Since being elected in 2016, I have worked tirelessly to remove and reduce HGV traffic on Kent Rd. My first action was to recognise that McNicholas Ltd. (later Kier Industries) were operating without HGV planning permission. Working with planning enforcement we were able to bring them to account. Their retrospective planning application was refused and subsequently I pushed for planning support against their appeal. This was rejected by the planning inspectorate in 2018 and resulted in them vacating the site in summer 2019.
Vacant McNicholas Site
Byronswell
Concurrently, I persuaded planning officers to support local residents against similar HGV operations by Byronswell. They were also operating without planning permission and I was able to give enough detail on movements (through close liaison with locals) to result in yet another HGV application refused.
Byronswell large HGV vehicle
DSG Car Sales
More recently I became aware of DSG car sales operating on the old McNicholas site without planning permission. Speaking directly to the business owner, I informed him that he was operating without planning permission. Despite promises of not requiring HGV operations, the owner went on to bring large vehicle transporters on site. At my direction, planning enforcement officers served notice on DSG. They subsequently applied for planning permission and through close conversations with planning officers, a recommendation for planning permission without HGV access was agreed and an additional condition to allow for 12 months only was approved by the planning panel.
DSG Car sales
Southern Water
I continue to contest the Southern Water decision to remove cake waste by HGV . As I write this, I have a meeting set up with SCC leadership to determine a once in a generation change by including the SW site into our new Southampton Local Plan. In line with this, I have scheduled subsequent meetings with SW to determine and influence their medium term plans for removal of waste.
I continue to hold them to account for failure to supply promised banksmen for larger vehicles and while so far their response has been disappointing their most recent formal apologies indicate they appear to be appear to be getting the message.
My Work
This has been my work; another candidate who has been absent from Southampton for the best part of a year -yet claims in their publicity to be working for Portswood all year round – is attempting to hang on my coat-tails and take credit for this themselves. This aspect of politics saddens me. Be in no doubt that it is my work that has achieved the improvements in the Kent road area and I will continue to do everything I can to remove the blight of HGVs for Kent Rd residents.
As a local Cllr. it’s been important for me to get involved in key local issues. Some time ago, an outbreak of anti-social behaviour resulted in residents of Quay 2000 closing access to the walkway which so many many local residents valued. For a while, it really divided the community. I was able to work as a mediator to listen to both sides. The access is now open and although not fully resolved through planning just yet, I have worked to take the temperature out of the issue by working with Quay 2000 residents, their planning agent, planning officers and other local residents.
Along with this work I was able to get the council, through a small capital bids process, to invest in Priory Hard, to tidy up shrubbery, introduce high a capacity solar bin, replace damaged concrete and tarmac as well as mark out a hatched area in an attempt to reduce match day car parking to important access areas of the slip.
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Outdoor areas in our local pubs are just opening. Pubs are so important to local communities and I can’t wait until they are fully opened up again. We are so lucky in Portswood to so many excellent drinking holes to enjoy and meet people listen to music etc. etc.
When I was first elected in 2016, I was able to lend my support to a local residents campaign to get the Junction Inn, in St Denys, registered as an Asset of Community Value. (ACV). Since then, the process has tightened up a bit but it can still be done for any pub. If it makes a good contribution to your local community, I would advise to do it. Particularly if you think that – after the year we have all had – the future of your pub is at risk.
Fortunately, that is not the case with the Junction and I hope to see many old friends and acquaintances there for a pint in the garden over the coming weeks.
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The fact is that the addition of 164m to the runway to facilitate larger and noisier jet aircraft (mainly A320s) will have a significant effect on everyone who lives nearby, whether they notice it or not. I was chair of the SCC panel looking at the application during the last round (Jan 2020) and with the current 2020 application, I can see no real difference for the panel to change their mind on this occasion.
Many people will discuss the issues around CO2 emissions and other pollution issues, but I have been looking at the issues around noise in particular.
