Manifesto 2019 FINAL

Labour’s
MANIFESTO
for
Southampton
2019

Contents
Introduction 3
Labour’s Plan for Southampton 4
Building our Local Economy 5
Southampton’s Green City Charter 6
Homes that residents need 7
Health and Social Care 8
Creating opportunities for young people 9
Family poverty and homelessness 10
Clean streets and transport 11
Labour’s approach 12
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Labour’s Manifesto for
Southampton in 2019
‘Let’s build a fairer Britain where no–one is held back.’
‘Let’s build a country where we invest our wealth to
give everyone the best chance.’
This is the Vision set out in Labour’s 2017 General Election
manifesto. It’s a Vision that Southampton Labour’s manifesto in
2019 fully supports.
Our city’s budget for the coming year (2019–20) is £136 million lower
in real terms than it was in 2012 when Labour took control of the city.
This austerity is politically motivated and falls harder on the poorest
working families, women and the disabled. The Tory government no
longer subsidise services, expecting you to pay more for less. Nationally
councils are forced to put up the unfair Council tax to cover up their lack
of funding for local services – but this does not cover the scale of the
imposed cuts and is only 17% of our overall budget.
Whoever is in government, your Labour Councillors will stand up for
Southampton people, making the case for local wealth to remain in the
city, to fight for our fair share of funding and for opportunities to be
created for local people.
We’re asking for your support on 2nd May to fight for a fair and thriving
city, where people work together to create a greener and healthier place
to live, work and belong.
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Labour’s Plan for Southampton
• Boost the local economy by directing the Council’s spending
towards local companies and encouraging local employers to pay the
real Living Wage.
• Combat Climate Change by fulfilling the Green City Charter.
• Deliver more quality affordable Council Homes that Southampton
families need.
• Reduce crime rates in the city by investing in preventative work
and lobbying for more police on our streets.
• Develop ambitious transport plans to transform the links across
the city and wider region.
• Create a Health and Social Care system that works for the
people of Southampton by developing services that meet the
needs of elderly and vulnerable residents.
• Tackle child hunger by providing free fruit and yoghurts to all
children up to age 11.
• Support Young people to reach their potential by investing £80
million in our schools.
• Achieve recognition of Southampton as a City of Culture.
• Regenerate Bitterne by providing new leisure, health and housing
facilities.
4

We must BUILD OUR
LOCAL ECONOMY, so that EVERYONE
shares in the city’s success
Southampton has again been mentioned as one of the top three
cities in the UK in Price Waterhouse Cooper’s ‘Good Growth for
Cities’ Index.
However, whilst that is good to hear, not everyone has felt they’ve
shared in the success of the city. We must ensure that money made here,
stays here and that companies buy Southampton products and hire local
people. This work starts with the council and other public institutions, to
ensure that opportunities exist for our residents and local businesses.
Southampton Labour is committed to
and will fight to:
• Support local businesses who provide employment opportunities
and pay the real living wage.
• Direct the City Council’s spending on goods and services towards
local supply companies and stop profit draining out of the city.
• Advance the rights of trade unions to organise in work places
where public money is involved by not commissioning to
companies currently black listing union members.
• Prioritise and co-ordinate proper apprenticeships on a
city-wide basis.
• Work towards our City becoming recognised as a City of Culture.
We recognise that cultural experiences increase educational
opportunities and grows the local economy.
• Regenerate Bitterne by building a new leisure, health and library
hub in Bitterne Precinct.
5

Southampton’s Green City Charter
Southampton Labour has adopted the most ambitious environmental
measures ever agreed voluntarily by a Council in the UK.
Over the last three years your Labour Council has worked with the Port,
the taxi trade, the bus companies and road hauliers and residents to
reduce pollution that you breathe in by 24%.
Southampton Labour will deliver the Green City Charter
that works with partners to:
• Pursue ambitious targets for the reduction in nitrogen dioxide
pollution and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
• Work with the Port Operators to introduce shore-side power for
cruise ships – getting electricity from the grid, not by running
their engines.
• A HGV Environmental levy that would charge the most polluting
HGVs accessing the Port.
• Offer taxi operators a ‘try before you buy’ scheme so that
more taxis adopt electric vehicles and expand the existing low
emissions taxi scrappage scheme.
• Set tough new standards for the Bus companies so that all buses
are the cleanest they can be.
• Introduce more green areas in suburbs – roundabouts and tree
planting.
• Build green walls around schools and play areas in the most
polluted locations.
• Enhance bio-diversity across the city by investing in our green
spaces and encouraging urban wildlife.
6

HOMES that residents need
Southampton Labour believes in using housing to enrich local
communities, where everyone has a home they can call their own,
that is safe, secure and of quality whether you rent or own.
Labour will:
OFFER MORE SECURITY and QUALITY in the PRIVATE RENTED
SECTOR by:
• Maintaining and renewing additional licencing of Homes of
Multiple Occupation across the city so that standards of safety
and quality are preserved.
• Creating a Renters’ Forum to address private renters’ issues and
streamline the reporting process for renters living in sub-standard
accommodation.
• Have new minimum local standards for all new builds and
conversions, so that planning can refuse cramped
accommodation.
SAFE AND AFFORDABLE HOMES
• Build more supported extra-care homes.
• Continue to build council homes and add to the City’s affordable
housing stock, including new high quality mixed homes in
Townhill Park and Oaklands.
• Making homes affordable to run, by improving energy efficiency,
to decrease energy bills with the Southampton Healthy Homes
scheme.
• Completing the fitting of sprinklers to every council high-rise
block and lobby private management companies to ensure fire
safety compliance for private buildings.
• Tackling noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour issues in our
neighbourhoods by continuing to invest in out of hours noise
enforcement teams.
7

