EXCLUSIVE: Residents at Labour-run Council Pensioner Block Allege Health and Safety Breaches By Council's Contractors

 

Labour-run Council Fails To Protect Pensioners

Labour-run Southampton City Council has faced allegations of health and safety breaches from residents of Rozel Court. The allegations relate to a lack of management of contractors working at the site. 

Independent Network Redbridge Ward candidate for the 7th May elections, Andrew Pope, has acted to help residents.

Rozel Court is two large blocks of pensioners and vulnerable people in the Channel Islands Estate in the north-west of our City.

Andrew says:

 

Andrew Pope with Election Board for Redbridge Ward
Image: Southampton Independents (SC)

 

"I was contacted after residents read my letters and leaflets that I had delivered to both blocks.

I started to investigate the allegations and spoke with several residents at Rozel Court. With a local resident, I delivered a letter to all flats to listen to residents' concerns.

The Police were involved in some of the allegations. I was quite concerned. These are elderly residents feeling at risk. It's not right.

I also spoke with Council officers from different departments, and the contractors on site.

I expressed my disappointment at some attempts to pass the buck. As a campaigner over 20 years, I take a very dim view of buck-passing and have ways of dealing with it. Officers of the Council know this and the contractors found this out very quickly.

As I was trained to do many years ago, I cross-checked the allegations made and tried to get all sides to the situation. That is fair to all sides and natural justice in our country.

I now have a clearer picture of the situation and am now pressuring the Council officers to improve the situation for residents. 

I am getting some co-operation from officers and the contractors now.

I will continue to do so, until I feel that residents' concerns are addressed.

Many Council residents complain that the Council does everything online and does not respond.

So to show how it can be done better than the Council, I printed my updates and with Southampton Independents colleagues, delivered an update by hand to residents.  

If elected on 7th May, I will have more powers to do so. Please vote for me and encourage everyone else who has a vote in Redbridge Ward to vote for me too."

 

 

 

EXCLUSIVE: Which Councillors Voted For The £60 MILLION Extension To the Council's Roads and Pavements Contract?

 

You Guessed It - Labour Councillors Voted It Through!

 

You guessed it! Labour councillors voted through the extension to the Balfour Beatty roads and pavement contract, also known as the Highways Service Partnership. It was the Conservatives who brought the contract in, fourteen years earlier, during 2010.

There was no media release, confirmed by Southampton Independents' enquiries. We only found out about it via legal procurement channels. An officer confirmed that no media release was put out.

When lead investigator Andrew Pope asked Council officers in procurement about how the extension was approved, they said:

"The approval route for the award of the Southampton Highways Partnership was via a delegated decision made by the Executive Director, Growth and Prosperity and Executive Director Enabling Services and S151 Officer in accordance with delegated authority approved by Cabinet and Council in March 2024.

For ease I have included the links to the relevant March 2024 Cabinet and Council meetings:

Agenda for Cabinet on Tuesday, 5th March, 2024, 4.30 pm | Southampton City Council

Agenda for Council on Wednesday, 6th March, 2024, 2.00 pm | Southampton City Council"

 

From the Minutes of the meeting, you can see it was Labour councillors only. This INCLUDES the two now Labour MPs, Satvir Kaur and Darren Paffey:

"NOTE: NOTE: FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS: Councillors Allen, Barnes-Andrews, Blatchford, Bogle, M Bunday, Cox, Denness, Evemy, Fielker, Finn, A Frampton, Y Frampton, Goodfellow, Greenhalgh, Kataria, Kaur, Kenny, Keogh, Lambert, Leggett, Letts, McCreanor, McEwing, Mintoff, Noon Paffey, Payne, Quadir, Renyard, Savage, Shields, Ugwoeme, Whitbread, Winning and T Bunday." 

 

Note that some of the Labour councillors are:

• no longer councillors, or 
• have lost elections (e.g. Ugwoeme who lost Woolston then Shirley), 
• have been sacked as a Labour councillor (e.g. Whitbread, as exclusively revealed by us), 
• have stood down, or 
• have quit Labour to another party (e.g. Renyard who is now Green, M Bunday who is now Lib Dem). 

 

They were Labour councillors when they voted this through.