Talking about noise levels is difficult. It is a technical business and is wrongly perceived as being personal and subjective. I remember, at an airport presentation, putting on some headphones and listening to a simulated A320 aircraft take-off in an area close to St Denys. It sounded pretty loud to me but the SIA member of staff told me that “People will just get used to it”.
Noise issues are poorly understood. In my day job I am employed by the University of Southampton as a Learning Developer and I have worked with acoustic engineers to improve classrooms and lecture spaces, where air conditioning units and poor acoustic environments have a negative impact on the learning experience.
Learners can filter out noise annoyance, they can concentrate more and use lip reading to help but I have experienced an acoustically poor environment and after an hour, the learner is exhausted. At 63 dB LaEq (16hrs) for example, the cognitive overload effect on memory and recall is the equivalent of twice the legal level of blood alcohol for driving a motor vehicle. The additional cognitive overload while you are trying to learn “difficult stuff”, even at 54 -57 dB (St Denys and Bitterne Park), places a burden on the learner which cannot be sustained. After hours of this, day after day learning outcomes are severely affected.
Academic papers have frequently recorded the effects of aircraft-based noise-pollution on learners.
“There are several ways in which aircraft noise could influence children’s cognition: lost teaching time – as a teacher may have to stop teaching whilst noise events occur; teacher and pupil frustration; annoyance and stress responses; reduced morale; impaired attention; children might tune out the aircraft noise and over-generalise this response to other sounds in their environment missing out on information; and sleep disturbance from home exposure which might cause performance effects the next day.” (report by Clark, 2015 p20).1
I have focused on the learning development of young people, but of course everyone is affected and it impacts the life experience and life expectancy of people in these areas.
The technical bit. To be clear, according to the airports plans, St Denys will suffer from an increase in the noise level from 51 up to 54 dB LaEq by 2021 and most of Bitterne Pk will increase to 57 (some parts up to 60) by the same year. Projected figures for 2033 are even higher and more widespread. Again this is difficult to understand because dB noise levels are on a logarithmic scale. A 10dB increase is equivalent to a doubling of noise levels.
In addition, SCC environmental health officers judge these estimates to be highly conservative and much higher levels are likely.
Research shows (RANCH studies) that these noise levels reduce reading ages across a normal distribution by 2 stages on a -3 to +3 scale. (Road traffic and Aircraft Noise Exposure and Children’s Cognition and Health 2 ; and Health Consequences of Aircraft Noise 3).
Fig.3Association of aircraft noise annoyance and reading comprehension.3 (Kaltenbach, M. et al)
a) With increasing aircraft noise there is a linear decrease in silent reading comprehension.
b) The extent of subjective annoyance increases logarithmically.
The relationships are significant after factoring in the socioeconomic data.
Measuring noise pollution is a bit like measuring air pollution – it’s expressed as a 16 hour average – and ignores the peaks which cause the most distress and harm. What is needed are more detailed measurements required in order to fully understand how aircraft noise affects people, throughout the rhythm of the day and particularly at peak levels. 4 (Turner J, 2020)
Some people argue that this is a “nimby” attitude and that people who choose to live under a flight-path shouldn’t complain about the noise. But noise, as I have pointed out, isn’t simply annoying; it damages the lives of people and the young in particular; and remember, children who are born there have no say on the reduced life expectancies they will no doubt experience. The research cited above (Kaltenbach, M. et al) goes further, providing evidence of increased occurrence of cardio vascular disease relating to noise annoyance. Further, studies have shown that there is an absolute lack of evidence that soundproofing mitigation has any effect on these outcomes and recent DEFRA reports that the Lowest Observable Effect Levels (LOAEL) should be reduced to the range of 50 to 54 from the earlier 54 to 57 (dB LAeq, 16hr), exactly the range that would now be imposed on St Denys. These are now seen as having direct observable effects on the people who live there. It is important to note that while SIA are offering some compensation to mitigate the impact of aircraft noise at the 60 db LAeq contour, Gatwick 5 and Heathrow 6 are already offering compensation to households within the lower yet still damaging noise levels in the 57 dB contour area. Why should residents in these areas be compensated at these noise levels while residents in Southampton are not?
