Monthly Report for September 2009

Below is a summary of my work in Parliament and in Southampton for the month of September 2009. Click here to read previous reports.

If you'd like to know more about any of the work I've been doing, or if you think there is another issue you think I should be acting on, you can always contact my office.

Energy Workshop

Earlier in the year I ran Southampton’s first Energy Saving Workshop, which gave residents easy access to a number of different expert advisors on how to reduce their energy bills.  I will be holding a second energy workshop on Saturday October 10th at the Lordshill Community Centre from 10am-1pm.  All Southampton residents are welcome, and will be able to get advice on Warm Front grants, help with the costs of getting cavity wall and loft insulation, making sure you are on the best tariff, and even generating your own energy.

Art collection sell-off

I have written an article for the Daily Echo addressing the Conservative Council’s arguments for selling off a portion of the city’s art collection, and explaining why I believe such a move would be a very bad idea.  In short, I argued that the idea of selling off a few dusty water colours that are never on display may seem like an initially appealing and popular move, however when we look at the detail that is not what is being proposed, and may result in severe long term ramifications for the entire art gallery’s ability to operate.  The full article, and a link to the petition opposing the sell-off, is now on my website.

savethequaysSave the Quays

I have also been working with Labour Councillors to fight the Tory plans to privatise the Quays and other leisure complexes in the city, including doing some welcome old-fashioned petitioning outside the Quays last week.  You can read more about the campaign on my website, but in in summary, the arguments against privatisation are as follows:

1.   The economic climate is highly unfavourable.  In other parts of the country Councils are taking over privately run leisure centres that are in danger of folding due to the recession.  It is therefore extremely unlikely that the Council will secure a deal on favourable terms (or at least as favourable as they would have been a few years ago).

2.   Whatever the economic context, the Quays was built using public money and was ranked as one of the best leisure centres in all of the UK and Ireland last year.  There is therefore little obvious space for a private operator to increase profit or efficiency without either cutting back on staff, opening times, or by raising admissions prices.

If you agree with these arguments, you can again sign a petition opposing the privatisation plan by going to my website.

Council house building announcements

In my July I pressed the government to ensure that their new investment in council homes would carry with it a requirement that these new homes be built to high sustainability standards.  In addition to the obvious reasons for doing this, it would also have a number of beneficial knock-on effects, for example the space required for a home to use properly energy efficient heating and piping is larger than that of many of the tiny flats that have characterised much recent private home-building.  Earlier this month the government announced that Southampton would get £1.7 million for new council homes in the first wave of funding.  Another wave is planned for later in the year.  I have encouraged the Council to apply for as much funding as possible, and I believe Cllr Alec Samuels has now publicly committed to do so.

 

 

 

lccNew Lordshill Community Centre

I had the pleasure of opening the new Lordshill Community Centre earlier this month.  It is probably true to say that when the old centre closed, many people assumed ‘that was it’ and the land would probably be built on, or turned into a car park or used for some other purpose.  It is therefore a real success story for the local community that the issue was not dropped and the new community centre (eventually) delivered.  It is a fantastic new building and I would encourage any community group in the area to make full-use of the new site.  For my part, I will be using the community centre for my next Energy Workshop (see above) next month.

 

Sure Start Week

Last week was national Sure Start Children’s Centre week.  As part of the celebrations, I met children and staff at the Pickles Coppice Children’s Centre (part of Sure Start MRM) and on Saturday met dads participating in their ‘Daddy Cool’ project.  Considering recent calls the Taxpayers Alliance to scrap Sure Start all together, it is important to highlight just what a difference Sure Start is making to families in Southampton.  There is strong evidence that by using Sure Start as a ‘one-stop shop’ for services like childcare, healthcare, parenting advice and helping parents get skills and find a job, we ensure this help is taken up by the families that need it the most.  But the benefits from Sure Start are by their very nature long term- the first generation of children to grow up with Sure Start are only now about to finish junior school.  So it is perhaps understandable why some groups will see Sure Start as an easy target, but I think it is absolutely essential we protect Sure Start in Southampton as a long term investment in our city’s future.

Other engagements

Also this month I attended the launch of a new freight company in Nursling; presented Tescoes Computers for Schools vouchers to school children at the Tescos on Tebourba Way; spoke at the Ramadan dinner at the Fellowship Dialogue Society; and met with representatives of the British Marine Federation during the Boat Show.

Parliamentary Work

Parliament is in recess, however I have still been fulfilling a number of Parliamentary commitments, including representing the Energy and Climate Change Committee at a Conference on the Economics of Climate Change; speaking at the latest meeting of the Parliamentary Sustainable Resources Group; and attending the first meeting of the South East Region Grand committee in Reading. I spoke at the meeting on the Port of Southampton and its future.