  

The only councillors who voted against it were Conservatives. Yet in a move of utter hypocrisy, they had originally let the contract in 2010. This includes Peter Baillie who told us that the contract is great, telling us when we asked about Councillor Rob Harwood's perceived conflict of interest in letting the contract as an officer, then turning up as a Tory councillor the next year:

"The Balfour- Beatty contract works far better than any in house solution." 

 

"NOTE: AGAINST THE RECOMMENDATIONS: Councillors P Baille, Beaurain, Fitzhenry, Galton, Houghton, Laurent, Powell-Vaughan, Blackman, Wood and Barbour. " 

 

Andrew Pope says: 

 

Andrew Pope

  

"The Cabinet of the Council contains ONLY Labour councillors. Nobody else. They voted it through.

Labour has a majority on the Council. So next...

Labour councillors majority-voted the contract through Full Council, which is the second committee mentioned by the officer.

Labour ward councillors would regularly receive complaints about the failures of the contract.  Yet they voted it through anyway, like the party puppets that they are. And this includes the two councillors who are now Southampton MPs - Satvir Kaur and Darren Paffey.

So let nobody be in any doubt, it was Labour councillors that voted through the extension to the failed Balfour Beatty roads and pavement contract.

This is why our City needs independent representation again, by councillors who actually put the priorities of their local residents first, instead of doing what their party tells them to do."

Please Note - Our Story, Our Exclusive

We gave information on our investigation to the Daily Echo's Editor Ben Fishwick about this in mid-February, and to the Local Democracy Reporter Jason Lewis, who is funded by the BBC. We had hoped they would cover it in the public interest.

An article was eventually published by the Daily Echo with the £60 million figure that we gave to them. We were never credited. We were never quoted.

When Andrew Pope complained to the Editor, we were promised a follow-up article. In good faith, more information was given to them.

It is now over two months later.

No follow-up article. No quote. No credit.

So we are publishing our investigation ourselves, in the public interest.

We are volunteers. Once again, we are doing more work than those who are paid to investigate. Because it is in the public interest.

EXCLUSIVE: Council Refuses Campaigner Andrew Pope's Request to Cancel Balfour Beatty Roads and Pavement Contract

Andrew Pope Demands That the Council's Road and Pavement Contract with Balfour Beatty is Cancelled
Image: Southampton Independents

 

Andrew Pope is the Redbridge ward Independent Network candidate for Southampton City Council. He has been investigating the Council's roads and pavement contract with Balfour Beatty. This is because of constant complaints about the roads and pavements from residents of Southampton.

 

Andrew Pope Independent Network
Photo: Southampton Independents

 

Andrew says:

"I've asked Council officers to cancel the contract. Why? Because it's a clear failure, and because Balfour Beatty are admitted blacklisters." 

 

Andrew Pope with Rubber Ducks in Rownhams Road, Southampton
Image: Southampton Independents (AP)

 

He has also been running the online game "Guess the Pothole", putting rubber ducks in the many potholes and posting the photos online, then asking residents where they think the pothole is, as reported by the Daily Echo. It has been very successful at drawing attention the failings. It also appears in Andrew's election address - see photo above. [The one in the photo is in Rownhams Road, when the gas pipeline was being replaced.]

The contract has been in place since 2010, when the Conservatives ran the Council. And since 2017, it has been extended - and extended again - by Labour running the Council.

Balfour Beatty has repeatedly admitted blacklisting. In 2014, four years after the Council's contract was first let, they apologised to MPs. 

"They confirmed their firms had used the services of The Consulting Association."

In responding to Andrew's demand to cancel the contract, a Council spokesperson said:

"Based on its due diligence, to the Council’s knowledge neither Balfour Beatty Living Places nor any company in the Balfour Beatty group was involved in blacklisting at 2017 nor at the point of the award of the most recent contract in 2025. The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 enshrines the position in legislation. Indeed it is widely reported that the practice in the construction industry ceased in 2009, which pre-dates the Council’s first highways contract with Balfour Beatty. Based on this position, the Council does not intend to terminate its contracts delivered by Balfour Beatty as a result of the historic blacklisting as its policy has not been breached." 

Andrew says:

"The serious point to the game is to humiliate the Labour-run Council into cancelling the failed £60 million roads contract. 

This contract is clearly a failure. Nobody in Southampton, other than the Labour councillors who voted it through, and Tory councillors Peter Baillie and Rob Harwood, think it has been a success. They've had sixteen years!