The other numbers are also important.
Fig.4 Households subject to 57db LAeq related to transport movements
The SCC report prepared in advance of the 1st December 2020 meeting compares noise impacts and mitigation at Gatwick Airport. At Gatwick there are 1,100 households subject to a noise level of greater than 57db LAeq (summer day average); but Gatwick delivers 46.5m passengers a year involving 283K air transport movements (ATMs) pa. If the plan were to go ahead, Southampton airport will have 2,900 households subject to a noise level of greater than 57db LAeq in order to deliver 3m passengers and 36K ATMs. This is almost 3 times the number of residents affected by noise for less than 6% of the business. 7 (Southampton City Council 1 December 2020 p18 para 5.14).
And this also means that since levels of noise are averaged out over the 16hr period, the actual flight noise will be about 17 times louder for residents on the ground. Try living with that.
Here is a quote from a local resident.
“I have lived in Manor Farm Road since 1999 and I am used to the Dash 8s doing their regular runs. The time when the noise stops my daily life is when the summertime chartered jets take off to the South. The noise is unbearable and I’m not in the highest noise category according to the map. Conversation is impossible, can’t hear the radio or TV, outdoor enjoyment is spoiled. I can’t imagine how bad it is in the schools in Bitterne Park, especially the secondary school. This, among other concerns, has led me to campaign against the runway extension and, if approved and implemented, means that I will probably be forced to move house.”
Regarding schools. the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends no higher than 35 dB in classrooms and taken as a whole, the evidence supports the view that schools exposed to these projected levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational or indeed living environments. As identified in Fig.3, the reading age and academic performance of young people is substantially and adversely affected by increased noise annoyance. This graph reflects seminal work and contributes to almost every academic paper on the subject. The bottom line is that aircraft noise ruins peoples lives and life chances. An increase of average daytime noise from say 47dB to 57dB is a doubling of average noise and studies show it reduces academic scores by a factor of 2 on a 6 point scale.
“There is sufficient evidence for a negative effect of aircraft noise exposure on children’s cognitive skills such as reading and memory, as well as on standardized academic test scores.”
and
“To date, few studies have evaluated the effects of persistent aircraft noise exposure throughout the child’s education, and there remains a need for longitudinal studies of aircraft noise exposure at school and educational outcomes.”8 (Basner et al 2017)
Going back to my early meetings with the airport it is clear that none of this is being considered as part of the Airport plans. A view that “it will probably all be OK” or that “some double glazing will sort out the problem”, is clearly missing the point. The evidence shows that people’s lives will be directly damaged by the proposed changes and that double glazing is unlikely to help. There appears to be a clamour suggesting that increased international travel will bring about a welcome boost to the local economy and that locals will benefit from convenient travel to popular holiday destinations.
It is worth noting that across the City, this council monitors those deprived areas where mortality rates are far too high. Typically, these are associated with poor housing, lower educational outcomes, high rates of domestic violence and substance abuse and suicide, difficulties in policing and poor transport. The outcomes of all this leads to high levels of stress, cardiovascular disease, higher than average obesity rates and consequently higher mortality rates. The council rightly invests money into campaigns to improve outcomes for these residents. I believe that if the airport expansion goes ahead, there will be a sound-contour surrounding St Denys and Bitterne Park (and other areas) which in a few years time will match deprivation contours requiring even more investment to address the impact of negative life outcomes for residents in those areas. I don’t think that life expectancy and life chances should be sacrificed for jobs and leisure opportunities for some. Cheap or convenient holidays is too high a price to pay. For this reason this airport application should be refused.
… but it’ll all be ok in the future.
It wont. Much has been made of the potential for quieter aircraft and hydrogen powered aircraft coming on stream which may be able to limit the damage caused be either noise or CO2 emissions in the future.
