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| Yet ANOTHER Labour Robbery of Public Assets |
... AND THE TORY COUNCILLORS APPLAUD LABOUR FOR FOLLOWING TORY POLICIES ON HOUSING!
by Andrew Pope - Independent
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| Former Independent Councillor Andrew Pope |
This is a really interesting timing of the Council's announcement, just before Christmas, that the Labour-run Council will be giving away public land to developers at bargain prices, including below the market rate. This is confirmed in the report that went to the Labour-run Cabinet of councillors on 20th December 2022.
In the report approved by Labour's Cabinet, the option to sell all land at best market value was not recommended in the report. And the details are to be dealt with under what is called "exempt matters" which means that the public will not be able to see the details.
We have offered Southampton City Council the opportunity to comment on the proposals and answer our questions.
Why did they release this press release just before Christmas (copied below this article in case they decide to delete it*)?
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| Labour's Withering Rose in Southampton |
It's almost like the PR lackeys at the Council, under the instruction of Council Leader Labour Councillor Satvir Kaur didn't want the public to know about giving land away to developers and not delivering value for council tax payers and local residents, which councils are required to do by law - and for good reasons.
So it is interesting timing that they put the press releases out just before Christmas, hoping that nobody would notice.
Residents have noticed and they are not happy about it.
Sweet deals for developers is what former Tory Housing Spokesperson Cllr Peter Baillie advocated for years, but Labour are doing it and carrying on Tory policies.
It's like residents say back to me now - Labour or Tory, same old story.
Labour have broken their own promises. How do I know? Because I was in the Labour Party for ten years, including as a Labour councillor before I decided to become an Independent and quit Labour.
In the 2012 Labour Manifesto for the Council, and in public statement after public statement, Labour councillors including the Cabinet Member for Housing Councillor Warwick Payne pledged for council-owned homes, not giving the land to developers.
But the Labour Council, which has controlled the Council for nine of the ten years since 2012 - and approaching ten years now, has failed to deliver those council-owned homes over ten years and broke their pledges over housing. Now I have the stats to prove it, obtained directly from Southampton City Council.
Not only did Labour fail miserably on council-owned homes. They also failed to live up to the 2012 Manifesto pledges which already used weasel words to deceive the public into voting Labour.
How do I know? You can't see their pledges on the Labour Party's website because they have removed them. They do not want to be held to account for their failed promises.
But fear not. I have copies. Why? Because I was a Labour councillor and I co-ordinated the 2014 Labour Manifesto. The first part of this process was auditing the delivery or not of the pledges from 2012.
When I was doing this, I went to the Leader of the Council Simon Letts and told him that Cabinet members did not know their portfolios and did not know what the Council was spending millions of pounds of public money on.
And those Cabinet members certainly did not want accountability for failing to meet the 2012 pledges.
I suggested to those Cabinet members that they be sent to scrutiny to account for the pledges. They did not want that at all. I'm sure that you can work out why not, because they knew that they had not met many of the pledges.
One of the many reasons that I left Labour in 2015 and became an Independent councillor was Labour's failure to deliver the council homes that they promised.
And even when I was a Labour councillor, I spoke up in the Council Chamber at Scrutiny meetings to criticise Councillor Warwick Payne as Cabinet Member for Housing, and that he did not have a grip on his officers to provide leadership to them. That was because I put residents first, not party loyalties.
Councillor Payne was eventually removed as Cabinet Member for Housing and replaced with none-other than the current Leader of the Council Councillor Satvir Kaur. Worryingly, Councillor Kaur is now Labour's preferred candidate to succeed Alan Whitehead as the Labour MP for Southampton Test, which is the constituency in the West of the City.
Let's not forget that it was Councillor Kaur who could not answer my questions in the Council Chamber about the millions of pounds of public money that she spent on the Arts Complex, instead of on essential public services. That's why we used the Labour Highwayman graphic on our leaflets.
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| The Internal Audit Report on the Arts Complex That I Gave to the Echo |
The graphic would just as easily apply to the Tory councillors too, because the only councillor opposed to the Arts Complex / Studio 144 millions was me. The Tories supported the profligate millions.
I was the one councillor of forty-eight City councillors who challenged the Audit Committee and the Chief Financial Officer. I was the one councillor who took the information in the Internal Audit Report (see extract above) to the Daily Echo who put it on the front page, quoting the former Leader of the Council Simon Letts saying that he did not care why the Arts Complex was over-time and over-budget.
Councillor Kaur could not answer my questions about the millions. But Councillor Kaur did not replace Councillor Payne as Housing Cabinet Member until after he was the same Councillor who said that residents of tower blocks did not want sprinklers. I had it in writing and Cllr Payne's false claims are still on this website.
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| Daily Echo April 2017 During Our Sprinklers Campaign |
I said in early 2017, before the Grenfell disaster, that sprinklers save lives and it was a campaign that I led across Southampton to have them installed, exposing the failings of the Council to protect residents on fire safety - in the Daily Echo, on Wave 105 FM, BBC Radio Solent, ITV Meridian News and BBC Radio 5 Live. Sprinklers have saved lives and property in Southampton, including in Millbrook Towers in the ward where I used to be a councillor.
New figures that I have obtained on what was actually delivered on fire safety by the Council and what is still to be delivered MANY YEARS after Shirley Towers and Redbridge Towers fires are however very concerning and we have published on that already, with more to come.
Now - thanks to figures obtained directly from officers of the Council - I have a whole lot more evidence on the Council's failures on housing - FOR TEN YEARS OF FAILURE ON HOUSING, by Councillor Payne and Councillor Kaur.
It really is just another case of Labour or Tory, same old story. Meanwhile, Southampton Independents will continue to stand up for residents and businesses in Southampton.
* Council press release, 20th December 2022
Southampton City Council approves first Affordable Housing Framework sites
Today (Tuesday 20 December) Southampton City Council approved the first set of council-owned sites to be transferred to Affordable Housing Providers as part of the new Affordable Housing Framework which was approved at Cabinet earlier this year
This is one of the tools the council will use to ensure more affordable homes in the city which includes continuing to work towards the direct delivery of council homes.
The framework will allow the council to use its own land to address the significant need for affordable housing in Southampton and will provide the opportunity for development of social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership properties which will help people get onto the housing ladder and own a share in their home.
The first set of council-owned sites are either vacant sites, empty buildings or have an approved decommissioning plan in place meaning that delivery of the much-needed new homes can be achieved quicker. The first set of sites will provide an estimated total of up to 300 homes.
The council anticipates that several providers will be appointed and the framework ready to move forward early in 2023.
As of October 2022, there were a total of 7,508 households on the housing register with wait times ranging from 1 year and 4 months up to over 11 years. The council has set a target to increase the supply of affordable housing by 8,000 homes by 2040 which will help to reduce the wait times for those on the housing register.
Councillor Lisa Mitchell, Cabinet Member for Housing and the Green Environment, said:
“We know that poor quality housing has a significant impact on residents’ health and wellbeing, which is why it is so important that we provide good quality affordable housing so our residents can achieve a high-quality life and we enable people to live independently for longer by supporting their mental and physical wellbeing.
“The new affordable housing framework will accelerate the delivery of new homes and help us work towards our commitment to providing at least 8,000 affordable homes by 2040.
“We will work with Affordable Housing Providers to build new homes and work in collaboration with partners to provide more affordable housing and build better, stronger and more resilient neighbourhoods that foster city pride”.