It is interesting that before becoming a Tory councillor, Rob Harwood was the Council officer who wrote the report for the Balfour Beatty contract. Not once, but twice - in 2010 and 2017. And then in 2018, he was elected to the same Council as a Tory councillor.

What an amazing coincidence, that he thinks the contract is great and his Group Leader Baillie does too. 

Neither of them wanted to answer queetions when I asked him how he managed any perceived confict of interest. I gave them the right of reply. Worse than that, they said that such questions were 'irrelevant'. Harwood cost the Council over £25,000 for loose words; it seems that he has not learned his lesson.

On the doorsteps of Southampton, residents want to know. Residents want to know why the roads and pavements are so bad and why a failed contract has been allowed to go on for so long. My independent colleagues tell me that in Herefordshire, the Council cancelled Balfour Beatty. So should Southampton.

I've asked Council officers to cancel the contract. Why? Because it's a clear failure, and because Balfour Beatty are admitted blacklisters.

I changed the procurement rules of the Council when I was Councillor before. I was applauded by leading anti-blacklisting campaigners Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain in their book "Blacklisted". The Council's rules that I put in place are supposed to prevent blacklisters getting council contracts. I took considerable time and effort to ensure officers put such rules in place.

Yet Council officers have refused in writing to cancel the contract, and have made excuses for Balfour Beatty, claiming blacklisting is somehow all in the past. Really? The unions don't think so, including Unite.

So how can a Labour-run Council justify handing another £60 million to Balfour Beatty - a figure which I uncovered and investigated?

They can't, if they are on the side of the working people of Southampton. But residents have worked out that Labour is not for working people and has not been for some time now.

What a shameful situation. Residents deserve to be protected from blacklisters and deserve to have better roads and pavement that are safe. Labour councillors voted this contract through, like the party puppets that they are.

I will carry on campaigning for residents - it is them who I respond to.

If I am elected on 7th May, I will have more powers to get answers and challenge for better roads and pavements." 

 

 

 

Labour's Corruption in Southampton and Westminster - Andrew Pope's Statement

 

Redbridge ward anti-corruption candidate Andrew Pope, who is a member of the Independent Network and is Co-Founder of Southampton Independents, issues a Statement today on yesterday's vote at Parliament on referring Keir Starmer to the Privileges Committee: 

 

Andrew Pope when Independent Councillor 
Photo: Southampton Independents (CT)

"Yesterday, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer forced his MPs to defend his corruption when appointing Jeffrey Epstein's friend Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to the United States of America.

Labour forced a 'three-line whip' onto its MPs, which means that if you defy the instruction, there will be consequences which could include expulsion. 

And like the party puppets they are, the two Southampton MPs Satvir Kaur and Darren Paffey went along with it. 

Both Kaur and Paffey voted against a Parliamentary inquiry by the Privileges Committee into Starmer. You can see the evidence from the BBC website below. 

 

Satvir Kaur MP Southampton Test MP Voted Against Investigating Her Boss Keir Starmer
Image: BBC

Darren Paffey Southampton Itchen MP Voted Against Investigating His Boss Keir Starmer
Image: BBC

 

EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT STARMER IS GUILTY OF CORRUPTION AND OF POOR JUDGEMENT, AND THAT HE IS VERY UNPOPULAR AND SHOULD RESIGN OR BE FORCED OUT BY LABOUR! 

Yet the Southampton Labour MPs still defend him. Why? Is it because their political careers depend on it? Yes it is. They put themselves and their careers ahead of principles.

While we focus on local action, as independents, we have to call this out as Southampton MPs being corrupt. They are now complicit in corruption at Westminster, as Satvir Kaur and Southampton Labour have been complicit in corruption here in Southampton by taking £10,000 from a convicted criminal who had been expelled from Labour two years before. And not providing any evidence they paid it back, although we asked them.

And we have to call this out because as independents, Southampton Independents as members of the Independent Network subscribe to the Martin Bell principles.

Martin Bell was a BBC journalist who was elected as an Independent MP when he stood for Parliament as an anti-corruption candidate, and beat the corrupt Tory Neil Hamilton who was found guilty of cash-for-questions in Parliament.

 

Independent Network Emblem

 

 

The Independent Network works under the same Bell principles, so we are best placed to call out Labour's corruption.