Hydrogen aircraft are in the very early stages of development. Even the most ambitious predictions indicate that hydrogen fuelled passenger airliners are more than twenty years away. As for quieter planes, we have no guarantees that even if they were available, the ‘lowcost’ airlines would agree to retire their existing fleets. For example, Easyjet have 37 A320s (out of a total of 49 aircraft in service). The average age of their A320s is 5.6 years. We need to bear in mind that they were planned to have a passenger transport life expectancy of 25 years before being moved on to the the freight transport market. 9 (Planespotters.net 2020)
And lastly, much has been made of the role an airport would make regarding the Southampton UK City of Culture bid. It is interesting to note that the of the 3 cities that have so far been awarded this title, Derry, and Hull have no significant airport nearby and only Coventry with its proximity to Birmingham international could be thought of as proximate. It isn’t a factor and it cant be referred to as a material planning issue in support of the airport plan. 10 (UK City of Culture’ Wikipedia)
To wrap up.
Noise annoyance isn’t a personal judgment. It damages lives. It impacts everyone who lives nearby and damages the health and wellbeing of those affected. It particularly damages the lives of the young. These levels will lower educational attainment rates across the sound contour.
Noise mitigation does very little to help but other key airports offer levels of compensation within the 57db contour not available to residents of Southampton.
The level of damage related to the business growth is laughable.
There is no remedy just around the corner that will make everything better.
Please oppose this application.
Cllr John Savage
Please Note. I have stepped down from the Southampton City Council: Planning and Rights of Way Panel for the consideration of the SIA (1 Dec 2020) application.
I did this in order to share my view on that application. This is my view on that application and does not necessarily represent a view on any other subsequent airport applications; neither does it represent Labour Party Policy.
8 Basner M, Clark C, Hansell A, et al. Aviation Noise Impacts: State of the Science. Noise Health. 2017;19(87):41-50. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5437751/ (Accesses 27 November 2020)
A number of changes have taken place over the last two years since our work with the original Kent Rd. Action User Group started.
McNicholas/Kier
McNicholas was taken over by Kier Industries. Reporting the highly damaging nature of the HGV distribution business (up to 200 HGVs a week) to planning officers, Portswood Lbour Cllrs were able to ensure that This business was denied planning permission and subsequently was served with an enforcement notice. Following a failed appeal they vacated the site in May 2019
Vacated Kier HGV site
St Denys Clean Air Cafes & Active Travel Zone
During this period John Savage and later following her election Lisa Mitchell, have been working with local people to improve the unpleasant congestion in St Denys. Working with “Southampton Collective” and the “Clean Air Cafes”. The project proved to be very successful and captured a great deal of information on levels of pollution in the area and what local people want their streets to look like. Temporary “Play Streets” were established and the clear sense of community was communicated to Council officers.
Since then, Southampton City Council has selected St Denys to be a pilot “Active Travel Zone” (ATZ). Numerous consultations have taken place with local residents to understand the kind of improvements they want to make to their own streets. A consultation involving officers from Waltham Forest, where impressive changes have already been made, has finished. The project for improving St Denys is well on the way following the announcement of £57m “Transforming Cities” funding for Southampton. This now means that St Denys ATZ earmarked for considerable investment.
Byronswell HGVs
Byronswell large HGV vehicle
While all this has been going on, Cllr John Savage has requested that the “Byronswell” reclaimed clothing distribution business be served a notice requesting confirmation of their planning permission. They have now applied for planning permision to conduct their distribution operation.
Application no. 19/01469/FUL
Southern Water
Southern Water are in the process of moving their waste management operation away from barge movements of sludge, to one of centrifuge and HGV removal of cake waste. Planning transport conditions of operation have been successfully confined to conditional hours,finishing at 3.30pm, conditional speed limits and clear livery of all Southen Water vehicles.
