Southampton Independents

"It was such an obviously bad idea for the safety of Southampton residents. But Labour councillors did it anyway. Another sham consultation, just like the Portswood Bus Gate disaster.

If Southampton people did not want street lighting, they would move to the countryside!

Labour MUST reverse this decision NOW.

Perhaps Satvir Kaur turned the lights off so that people could not see how badly she was running the Council, and who she was doing deals with. Somehow, she is the MP. It's wrong.

I have campaigned on fire safety. I have campaigned on road safety. I have campaigned on fan safety at Saints.

 

Andrew Pope Fire Safety Campaign at Redbridge Towers
Photo: Southampton Independents

 

I am campaigning to change another of Labour's stupid policies that put Southampton people at risk, in the guise of saving money. 

Labour robs your money to pay for "arts" and other pet projects that fail Southampton, instead of doing the basics like keeping the lights on at night."

 

Southampton MP Satvir Kaur and Convicted Criminal Shere Sattar

Satvir Kaur Labour MP Southampton Test
Photo: UK Parliament under licence

In an investigation that we published recently, we showed the entry in the Electoral Commission records that linked the political funds of Southampton Labour MP Satvir Kaur to convicted criminal Shere Sattar.

Now we present more information about the links between Shere Sattar and the Labour Party, and not just in Southampton. Some of it may be circumstantial evidence.

What remains a fact, as reported by national newspapers The Times and The Independent, is that Southampton Labour MP Satvir Kaur, and other Labour MPs, plus the central Labour Party, all received money from convicted criminal Shere Sattar, despite him being:

1. a convicted criminal
2. expelled from the Labour Party

In 2022, Sattar was convicted with two of his family members of assaulting a man at the Acorn Industrial Estate in Southampton. Sattar was sentenced in May 2022. Later he was then expelled from the Labour Party.

Yet somehow, TWO YEARS LATER, Southampton Test Labour accepted TEN THOUSAND POUNDS from Sattar for Satvir Kaur's campaign, as shown below. The donation was stated in Satvir Kaur's register of interests as an MP.

 

Donation from Shere Sattar to Southampton Test Labour Party
Source: Electoral Commission

So was there any previous relationship between Satvir Kaur and Shere Sattar?

Firstly, they were both in the Labour Party, obviously.

We can go back further than when Sattar was convicted as a criminal with his family members. Why?

Because in 2016, shortly after the UK voted to leave the EU, Satvir Kaur was quoted in the Daily Echo in the same article with Shere Sattar. The headline on 30th June 2016, read:

"Muslim outdoor Eid prayer event cancelled due to far-right post-referendum protest".

This allegation was based on reports of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. Neither report contained any evidence of any actual demonstration. Both reports did however contain facts that disproved what Kaur claimed, because Police records disproved her claims.

Kaur was then a councillor and Cabinet Member of the Labour Administration of Southampton City Council. She held executive power of public funds, and made comments in the article that did not stand up to the facts, as stated by the Echo.

Sattar was involved with Eastleigh politics, and an Eastleigh Town Councillor. Sattar resigned as a Town Councillor in May 2025, according to the Town Clerk. 

Sattar was elected in an uncontested election on 5th May 2022, for Eastleigh (Cable) Ward. His trial finished on 12th April 2022. An uncontested election occurs without any actual vote.

 

Shere Sattar Uncontested Election
Source: Eastleigh Borough Council

 

Sattar was sentenced in May 2022 of the assault that took place in March 2021. He was sentenced and each of the three family members "handed a 12-month community order, including a requirement to complete 120 hours of unpaid work. They were each told to pay £300 costs and £500 compensation to their victim."

So Sattar stood for the Town Council either whilst, or after, being on trial. 

Sattar then held an event at Kuti's Brasserie in June 2022, celebrating said the Daily Echo as "Eastleigh elects one of the first British-Bangladeshi councillors".

This celebration was all hot air, it seems, just as the allegations about cancelling Muslim prayers was hot air. All seemed to be designed to puff Sattar's profile.

And despite his conviction, councillors had attended the event, according to the Echo, including Labour Councillor Matt Renyard. One wonders if they knew of his conviction.

Says The Independent: "Labour has said it is returning more than £40,000 donated by a convicted criminal who the party had already expelled as a member."

But what remains a fact is that Labour took money from a convicted criminal who had also been expelled from the Labour Party.

INVESTIGATION: Chaos at Shirley Warren Primary School and in Southampton Labour

Investigation

UPDATE (Friday 13/3/26): LABOUR IN REDBRIDGE IN CHAOS, SHIRLEY WARREN PRIMARY IN CHAOS, LABOUR-RUN COUNCIL IN CHAOS

1. We have offered Councillor Sally Goodfellow the right of reply to our article.

2. The claims made by the Labour-run Council do not seem to add up. The Daily Echo is standing by its headline that the Council sacked the governors.