I am standing as the anti-corruption candidate in Redbridge ward on Southampton City Council.

I have already uncovered corruption by Labour here in Southampton, and will continue to do so.

If elected, I will have more powers to uncover corruption and hold Labour to account."

 

 

EXCLUSIVE: NO EVIDENCE Corrupt Southampton Labour Paid Criminal Money Back - we checked! Vote Labour Out!

 

 

Labour Is Corrupt As Well As Incompetent
Image: Southampton Independents

 

Southampton Labour MP Corruption 

In 2024, Southampton Test Labour MP Satvir Kaur took criminal money from convicted violent criminal Shere Sattar, as declared in her Parliamentary Register of Interests. Sattar had previously been expelled from the Labour Party after his conviction in 2022, but had stayed on as an Eastleigh Town Councillor for THREE YEARS, despite now being a criminal.

 

Satvir Kaur, Southampton Test Labour MP
Photo: Under Licence from UK Parliament

 

The £10k was also shown by us appearing in the Electoral Commission register of political donations.

 

Electoral Commission Database of Political Funding Showing Shere Sattar Money
Image: Southampton Independents

 

But there is no evidence that Kaur or Southampton Labour has paid it back. We asked her and them. No response was received. No evidence was provided from her or Southampton Labour. They have claimed to have paid it back though.

Do you believe them, without any evidence? 

This is the same Labour Party whose Prime Minister appointed Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States. Peter Mandelson is now under investigation by the Police, and had previously had to leave government in other scandals.

The same Labour Party. 

 

The Missing Evidence 

Yes - WE CHECKED IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE. There is no evidence Kaur, or Portsmouth Labour MPs Stephen Morgan or Amanda Martin, paid ANY of the criminal money back.

Neither is there any evidence that Central Labour HQ paid any of the £10,300 back - we checked with the Electoral Commission who said they had no requirement to be told, even if it was paid back!

As reported by The Times and Independent, the Shere Sattar criminal money totals £40,300. 

Seriously, we have looked everywhere and checked with everyone. 

 

WE CHECKED EVERYWHERE 

WE CHECKED with the Electoral Commission that regulates funding of political parties. Incredibly, they confirmed in writing that political parties can receive money from criminals. The law is set by MPs, mostly Labour and Tory MPs.

WE CHECKED with the three Labour MPs in Southampton and Portsmouth that accepted the money. We received no response and no evidence.

WE CHECKED with Shere Sattar, the former Eastleigh Labour councillor and convicted criminal who gave the money. We received no response.

WE CHECKED with Eastleigh Town Council's Town Clerk whether Sattar stayed on as councillor despite being convicted in 2022. He stayed on until May 2025 - THREE YEARS LATER. He served on committees and made decisions, as confirmed by the Clerk, DESPITE being a convicted criminal.

WE CHECKED with the Election Agent for Southampton Labour councillors, Councillor Christian Cox, who is Councillor for Millbrook ward. No evidence and no response.

WE CHECKED With Southampton Labour Council candidates and received no evidence and no response. 

We've also asked about Southampton Labour councillors' donations to the Labour Party, which appear to have stopped in recent years, according to records at the Electoral Commission. But have the councillors' donations actually stopped? We've asked Labour councillors and candidates, including the Leader of the Council and Leader of the Labour Group, who is Shirley councillor Alex Winning. Kaur was also a Shirley councillor.

 

Seriously, we have looked everywhere and checked with everyone.

There is NO EVIDENCE that any of the more than £40,000 that Labour took from Shere Sattar has been given back. 

The Electoral Commission confirmed directly to our enquiry that even if they had paid it back, the Commission is not obliged to be told, so there would be no record. 

 

Corruption Is The Only Word 

To take money from a convicted criminal cannot be called anything other than corruption. If you can think of a better description, get in touch. 

 

Do Not Vote Labour - Vote Independent! 

In the local Council elections, please do not vote Labour. In Redbridge ward, Vote for the anti-corruption candidate Andrew Pope Independent Network. Andrew is the only candidate who can beat Labour in Redbridge.

Everywhere else, either vote Independent or vote tactically against Labour.

It is First Past the Post, so please vote tactically to stop Labour and vote to remove as many Labour councillors as possible, and please do not vote any more in.