Most local people will know that the issue of HGV traffic down the residential streets of Kent road (as well as Priory and Aberdeen roads) is a blight on the area and is really quite complicated. The heavy load of traffic that these roads have to bear is largely a consequence of heavy goods vehicles servicing the industrial estate and the Southern Water facility as well as substantial amounts of private vehicles using these streets to avoid the traffic lights on Portswood Rd and Thomas Lewis Way junctions with St Denys Rd as a short-cut to Cobden bridge. I’m aware that this is a very long posting and have separated out key issues into several sections in order to make it a bit easier to understand.
McNicholas Construction
Part of the Southern Water site is leased for light industrial use to McNicholas Construction. Here they have been storing and distributing HGV construction plant as part of there constuction services business. Following the matter being raised members of the Kent Rd. action group I contacted the Southampton City Council cabinet member for transport, to express my concerns that the use of residential streets for the movement of this kind of equipment is completely unsustainable and must be brought to an end. The Council planning officers identified that this business did not have planning approval for this kind of activity and McNicholas were served with an enforcement notice to cease these operations. The notice period has recently expired but McNicholas have appealed the decision. There was concern at the last Kent Rd Action group meeting that the appeal process could be long lasting, however speaking to McNicholas staff during a recent site visit, I was told that the operation was due to move from St Denys to Marchwood in a few months time. It would appear that council pressure for McNicholas construction to desist from these operations has brought about a change which will be most welcome to local residents.
Southern Water Treatment Works Refurbishment
The treatment works was established back in the 1950s and and has been through a number of upgrades to meet the needs of the local population but much of the plant is in need of urgent improvement.
Site visit to Southern Water site 27 Feb
There is currently a project managed by GalliffordTry Infrastructure engineers which will last a further six to nine months to cover some of the large tanks and upgrade the site to remove much of the odour which is familiar to local residents. The smell is mainly due to the production of hydrogen sulphide gas. The absorption of this as part of the treatment process relies on an odour control system involving underground tanks of industrial absorption pellets. Their removal, replacement and renewal is long overdue. The whole project to revamp the site which will cost around £5.5m is hugely welcomed by local residents and the City Council and is part of an overall renewal of other facilities in Millbrook and Woolston (due for completion in 2019).
Traditionally waste material was pumped from the site to a barge moored alongside in the river Itchen and this (tides permitting) was taken away with similar material from Woolston. I have been told that the river Itchen channel was last dredged by Southern Water three years ago and this may have had an impact on barge movements.
More recently a temporary mobile centrifuge has been brought into operation to separate the sewage waste from the water and this material has been loaded into skips mounted on HGV vehicles and moved off-site via Kent rd. as an alternative to barge removal.
The construction work will involve the use of large plant and HGV traffic – cranes, cherry-pickers, large trucks etc. including twelve large containers (used as accommodation for construction staff) – during the period of the of the refurbishment. All of this plant is too large to come onsite under the bridges at the north end of Kent Rd., so their only means of entry and exit is via the residential streets.
Movement by Barge or HGV ?
This is a thorny issue and there is still some disagreement about the rationale. I have been told variously that the movement of waste by barge is smelly difficult, expensive or can’t be done because of the tides and the poorly dredged channel. I have been told that the removal offsite via Kent Rd. is better for the environment as the material can go onwards for use as fertilizer or even to produce electricity as part of an anaerobic digestion process which produces methane for use in gas turbine engines which in turn will make cheap electricity.
From the questions I have asked, I understand that the switch to road removal falls in line with a number of strategic changes at Southern Water, coinciding with
a common strategy for greener waste disposal, including energy production
a withdrawal from the costly commitment for Southern Water to dredge the channel needed for their barges in St Denys and Woolston
the loss of the Woolston barge in any case by 2019
the potential to move waste offsite for use as agricultural compost
Southern Water maintain that the changes that are being made are a much “Greener” solution for the management of sewage; but whether this will be more environmentally friendly to the people of St Denys is another question.
