Electon fever?

Good feel on the doorstep.

Very little activity in the marginal wards from Tories very surprisingly. They have appeared to retreated to their safe seats but that to be honest has been the main tactic for all parties, fighting a defensive campaign to keep the seats they have.

The next two weeks for all campaigners will all about getting your known voters out to vote. As the biggest difficulty is getting the electorate to vote as unfortunately only thirty percent (on average) of the electorate, see local government as important. However there is one choice if you want to protect Southampton from huge cuts in services, do not put any cross near a candidate in the blue. Remember the current administration was formed to protect services from severe cuts that would return if the Tories become the largest party.

Southampton News - Inaccurate.

If you read this and have just received as "Southampton news" the Stories on the front are economical with the truth, in the extreme. Which only gives all politicians a bad name for appearing not to be straight with the voting public.

Editor of the Local Newspaper……..

Wants to be Mayor? I wondered if there was hidden agenda.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7330000/newsid_7338000?redirect=7338091.stm&news=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1

Or is that just my interpretation of the story.

The piece on the television shows how a headline is taken and reported as accurate. Who checked the story, the policy or the local papers interpretation?

Interesting that no local politician was contacted for comment, as far as I know.


What the Leader said about parking at Cabinet

“At our March cabinet meeting my Cabinet approved a strategic-level parking policy for Southampton. As a Cabinet we welcome this parking strategy and believe it will contribute substantial benefits towards the growth of our city.

But let us be clear that no decision has been made on when and if the strategy, or any individual aspect of it, will be implemented.

The policy sets out a broad approach that is essential to accommodate future developments such as IKEA and West Quay 3. It also puts forward our approach to any future park and ride schemes in the city.

The part of the policy that has attracted the most attention has undoubtedly centred around the details on how residents’ parking could be managed, but I confirm that there are no plans for any new parking charges and that the overall policy for residents parking in Southampton remains the same.

Any new zones will only be introduced after a legally required consultation process.

In parking zones, residents will still have the same conditions and enjoy the same benefits that are operating presently – including free first permits and up to 60 free visitor permits per year and the same number of permits for vehicles that apply now.”

No one is going to be or was it intended, to be charged to park out side of their house. The idea/policy for charging all households as proposed by the media and Tories is not in the document, adopted.