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| FOUR MONTHS OF DISRUPTION ON SHIRLEY HIGH STREET Photo: Southampton Independents |
Back in May, after two months of chaos caused by Southern Water and Southampton City Council, Andrew Pope called for the Council to get a grip of its roads, and to bring in "disruption charging", also known as "lane rental".
Businesses and residents have faced four months of disruption. And it isn't over yet.
Andrew says:
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| GONE! This shop closed during the disruption to Shirley High Street Photo: Andrew Pope |
"I spoke to the businesses on Shirley High Street and the Federation of Small Businesses - some of those businesses are members of the FSB, and I contacted the Council to ask what they had done to speed up the roadworks by Southern Water.
The answer was that they had done next to nothing. If the Council had done anything, it wasn't clear in the responses to my emails, and other emails that I had seen from other sources.
Southern Water gave no completion date when the works started. Then under pressure from me, they apologised for breaking their own water pipes, with the help of their contractors. And the end date slipped from July to August. Businesses were told of this slippage after pressure from me to Southern Water and its contractors. Business owners told me that Southern Water sent out their PR people to speak to them, and told them the end date of the works had slipped to August, having previously told them it would be July.
I heard from the owners that businesses were struggling and takings were down, some by as much as 30%. They had been told by Southern Water that they had to apply to a compensation scheme. The businesses told me that the scheme was highly intrusive, and I confirmed this with Southern Water. Businesses were put off applying by the bureaucracy, and the intrusiveness of it. Other businesses did not think they would get much money.
So I've taken more action to put pressure on the Council and Southern Water, to try to avert this type of disruption in the future.
I saw that Hampshire County Council had already brought disruption charging in, to charge companies who wanted to rip up our roads for the umpteenth time.
I made enquiries with Southampton City Council, who admitted that they had botched their attempt to bring it in last year. Their application was refused.
They said that they had to apply again to the Government, because of the botched attempt.
I asked the Council to confirm whether Shirley High Street was included. They confirmed that it was.
And now it is confirmed that the disruption charging is in place.
If the Council had not botched their first application, Southern Water would have been under more pressure to get the works done quicker than four months. But Labour does not have a grip of its officers. After all, there has been four different councillors responsible for Transport in the last two years.
What was most disappointing, but not surprising, is that the Labour Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Jacqui Rayment, did not respond to my queries.
So I went via other routes to get action for Shirley businesses and residents, and for all residents and visitors.
Now water, electricity, broadband and gas companies will be charged, and will think twice before ripping up our roads for the umpteenth time.
And yes I've confirmed that this also applies to the hated Balfour Beatty "Partnership" with the Council, for which I continue to call for the contract to be cancelled. I am making further queries inside and outside the Council about achieving that.
Rubber ducks, and my deep investigation into how Labour is giving Balfour Beatty another 60 million of your cash, was just the start. They refused to cancel the contract, but it is inevitable that they will."
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| Rubber ducks in Southampton potholes Photo: Southampton Independents |