3. The Bridge Education Trust have taken over a week to provide any minutes of the governor meetings, despite promising to get them to us by the end of this week. The Acting Headteacher has promised them to us by the end of Monday 16th March.

4. We have offered the three Shirley Ward councillors the right of reply to our article, and pointed out to the Leader of the Council Alex Winning who is a Shirley ward councillor that his own Cabinet Member and senior officers seem to contradict the Echo headline that the Labour-run Council sacked all governors including Labour Redbridge Councillor Sally Goodfellow.

 

Investigation

 

 

 

 

It's Back - Let's Play GUESS THE POTHOLE!

 

Get Your Ducks In A Row
Photo: Southampton Independents

Inventor of this game Andrew Pope, who is a Member of the Independent Network and Co-Founder of Southampton Independents, says:

 

Andrew Pope

 

"It's spring, let's get our ducks in a row. And our ducklings too.

 

Which road in Southampton is the pothole in? 

 

No prizes are given

But you will get 

The warm glow

To know 

That your ducks

Are in a row!

Southampton's favourite pothole-related game is back, on our Facebook page here.

Like the page to follow us and take part.

... 

A bit of help for you, the second clue of the road is in my poem... More clues will be added, so get involved and guess the pothole!"

 

Another Southampton Redbridge Ward Labour Councillor Removed - First Lee Whitbread Now Sally Goodfellow

 

Redbridge Labour Councillor Sally Goodfellow
Photo: Southampton City Council

Labour Losing One Councillor Is Bad... 

First it was reported by the Daily Echo that Southampton Redbridge Labour Councillor Lee Whitbread has been suspended by the Labour Party. At the time of writing, it is one of the most popular posts on our website. 

And at the time of writing, Whitbread is still listed on the Southampton Labour website as a Labour councillor. Is he or is he not? Will he be standing in the local elections when his seat is up?

The Southampton City Council website lists him as "Independent". As we've said before, he is nothing to do with us. He is nothing but a fake independent and a suspended Labour one at that.

Another Redbridge Labour Councillor Loses A Council Role 

Now, it is reported by the Daily Echo that another Southampton Redbridge Labour Councillor, this time Sally Goodfellow, who is in the news. 

She has been removed as a governor at Shirley Warren Primary School. This school is not in the Redbridge ward. It is in the Shirley ward, where Labour have just lost two by-elections in a row.

Who is Responsible? Labour Councillors

The Leader of the Council at the moment is Councillor Alexander Winning. He is a Shirley ward councillor and is up for election in May 2026. The Cabinet Member for Children and Learning is Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews, a Bitterne Park ward councillor who is up for election in May 2027. Under collective responsibility at least, they would have both had to agree the removal of the governors.

UPDATE: A response has been received from Councillor Barnes-Andrews. She says that Cabinet did not make the decision. Her response will be communicated in a future article. 

Who Else Was A Governor? 

Councillor Goodfellow has been removed, along with all other governors, including the Chair Andy McHugh who is mentioned in the Echo article. The register of interests document on the school's website shows the following list of governors was in place:

• Zoe Newton, the now ex-headteacher and Governor
• Andy McHugh, Trust Governor, with interest registered as Shirley Warren Action Church
• Sophia Ship, Deputy headteacher and Trust Governor, with interest registered as Southampton City Council
• Aby Adekoya, Co-opted Governor, no interests registered
• Sally Spicer, Co-opted Governor, with interest registered as Southampton City Council. Spicer is Goodfellow's married name. In the Echo report, she is quoted as being "angry".
• Shannon Wannell, Parent Governor, no interests registered
• there are four blank rows in the register of interests, one parent governor, one Council governor, one staff governor, one co-opted governor 

All of these governors have been removed by the Labour-run Southampton City Council.

What Have Southampton Independents Done On Behalf of Parents and Residents? 

Southampton Independents has written to the Bridge Education Trust to express its concern about the situation and ask a set of questions on behalf of parents and the taxpayer. 

We have a response, to which we have also expressed further concern. So we await a further response. The Bridge Education Trust is also responsible for other schools in Southampton.

Southampton Independents has also written to Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews with a set of questions on behalf of parents and the taxpayer, and also to Councillor Alex Winning.

 

 

 

VICTORY: Andrew Pope Wins Campaign for Southampton Councillors To Be Subjected to DBS Checks

 

Andrew Pope

In July 2024, Andrew Pope began a campaign to make sure that all councillors receive DBS checks. He submitted a Freedom of Information request asking what the Council were doing when assessing councillors. They were not being done any more. So Andrew began the process of campaigning for councillors to have to have the DBS check.

Around 18 months later, the Council Governance Committee agreed. Andrew says:

"When I was first elected, I received a DBS check. But then it did not seem to be happening to new councillors that were then elected.

I made enquiries with the Head of Legal. 

In 2024, I asked for DBS checks to be done again. Now they are."