Vote Independent Network

Are You Affected? Southern Water Say "Several Weeks" of Shirley Disruption with no end date - A "Collapsed Sewer" in Shirley

 

Shirley High Street Sewer Works

Photo: Southampton Independents (AP) 

 

Since the final weekend of March, privatised water company Southern Water has caused disruption in the Shirley area, due to a "collapsed sewer".

1. Have you been affected? Tell us how and where.
2. Are you losing money?
3. Is it causing you delays?
4. Is your home, or your work or business affected? 

Get in touch on our Facebook page, or at our contact details here.

 

Shirley High Street Closed Off One Way
Photo: Southampton Independents (AP)

The Southern Water statement says:

"We're sorry to residents in the area who may be experiencing disruption.

Our teams are undertaking a repair of our sewer line, due to a collapsed sewer...

... This closure will remain in place for several weeks."

 

 

Member of the Independent Network and Co-Founder of Southampton Independents, Andrew Pope says: 

 

Andrew Pope on Rownhams Road with the rubber ducks
and "Guess the Pothole"
Photo: Southampton Independents (AB)

 

"I reported the foul stench of drains to Southern Water at the end of March. They then confirmed that it was due to a collapsed sewer. I saw the display on Romsey Road about the emergency works when completing the 341,000 steps for March the Month to raise £341 for Prostate Cancer UK.

We've just had the privatised gas pipeline disruption as well!

The Tories privatised everything and Labour hasn't sorted it out. It's constant chaos for Southampton, its residents and businesses and the Council isn't on top of it at all.

They whinge that they aren't in control and don't have the powers. Who sets the regulations and the law? Labour or Tory MPs! So again it's the same old story. The two old parties are past it and just blame each other, instead of taking responsibility.

In fact, the Labour-run Council is adding to the disruption, because of the failed Balfour Beatty contract that Labour has just bunged £60 MILLION to, instead of cancelling it. That's the serious point of the "Guess the Pothole" game which I created and which got big interest on reddit, on Facebook, on our website, and in the Echo.

I have made enquiries about how this collapsed sewer happened. I hope it wasn't caused by one of the privatised companies, as we've had so much road and pavement being dug up lately - gas, water, broadband and more...

I remember when I got compensation for hundreds of residents of Millbrook from Southern Electric when they dug up the roads and caused power outages at Xmas. I found out the truth and went on BBC Radio 5 to tell the country. Residents remember too, that's why they are backing me in the Redbridge ward election on 7th May."

 

 

 

EXCLUSIVE: CRIMINAL MONEY - Local Labour MPs Provide No Evidence of Paying £30,000 Back to CONVICTED CRIMINAL When We Asked - Corruption Is Out of Hand

 

Our Labour Highwayman Graphic That Labour Hates

Southampton Labour

We reported that Southampton Test Labour MP Satvir Kaur accepted £10,000 from convicted criminal and expelled Eastleigh Labour Town Councillor Shere Sattar.

 

Satvir Kaur, Southampton Labour MP for Southampton Test
Photo: UK Parliament under CC Licence

Kaur was asked to provide evidence that the £10,000 had been paid back.

No response has been received. We know that our email was received.

No evidence of paying the money back has been provided, despite being given over a fortnight to respond.

Portsmouth Labour

Stephen Morgan, Labour MP for Portsmouth South was also contacted. No evidence has been received and no response has been received. We know the email was received.

Amanda Martin, Labour MP for Portsmouth North was also contacted. Again, no evidence and no response. We know the email was received.

 

Regulator of Party Funding Confirms Criminals Can Give Money 

A reminder that we asked the Electoral Commission some questions about criminal money. They regulate party funding, but can only do so according to what Parliament and MPs decide what powers to give them and what resources and money to give them.

The Commission confirmed that political parties can accept money from criminals.

 

Broken Political System and Labour Councillors Repeatedly Bringing the Council Into Disrepute

Anti-corruption candidate for Redbridge ward on Southampton City Council, Andrew Pope, says:

Andrew Pope, Co-Founder of Southampton Independents
Photo: Southampton Independents (DW)

"As a member of the Independent Network, I subscribe to the Martin Bell principles. I have met Martin Bell via the Independent Network.