The strategy for increasing the centrifuging of human waste appears to be on the agenda as the building of a larger permanent centrifuge has been mentioned particularly as the temporary centrifuge may be part of the reason for the increased odour on site. Southern Water inform me that when the new centrifuge is up and running waste removal will be achieved using four HGV tankers per day. GallifordTry currently managing the refurb work inform me that under current arrangements waste is removed using HGV mounted skips at the rate of two per day. I suppose we are waiting for a definitive answer.
Bryonwell Ltd
This company operates a clothing recycling collection depot at unit 2 of the Itchen Business park close to the Southern Water site. The company routinely moves extremely long wheel-base HGV vehicles from the site through Kent Rd. and I have major concerns about this protracted HGV transport which is a key component of their business. I have spoken to council planning officers to investigate the planning history of this area since it makes no snse that McNicholas has been issued with an enforcement notice while Byronwell continue to operate in a similar fashion.
HGV activity at Byronwell
It is interesting to note that the width of these vehicles is 2.5m and that with two regular family cars parked in Kent Rd. (say two Vauxhall Zafiras at 1.82m each) parked on either side of the road the total width of vehicles would be 6.14m, considerably more than the road itself which measures 6 metres wide. The use of these residential streets for HGV movement is unsustainable as the traffic cannot pass unless the residents illegally park on the pavement. This fact is as relevant to Byronwell Ltd as it is to Southern Water and their proposed continued use of the road for waste movement.
Gas Turbine Power production
While all the other issues have been plaguing the Kent Rd area, plans have been put forward to build a 20 megawatt gas turbine electrical power production facility. (SCC planning ref 17/01690/FUL). If built as planned, this will comprise eight engines and eight transformers to produce electricity to supplement the national grid at times of short supply. Some aspects of this development have been vague. Initial reports from GallifordTry that that the turbine will burn methane produced as part of the waste treatment process have proved unfounded and all the indications are that North sea gas will be used. The site earmarked for this development is currently being used to fabricate a cover for one of the larger consolidation tanks on the Southern Water site, but at this stage we believe the land may be sold off after the site refurbishment work has been completed for the purposes of power production by a new company unrelated to any of the current businesses on site.
Gas turbine plans for SW site
As a vice chair of the planning and rights of way panel, I was concerned about the over development of this site and the impact of the development on increased transport movements for local residents. At present I have submitted this concern and as a matter of course. it will normally have to come before the panel for approval.
The fact is, there are more questions than answers regarding this development. Noise issues, transport plans and other factors must be resolved with local residents before approval is granted.
General issues regarding local area traffic movements
Kent Rd. and other residential streets in the neighborhood have been used as a short-cut for many years by drivers seeking to avoid congestion further down Portswood Rd. Congestion around the Woodmill crossing of the river Itchen exacerbates the problem and sends increased traffic toward Cobden Bridge.
8 ft 9in maximum height limit under the bridges
The bridges over the north end of Kent Rd mean that HGV traffic can only enter via the southern end of the residential streets. The standard height of a ships container is 8ft 3in, just 6 inches less than the maximum height of the bridge access. Standard HGV cabs are over 10ft in height and low loaders cannot be used due to the long wheelbase and the depth of the dip involved in the route under the bridges.
The fabric of the roads are suffering and despite the limit of 20 mph through Kent Rd and the planned improved signage, residents are very concerned about the damage to property as well as the service pipes and drains that run under this road which lists properties and infrastructure over 120 years old.
More recently I have had meetings with Transport Officers and Balfour Beatty (who have the Council contract for road improvement management and maintenance) and there are some plans in place to improve the flow of traffic through the St Denys – Cobden Bridge corridor. I have asked transport officers to seriously consider all options for improving traffic via Wood Mill and other suggestions to improve those both crossings of the river.
Summary
The council needs to designate this area as a light industrial centre capable of supporting only routine business traffic which has the capacity to successfully navigate the road under the bridges. A typical flatbed Luton style lorry is less than 8ft high.