 

 

 

Refused permission to speak at Hospital Trust Board about Major Incident Fire

 

Andrew Pope at Southampton General Hospital
Photo: Southampton Independents

Andrew Pope reports from University Hospitals Southampton (UHS) site Southampton General Hospital (SGH). He says: 

In 2010, my Masters dissertation was titled: "How Democratic Are NHS Foundation Trusts?". On what happened today, the answer was: "Not very!".

I tried to speak at the Trust Board meeting today.

It had been very difficult to get information about attending the meeting and speaking at it.

I walked from Shirley to the Hospital, and eventually managed to find the room. I had to ask several staff, some of whom sent me to the wrong floor.

When I got there, I asked the Chair to speak at the meeting about the lack of sprinklers. She refused to allow me to speak!

That's right, public money funds these people, but they don't want to listen to the public or answer questions about their failings to protect staff, patients, the public and firefighters.

I sat outside the meeting room, and then someone from PR (a.k.a. BS) turned up. She claimed that "everybody accepts" that the public cannot speak at these meetings. She also was not keen on being quoted saying this.

Incredible!

Please sign and share this petition.

We will make these people listen.

P.S. The photo was taken by two ladies that I spoke to outside the Hospital afterwards. They were very shocked with what I told them happened.

EXCLUSIVE: Will the SGH Get A New Endoscopy Unit? Yes... but where?

Southampton General Hospital
Photo: Southampton Independents

In the recent Major Incident fire at Southampton General Hospital, the Endoscopy Unit was completely destroyed. 

In an apology on the Hospital's Gastroenterology website, they have said this happend "unfortunately".

Huge Impact of Fire 

As reported widely, hundreds of patients had to be evacuated and over one hundred firefighters struggled to get the incident under control for several hours. 

Hospital staff have verified to Southampton Independents that vulnerable patients have suffered their health as a result of the incident. It is worth noting from huge bodies of clinical evidence, that it is a clinical fact that moving vulnerable people when ill, can negatively affect their health.

Southampton Independents is verifying with patients what impacts this might be, for example from smoke inhalation, and verifying with staff. 

The Incident has affected the entire Region of the NHS. It has also affected the City Council, according to the Local Democracy Reporter Jason Lewis. 

No Sprinklers and No Adequate Fire Safety Measures and No Major Incident Practice 

In the opinion of fire safety campaigner Andrew Pope, he says: 

"The fire could have been much less worse if they had had sprinklers, and possibly avoided completely if they had adequate fire safety measures in place. But they didn't. Today, I have discovered that they had not practiced for a Major Incident for some time. This is in the agenda and minutes of today's Trust Board. And it was identified at the November Trust Board to be "looked at". This is the language of dither and delay, not of safety critical action."

Will the SGH get a new endoscopy unit?

Yes, Southampton Independents can exclusively reveal. Andrew Pope has learned from sources close to the Hospital that a new endoscopy unit is being created. It is being installed using mobile units at the Hospital and at Adanac Park.

Andrew says:

Andrew Pope Pointing Out Fire Safety Breaches in Shirley Towers
Photo: Southampton Independents

"You will never guess where this endoscopy unit is being built! 

Where else have I been investigating the Park and Ride? At Adanac Park! 

A source told me, and I have verified onsite with staff and in documentary evidence, that a new endoscopy unit is being built on the land that I have suggested should be used for expanding the Park and Ride.

This land is right next to the existing Park and Ride facilities.

But because of the lack of fire safety in the destroyed unit, to add to the huge regional disruption caused by the fire, more public money is being spent on the new endoscopy unit!

If the SGH CEO and Trust Board had installed sprinklers, the impact would be nowhere near as bad as it has been.

I am continuing my campaign to get sprinklers installed, and to make it mandatory for hospitals by law in England."

 

Southampton Independents has given the right of reply to University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the SGH. They have still not made a statement, but have been asked again.

UPDATE: In a previous version of this article, the link to the apology was not implemented correctly. It has now been corrected. 

 

VICTORY: Another Andrew Pope Safety Campaign Win As Extra Safety Rails Added at St Marys Stadium

 

Andrew Pope in the Northam Stand with Safe Standing
Photo: Southampton Independents

Following on from his successful seven-year campaign to get safe standing at St Marys Stadium, in 2024 Andrew Pope began his campaign for extra handrails.

He has continued his campaign and throughout 2025, he added pressure to Southampton FC, Southampton City Council and the Safety Advisory Group that issues the Safety Certificate for the Stadium.

Now, more handrails or p-rails have been added, and more are under consideration.

Andrew says:

"This is great news. I am pleased that the Saints owners and staff have listened to me, acting on behalf of Saints fans who felt unsafe on the steep stairs and who asked me to act on their behalf.

I listen. I lead. I act.

Whether it is on sprinklers in tower blocks, rail seats at St Marys or sprinklers at Southampton General Hospital, this is what the Independent Network and Southampton Independents is all about. Your safety."