Martin Bell stood for Parliament against Tory and Cabinet Member Neil Hamilton and his wife when Hamilton was accused and then found guilty of corruption and bribery from the disgraced Mohamed Al-Fayed, in the cash-for-questions scandal. Fayed is now being accused of more crimes, although he is now dead.

And Martin won the seat as an independent.

I am investigating and exposing wrongdoing, and have been for a long time, whether I was in the Labour Party or after I quit Labour in disgust in 2015 because of Labour's wrongdoing to the people of Redbridge that I care about. 

I asked for investigations into Labour councillors when I was in the Labour Group. I was the Deputy Whip, but the Chief Whip Labour Councillor Cathie McEwing did not investigate disgraced Leader of the Council Richard Williams and did not investigate sacked Redbridge Ward Councillor Lee Whitbread when I raised complaints when still a Labour Councillor.

Neither did Southampton Labour officials - I told them though! And look what happened to both Williams and Whitbread! I also complained about Labour Councillor and former Tory Mike Denness, and he has just stood down after much controversy. I raised these complaints when in Labour, and when an Independent. And ever since.

Southampton Labour councillors have repeatedly brought the Council and the role of Councillor into disrepute. That's why I quit Labour to become an Independent. Eleven years later, I am still an Independent. 

And now, having brought the Council to its knees as Cabinet Member and Leader, Satvir Kaur is bringing the role of MP into disrepute. Her. the Portsmouth MPs and Central Labour Party HQ took £40,000 in total from Sattar. So far, no evidence of paying it back. They've been asked.

I campaigned for Southampton City Council to do criminal records checks (DBS) for councillors. It beggars belief that they stopped doing them. But still, two-thirds won't have been checked. It's wrong. How do we know that councillors themselves do not have a criminal record, or have obtained one while serving as a councillor? We don't.

The two party political system is broken. How can it be that criminals can donate to political parties and that it is not mandatory by law for DBS checks? Labour and Tory MPs decided the law for this and fixed the political system to favour them, instead of the people of our City. Labour have allowed it, and allowed the corruption to thrive."

 

RESIDENT ACTION: Labour Councillor Porkies and Bin Chaos - They Promised Weekly You Got Fortnightly (if at all)

 

Another MASSIVE Broken Labour Promise
Image: Southampton Independents

 

UPDATED (16/4/26):  Now with added ACTION. The Labour Leader of the Council, Shirley councillor Alex Winning (he's up for election on 7th May), does not seem to know who or when it was done.

RESIDENTS ACTION 

1. We supply email addresses to you for councillors and MPs who voted to cut your bins from weekly to fortnightly. 

2. Send them an email to ask them why they broke their promise "to keep weekly bin collections"! Just click the link to see their councillor page, and get their address to email them. 

 

A Pork Pie from Southampton
Image: Southampton Independents (AP)

3. Then contact us to tell us what the councillor or MP says, or if they even bother to reply.

4. You might need to do this very soon, as some of them might not be councillors for much longer as they might be voted out or may have already checked out (Mike Denness and Lee Whitbread, for example, as reported by us)! 

 

--- 

Letter to the Daily Echo 

A reminder: Labour councillors voted through cuts to bins but spent millions of YOUR CASH on "arts" at the scandalous Satvir Kaur's Arts Complex instead of the bins, a basic Council service that has failed time and again, while they put Council Tax up and up. Vote them out on 7th May.

 

Dear Editor,

I read with anger your report of:

Southampton fury as littering leaves high street as 'absolute dump'

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/26012097.southampton-fury-littering-leaves-high-street-absolute-dump/

It isn't just Shirley High Street that is a mess, lots of Council land is also a mess. And it's Labour's failure and cuts that have caused it.

Both Labour councillors quoted - Cllr Savage and Cllr Winning - speak as if it was nothing to do with Labour bringing in fortnightly bins.

It was precisely to do with Labour - Labour councillors voted through fortnightly bins in February 2017. I was there in the Chamber and watched them do it. 

I spoke against it and voted against it as Independent Redbridge councillor. The other two independents from Coxford also voted against it.

Worse than that, Labour promised "to keep weekly bin collections". It was another broken promise.

The minutes show that Councillor Savage voted for it, as did current Labour councillors Blatchford, Bogle, Denness, Keogh, Letts, Noon, Payne, Rayment, Shields and Whitbread. That's a total of ELEVEN Labour councillors. 