Special construction management transport plans need to be agreed with local residents before developments for the Southern Water site are agreed. The issue of the barge movements needs to be investigated. While green alternatives around waste management are explored. The use of HGV vehicles through residential streets isn’t particularly “green” for those that have to live there.
We need to recognise that the roads affected cannot routinely sustain HGV vehicular traffic without on-curb illegal parking. Or perhaps that legal residential parking would preclude the ability of HGV vehicles to travel down Kent Rd without causing damage to parked cars.
Something needs to be done to improve traffic flow south on Portswood Rd and Thomas Lewis way and thence across the Itchen at Cobden bridge.
A plan might be to improve the Woodmill crossing.
Making the Kent Rd and Priory Rd areas a no-through road would help local residents but exacerbate the congestion at the various other intersections.
If you have any questions or comments please get in touch with Cllr John Savage
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Firstly, with the recent outbreak of Corona virus (COVID-19) I would like to send my wishes of good health and reassurance during this difficult and worrying time to all our residents. I’m sure everyone is keeping up with news bulletins issued by national media, and guidance from Public Health England. You can read current guidance by clicking this NHS link.
With the increase in the rate of COVID-19 cases across the UK, certain changes have been made to the way local council activities will be taking place.
Our regular Councillor surgeries which have so far been taking place on the first Saturday of each month at October books, at 189 Portswood rd. since autumn 2019, will be suspended until further notice. Your local Labour Councillors are very still very much available and can be contacted by post, email or telephone.
Correspondence address: c/o Member Services Southampton City Council Civic Centre Southampton SO14 7LY
Cllr John Savage
Cllr Lisa Mitchell
Cllr Gordon Cooper
We may also be able to arrange a personal webcast surgery conversation with local residents who have access to the appropriate technology. Just call or email for details.
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It’s been an interesting couple of weeks with a lot to learn.
After the the count at the Civic Centre on May 5th, I got home at about 4.30am. My adrenaline was running so high that I think I only managed to drift off about 10 minutes before the alarm clock went off at the usual time of quarter to seven. I told my two boys straightaway that that I’d won for Labour and they were both thrilled and proud. I almost cried.
Within hours and after a fairly full day’s work at the Uni I was back up at the Civic Centre, signing the official bits of paper that you have to do and getting my photo taken for my ID card and the website. I can’t help thinking how tired my eyes look after zero hours sleep but it’s probably the same for the other winning candidates.
I did a gig with the Guv’nas the next day at the Old Cemetery for the Friends (FOSOC) which was great fun and quite a few of my new Councillor friends turned up to enjoy the day. (No photos though)
Since the election I have had two half days of new Councillor training, got my council email address sorted; met with some great people from Highfield Residents Assoc.; Friends of Portswood Rec. and members of Southampton Cycling Campaign. I know I’ve got a lot to learn so I’m very much in listening mode at the moment. I did get the chance to get out the following Saturday to meet with the residents of Portswood and thank those people who voted for me and did some work there (and Millbrook) distributing info and chatting to people about the remain campaign. I also managed to attend the University of Southampton Labour Society AGM and it was very gratifying to see the marvelous work done by the students to get things going and elect their own full committee. We’re confident of great things coming out of the university with new members potentially helping towards the next local elections and the General Election in 2018 and 2020. This week I’ve also picked up some very important casework, got to meet the folks down at St Denys Sailing and Rowing Club; set up personal surgeries with residents and arranged to meet the people down at Portswood Central Residents Assoc. as well as the Southampton Scrap Project.
Wednesday was the Mayor making followed by the first full council meeting of the election year. It was absolutely brilliant and we won the debate (both numerically and through strength of argument) on the council’s response to the EU referendum. We want to stay in! I’ll be spending a lot of time over the next few weeks down at the Civic. More training on planning regulations tomorrow and Thursday will be the Labour party Test branch meeting. It’s been brilliant.
