Pothole repair gangs to hit the streets

Free parking, pothole repair gangs and a major clean-up of district centres and parks are some of the measures set to be implemented across Southampton as part of a multi-million pound investment.

Civic chiefs are planning to invest £830,000 into at least one new team set to repair potholes across the city.

A total of £600,000 is to be invested to clean up roads, pavements and public spaces in districts such as Shirley, Woolston, Bitterne and Portswood. An extra £10m is to be spent on repairing roads and pavements.

It comes as the Conservatives – who took control of Southampton City Council in this year’s elections – unveiled mid-year budget proposals due to be agreed by cabinet on July 19 ahead of a vote at full council on July 21.

The council said it is looking to invest a total of £32.4m over the next two years in a move expected to result in at least 13 new jobs.

The authority is also planning to scrap Sunday parking charges until the end of this year, and evening parking charges until June 2023.

A total of £150,000 is set to be spent on a mass transit feasibility study, while almost £6.5m is expected to be invested in creating 1,170 parking spaces, mainly in council estates.

Almost £7m would be invested in initiatives in support of the UK City of Culture bid with £1m earmarked for vaults restoration.

Further investments would include £1m to improve the Golf Course, £500,000 to implement 20mph traffic zones, £500,000 to support community groups and £240,000 to increase fly-tipping enforcement.

The authority has also put aside £35,000 to repair the Daisy Dip play park recently destroyed by a fire, while £100,000 could be spent on new CCTV cameras across the city.

City council leader Cllr Daniel Fitzhenry said there will be no job losses and no cuts to frontline services this year.

He said the budget approved by the previous administration earlier this year has been amended by one per cent and the additional costs will be funded through contingencies.

The authority is facing a £27.4m shortfall in the next financial year.

In official documents officers described the shortfall as “a sizeable gap” and said that “difficult budget decisions will be needed as part of longer term plans to tackle the expected shortfall”.

Cllr Fitzhenry said the council does not intend to make redundancies or cut frontline services in the future.

He said the authority is instead reviewing costs and looking at “efficiencies and better ways of working”.

He said: “Everything we said in the election campaign are in this plan and have funds allocated to them. The key budget principles in all of this is about getting the city back moving, supporting businesses, protecting and creating jobs. There’s a real opportunity to create a happy and ambitious city.”

Talking about the budget shortfall for the next financial year he added: ” I am confident we will be bringing forward plans to bridge the gap.”

The plans for the new Bitterne hub and the revamp of the Sports Centre are currently under review but Cllr Fitzhenry said “there will still be money” towards those projects.

Cllr Satvir Kaur, leader of the opposition, said: “Thanks to Labour’s careful management of public money, the Tories have inherited a healthy balance sheet which they’re now taking advantage of for short-term gains. But this won’t last, and instead of kicking the can down the road they will soon have to be honest with taxpayers about exactly how they plan to pay for the promises they’ve made, while dealing with chronic underfunding from their Conservative government.”