Parliamentary Recess Report 2010

Below is a summary of my work in Parliament and in Southampton for the month of Recess (August-September) 2010 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.

Building Schools for the Future

I am continuing to campaign both in Parliament and locally to help Southampton schools left hanging as a result of the government cancelling the Building Schools for the Future programme.  This month I met with the head of Upper Shirley High to discuss the implications of cancelling BSF for that school.  Upper Shirley is a very interesting case study, as many improvements needed by the school (such as upgrading the school’s boilers, or adaptations required after the school went mixed-sex) were delayed on the assumption that the school was going to be completely rebuilt.  These were not last minute plans only drawn up before the General Election- in the case of Upper Shirley and other schools in Southampton, almost half a decade of work and planning had gone into the rebuild plans.  I will continue to make the case in Parliament for schools in Southampton, as well as supporting schools who are looking for some form of limited alternative to get at least some improvements built.

The Southampton schools petition is also still live on my website- if you agree with the campaign, please sign up.

 

Landlord Regulations

The Government has come forward with plans to abolish the powers brought in by Labour earlier this year to toughen regulations on private rented landlords.  Earlier this year Labour introduced measures requiring landlord to apply for planning permission before changing the use of a property from a family home to a large HMO.  This gave neighbours and communities a say on large HMO conversions, and appeared to be working well.  The Coalition is proposing taking this power away again, much to the delight of the National Landlords Association.  Additional measures due to be brought in, such as setting up a national register of HMO landlords to give tenants more information before they signed a contract, have already been scrapped.  I am working on Parliamentary motions to slow down or stop the Government repealing these powers.

Just after my last report I visited Oxford Council, which has instituted an additional licensing scheme covering all HMOs across the city.  There has been widespread support for this move both from residents and from good landlords, who recognise that fair and universal licensing will help their business by making it more difficult for bad landlords to cut corners.  Southampton could clearly benefit from going down the same route and could do so now if the Tory Council wanted to.  Residents angry about Conservaitve back-peddling on landlord regulations, and students and tenants who want to make sure they do not get exploited by bad landlords, should I believe be asking the Conservative Council why they are choosing not to do so.

 

Decent Homes

Regarding Council housing, readers may be aware that Connaught, the company that was contracted to manage Decent Homes improvements in Southampton, went into administration last week.  This is at least partially as a result of the cuts the Coalition government has made to house-building funds since the election.  I have been pressing the Council to make sure none of this slows down the remaining Decent Homes improvements that still need to be made in Southampton, which are predominantly in the west of the city.

 

Boundary Review

The Coalition has published its bill to abolish and redraw all of the UK’s current Parliamentary constituencies.  The Bill currently proposes redrawing all constituencies without either public consultation or the recognition of city or other community boundaries.  The likely result of such a review going without public consultation is that seats like Southampton Itchen and Test are unlikely to exist in the future, and we will instead have more cases of small pieces of cities attached to large rural areas, as is currently the case with Romsey and Southampton North.  Needless to say, this will severely undermine the ability of cities and other strong geographically-based communities to have a strong voice in Parliament.

It is also the case that the way the government is choosing to count people in the boundary review will likely drastically underestimate the number of people in urban centres.  I have done some research on the likely differences between the numbers of officially registered electors (which the government will be using) compared to actual likely number of people in each county using Office of National Statistics mid-year estimate (a statistical model based on the census, but widely regarded as more accurate than a simple head-count).  The results are striking- London, for example, would likely have 6 more MPs if the ONS estimates were used.  In Hampshire, there are likely about 113,000 people missed using the registered electors measures- the equivalent of an extra 1.5 Parliamentary constituencies

I am currently working with Shadow Ministers to develop the arguments against this current form of boundary review- particularly by emphasising the necessity of allowing communities the chance to be consulted on the proposed changes.

I have already raised the issue of communities not being consulted about the reviews with Nick Clegg.  His response was that he was extending the amount of time communities were not being consulted from one month to three.  

 

Future of Lordshill

I am working with local Labour Councillors to build up what could become quite an exciting plan for the regeneration of the Lordshill District Centre.  We have managed to secure a basic understanding from the Council that assuming the Academy does relocate, proceeds from the sale of the current school site should be used to regenerate the area.  Based on consultation with local residents, we are putting forward the idea of a new ‘Lordshill High Street,’ as part of that regeneration.  The High Street would mix shops and community facilities, and would make the current Lordshill District Centre less of a traffic island. We are also making the case that most of the current community facilities in Lordshill- including the community buildings and pool currently part of the Oaklands Academy site- could and should be protected as part of any regeneration of the area.

 

Speeches & Questions

Before recess I spoke in the debate on the government’s Green Deal and pressed the government not to rule out providing support for microgeneration for homes.  I have also tabled questions on:

 

Other Southampton work

This month I have also met with volunteers from Solent Youth Action; challenged the government on their plans to cut police numbers in Hampshire; met with representatives from advice centres in Southampton; and viewed the new Level C Treatment Centre at the Royal South Hants.

Alan Whitehead

September 2010