Plus, who could forget, Satvir Kaur and Darren Paffey, now both Southampton Labour MPs.

So if Cllr Winning thinks it was 20 years ago. It wasn't. And if he thinks somehow his party didn't have anything to do with it. He's wrong.

All he needs to do is ask Cllr Letts, who was Leader of the Council at the time. Perhaps Winning and Letts are not on speaking terms?

Southampton people know what to do - vote Labour out. Enough is enough.

I enclose a link to the minutes online. Minutes of Feb 2017 Full Council: https://www.southampton.gov.uk/moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=122&MId=3274&Ver=4

Regards,

Andrew Pope

Former Redbridge Councillor and Candidate for Redbridge

Independent Network

Southampton Independents

Andrew Pope at Millbrook Towers
Photo: Southampton Independents (CT)

Andrew Pope Poster
Image: Southampton Independents

 

EXCLUSIVE: VICTORY! Controversial Labour Councillor Subject To Multiple Complaints and Investigations Stands Down

 

Labour Councillor Mike Denness
Photo: Southampton City Council

A fortnight ago, we reported exclusively on Lee Whitbread, a Labour Redbridge ward councillor, being sacked as Labour's candidate in Redbridge Ward. It took the Daily Echo another fortnight to report it. We also reported on another Redbridge Labour Councillor Sally Goodfellow being sacked as a school governor by her own Labour-run Council. 

We can exclusively reveal that another Labour Councillor, this time Mike Denness for Bevois ward, is standing down at the local elections on 7th May 2026. No other local media has covered this.

Mike Denness has been the subject of multiple complaints and investigations, and has been a controversial figure, having been Conservative and then Labour.

The official list of candidates for the 2026 Southampton City Council elections was recently published. And Denness is not on it.

His seat was up for election, but Denness is not standing in Bevois or anywhere else in Southampton. 

Somebody called Paul Kenny is Labour's candidate in Bevois ward. Kenny stood unsuccessfully in Harefield ward in 2024.

As reported by Southampton Independents, the latest complaint to the Council was instigated by our Co-Founder and former Councillor Andrew Pope, who complained about Denness' register of interests not being accurate, which it wasn't, and still isn't at the time of writing. 

The only action that was taken by Southampton City Council was that Denness was advised by a legal officer to make it accurate. Denness' register has not been updated. It is still as it was before the complaint, inaccurate and misleading. The register itself states that it is an offence for misleading information to be on a register, yet the Council has not acted to discipline him.

Denness was also subject to multiple complaints in relation to his business activities as a planning consultant being a perceived conflict of interest with his sitting as Chair of Southampton's planning committee. This came to a head in 2018 during a Planning committee that he chaired and in which Councillor Andrew Pope objected to his chairmanship due to evidence of a conflict of interest (as shown in the photo above). 

There were also internal Labour group complaints to the Labour Group Whips about the same topic. 

Denness lost his Millbrook seat in 2018, when Southampton Independents deliberately stood a candidate against him to try to unseat him. It was a successful move. Our candidate Ed Edworthy received more votes than the difference between Denness' tally and the winning Conservative candidate. We weren't happy that a Conservative won, but at least Denness had been ejected.

Labour accused Conservative councillor Jeremy Moulton of a "vendetta" against Denness. Moulton also lost his seat at the same 2018 elections, as did Labour Leader Simon Letts after we investigated the Arts Complex funding.

Denness was previously Conservative Basingstoke MP Maria Miller's election agent, before defecting to Labour in Southampton. He had also stood for the Conservatives in Southampton. Southampton Labour decided not to allow Millbrook ward members to choose the candidate for the by-election caused by the mid-term resignation of student Labour councillor Georgie Laming. Local party officials of Southampton Labour IMPOSED Mike Denness as the candidate, without a vote of Millbrook ward Labour Party members. 

Conservative Councillors for Millbrook ward Steve Galton and Jeremy Moulton have again been contacted for contact. They made no comment on Mike Denness, despite having previously lodged complaints about him. 

 

 

EXCLUSIVE: No Checks on Whether Councillors Banned As Directors By Southampton City Council

 

We exclusively reported success in Andrew Pope's campaign to ensure that Southampton City Council conducted criminal records checks on councillors.