Saturday I went down the Farmers’ market in the Guild Hall square. There have only been a few of these so far but it would be great if we could make them a more regular feature of City life. My boys really enjoyed the morning (even if it did pull them away from playing on the PS4) and the rain managed to hold off most of the day. Some great music from Southampton Irish music band “The Croppies”.
I’m conscious this blog post reads like a boring shopping list of activities so next time I intend getting down to some serious exploration of ideas. I’m working towards making a real contribution in the council but the learning curve is steep. In the meantime if you want to contact me just email.
It was probably one of the most exciting nights of my life. Conservatives were streaming into the Civic Centre for the 2016 local election count in buoyant mood, joshing and smiling with each other, clearly expecting the sweeping victory that would allow them to take control of the City. Within an hour or two their optimism was gone and they were rushing about trying to calculate the scale of the loss of their support. We could see the votes mounting up on the tables in front of us and the growth of support for Labour across the City.
The fact is that Labour Councillors across Southampton had increased their levels of support due to the hard work they had put into supporting residents in their wards and the careful management of the finances of the City. Despite vicious central government cuts, services had been maintained and Southampton’s economy had got going again under Labour’s stewardship.
In Portswood we managed to sweep away the Conservatives and the Lib-Dems who have dominated the political scene for 35 years and it looks as though support for the Green Party has collapsed across the City. I’m sure there are many reasons why the support for some of the other parties has ebbed away. My feeling is that the people of Portswood have a clear understanding that they want nothing to do with a Conservative government that for the last 6 years has completely failed to do anything to improve the economy and has attempted to spin itself out of every ill-judged situation it has found itself in. From dodgy oversees investments, tax breaks for the rich, anti-trade union legislation, misuse of research to impose contracts on Junior or Doctors and force schools to become academies. The list seems endless and now 8 police forces around the country are investigating 26 conservative MPs and their failure to declare accurate election expense details. It all seems to reveal a dodgy Tory government making their own rules up as they go along. We clearly aren’t “all in this together”.
So thank you Portswood for being so astute. I look forward to speaking face to face with as many of you as possible and listening to your views.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on Labour Hold Southampton
I set this blog up in 2016 to communicate with Portswood residents and Labour party members and supporters in Portswood and across the Southampton.
I would like to thank everyone in Portswood who has continued to vote for the Labour party in the last few elections, electing my colleagues Lisa Mitchell and Gordon Gooper as Councillors in Portswood and given all three of us their support during recent campaigns.
Following the COVID-19 virus outbreak last year, local elections for 2020 were postponed and were re-scheduled for May 6 this year. I has been a great honour to work this community and as many of you will know, despite Labour narrowly losing the election across the City, I was successfully returned as one of your councillors for Portswood at the election this May.
I would like to thank the many local residents who have voted for me and given me their support. I will continue to work as hard as possible on all the issues facing local residents (whether or not you voted for me). The task will be a little harder this year as I am no-longer a part of the administration but I can guarantee that I will be working even harder to hold this Conservative Council to account.
I would particularly like to thank local Labour activists who have worked incredibly hard to get me re-elected. If others would like to join the efforts to remove the Conservatives from office, please get in touch. Lastly I would like to thank Lisa and Gordon for all their hard work over recent months to make such a success of our local campaign.
I will post information here as the three of us take up various roles in different council committees, in our endeavours to reduce the damage that the new administration may try wreak on our local communities.
We will try to keep this site up-to-date with any developments, plans for canvassing and gaining support as we move towards elections in 2022. As Councillors for Portswood this site is also a way to get in touch with me, Lisa and Gordon if you have any problems or concerns that you would like to bring to our attention or need help with.
It was probably one of the most exciting nights of my life. Conservatives were streaming into the Civic Centre for the 2016 local election count in buoyant mood, joshing and smiling with each other, clearly expecting the sweeping victory that would allow them to take control of the City. Within an hour or two their optimism was gone and they were rushing about trying to calculate the scale of the loss of their support. We could see the votes mounting up on the tables in front of us and the growth of support for Labour across the City.
johnsavage.org 