HEALTH and SOCIAL CARE
Southampton Labour believes that everyone is entitled to good
health. We will review the care needs of our city and tailor the
services we provide to meet peoples’ complex needs, both now and in
the future. Your good health is at the heart of the Green City Charter.
Labour will:
• Build on the successes of the partnership between the NHS and
Council for properly funded health and social care services that
meet the needs of our city.
• Strengthen local groups and organisations in our neighbourhoods
to help reduce loneliness and isolation.
• Upgrade the play areas in Mansel Park and Weston Shore (Pirate
Trail) to help children get more exercise and be healthier.
• Support and invest in services for young people with
special needs.
• Continue work to reduce domestic abuse in Southampton.
Develop early interventions with perpetrators and those who
experience abuse.
• Create new extra care homes that are designed to help people
with physical limitations, sight problems and dementia.
Supported housing is being built at Potters Court in Millbrook;
these homes meet new design guidance on how to enhance
the lives of people with disabilities and age-related conditions,
moving away from the institutional feel of care facilities.
• Review the needs of adults with serious physical and mental
health issues so that local facilities and housing give the best
levels of care.
• Introduce new facilities in Southampton for residents with
learning disabilities and their carers.
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CREATING OPPORTUNITIES for
YOUNG PEOPLE
Southampton Labour believes that every child should get the
best start in life. Our local schools have done a great job raising
standards; our primary schools are the ‘best improving’ in the South
East of England. Our aim is that all schools will be rated as ‘good’ or
‘outstanding’ and to be a child-friendly city in everything we do.
We will:
• Keep open all Sure Start centres so that children get the early
support they need to be ready to start school.
• Guarantee that every child can go to a Southampton school by
creating 1500 extra secondary places across the city with 900 of
them located in a new all-through school (5–16 years) at
St Mark’s, Shirley.
• Invest in upgrading Chamberlayne College for the Arts into a
Learning Hub for the Weston area.
• Invest over £80 million to ensure school buildings across the city
are fit for the 21st century.
• Continue to support community programmes for young people to
reduce youth offending.
• Fight for improved funding for Sixth Form and Further Education
Colleges, educating and training the next generation of trades
and skills so that young people get secure jobs in Southampton’s
growing economy.
• Ensure care leavers get a good quality education and the offer of
an apprenticeship within the council or other public institutions.
9

FAMILY POVERTY and HOMELESSNESS
A recent UN report criticised the Tory Government’s approach to
austerity and the universal credit system as ‘punitive, mean-spirited
and callous’. It also said ‘changes to taxes and benefits have taken
the highest toll on those least able to bear it‘.
Labour is committed to improving the lives of families struggling on low
wages, solving the causes of inequality and increasing standards of
wellbeing and safety in our city.
To help people living in Southampton, Labour will:
• Continue to fight against the roll-out of the unfair universal credit
system.
• Tackle fuel poverty by promoting the ‘not for profit’ CitizEN
Energy company launched in 2018 by the City Council.
• Work to reduce rough sleeping and those at risk of becoming
homeless.
• Use new initiatives such as container homes, to reduce
overcrowded accommodation and homelessness.
• Support local refuges and advice services for people escaping
domestic violence and abuse.
• Support Advice and Guidance services to residents in receipt of
welfare benefits.
• Fund and support projects that combat food poverty – such as free
fruit for schoolchildren and family welfare packages delivered in
schools and food banks.
• Promote the Red Box project to eliminate period poverty and
raise school attendance in Southampton.
• Implement the Modern Slavery Charter and put safeguards in
Council procurement policies to make sure the Council does not
indirectly fund slavery.
10

CLEAN STREETS and TRANSPORT
Some things change, but some things don’t. Southampton Labour
believes that it’s essential to get the basics right and pay attention
to the details.
You’ve told us that getting your bins emptied, potholes filled and your
streets swept are important to you and they’re important to us.
Labour will:
• Prioritise keeping your roads and neighbourhoods tidy – through
our established three street cleaning teams.
• Co-ordinate mass community clean-ups to improve our
neighbourhoods.
• Invest in smart compactor street bins, which take five times as
much rubbish – reducing litter.
• Develop ambitious plans to transform the transport links across
the city and wider region.
• Invest in the next generation of cycle highways throughout
the city.
• Invest in pavements across the city, supporting more walking in
Southampton.
• Continue the Find & Fix team filling potholes and keep a focus on
resurfacing residential roads.
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LABOUR’S APPROACH
Throughout its history, Southampton has been built around
the port and trade with international partners. Our plans for
redeveloping the Bargate and West Quay areas have opened up our
heritage which we are proud to preserve and showcase.
We believe we should build on the achievements of earlier generations
and continue to build the city as a thriving centre of business, education,
culture and sport.
Your Labour Council can’t do this on its own. Our resources are limited
and we are in difficult times with government cut backs in our finances.
We cannot do everything you would like to see improved.
But, if you re-elect Labour on 2nd May we will continue to:
• Be open to new ideas.
• Involve you in decision making.
• Work in partnership with organisations to tackle today’s
challenges.
• Set challenging standards in health and education that will see us
improve the lives of people living in Southampton.
• Listen carefully and act on your priorities for improvement.
• Honestly assess successes and failures, learn from them and
agree better solutions.
This manifesto was developed in partnership with all members of the
Southampton Labour Party. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
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