However, it was also confirmed during our questions to Council officers, that only those elected in May 2026 would be subject to DBS (Disclosures and Barring Service) checks.

We have confirmed with a spokesperson for the Council that those councillors already elected will not be DBS checked any time soon.

So TWO-THIRDS of councillors will STILL HAVE NO CHECKS.

What do you think of that? 

AND now we have confirmed directly with that spokesperson that no councillors are checked to see if they have been banned as company directors. 

Anti-corruption candidate for Redbridge ward Andrew Pope says: 

Andrew Pope

 "I was pleased to see the partial u-turn on DBS checks, after years with councillors not being subject to criminal records checks.

But there are too many holes in checks of Southampton councillors.

It's worrying, because councillors deal with all sorts of people, if they are doing their job properly.

And they make decisions over hundreds of millions of pounds of public money.

Don't you think they should all - all 51 councillors - have DBS checks with regular updates?

Don't you think they should have checks to see if they are banned as company directors?

I will continue my anti-corruption campaigning.

If elected, I will have more powers to get answers and bring accountability to the party politicians and those in the parties and the Council who want to cover them up, instead of bringing them to justice."

 

 

 

Guess the Pothole Road and See The Full Horror of the Scandalous £60 MILLION Balfour Beatty Highway Robbery!

Count the Balfour Beatty Bodge Jobs!

 

It's a roller coaster ride!

 

Wheel rim smashing

 

Tyre wrecking, Daughter felling, Scooter damaging

ONE DUCK PER POTHOLE!

Ducks in the gutter
Photos: Southampton Independents (AP)

 

Get your ducks in a row!

A pothole horror show!

 

Scooter wrecking

Child injuring

 

Mother worrying

Wheel smashing 

 

Yet another 

Council no show!

 

Which dangerous road is this in Southampton?

 

Clue: It's another one in Millbrook Ward, like many of the others we have done with Guess the Pothole on reddit. See the r/Southampton Subreddit to play there.

 

A resident, there with her daughter told us:  

"My daughter on her foot scooter has gone over more than once. She has gone over on kerb, road and pavement. She was grazed and scarred."

 

Andrew Pope of the Independent Network says:

 

Andrew Pope Inventor of Guess the Pothole
in Rownhams Road, Redbridge Ward 
Photo: Southampton Independents (AP)

"I have written to the Council to demand that they CANCEL the Balfour Beatty roads contract! I've investigated Labour's highway robbery and reported it here on this website. 

If it wasn't for my investigation, which I told the Daily Echo about in mid-February and the Councillor for scrutiny, Lib Dem Richard Blackman, nobody would have known the £60 million figure apart from Council officers and the Labour councillors that approved it.

I am pleased that the Daily Echo has finally reported it, but not happy that they did not quote me or even ask me for a quote. They claim that they did their own investigation - a claim which I find hard to believe when I gave them the story six weeks ago. 

 

Southampton Labour's Highway Robbery

 

Instead of cancelling the highways contract, the Labour councillors actually extended it, with little fanfare and no publicity. And with very little democratic accountability, hiding it amongst lots of other documents and "delegated authority" to Council officers. 

Councillors should have spotted it - there are 51 of them! But they didn't. I did, and I'm not currently a councillor. I found them out through my hard work and investigative skills.

Labour have bunged Balfour Beatty another £60 MILLION, as exposed by my investigation over the past two months. I have the evidence of my investigation, in writing.

And how can they give Balfour Beatty any contract when they have admitted that they blacklisted? I have checked with Council officers. The anti-blacklisting procurement rules that I myself put in place, are still in place.

So not only should the contract be cancelled because it's a failure, it should be cancelled immediately because Balfour Beatty blacklisted. They shouldn't be rewarded for failure, and shouldn't be rewarded for blacklisting.

What does it say about the lack of local democracy that this can happen, despite residents knowing that the contract has been a failure for SIXTEEN YEARS!

If you need another example of Labour or Tory, same old story, here it is. It's a horror show and it's gory.

If I can do this without even being a councillor, imagine what I can find out if I am elected onto the Council again, with more powers to compel officers to answer. 

I have been campaigning on safety for Southampton people for years - road safety, tower block fire safety and Saints fan safety. I ask you to please, therefore to...

Vote Andrew Pope Independent Network on 7th May!"