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| Labour's Highway Robbery - Councillors Bung Balfour Beatty ANOTHER £60 MILLION |
Labour or Tory, same old story. We've been saying this for a decade now. Southampton people say it back to us on their doorsteps, on social media and in their emails. People agree and are deserting Labour and the Tories in their droves.
The state of our City's roads is another glaring example of Labour's failures since 2012, when they took control of the Council. They've had thirteen years in power, with the Tories having just one year.
Andrew Pope invented "Guess the Pothole" in 2017 to bring attention to the terrible state of our roads. He brought it back this year, because NINE YEARS LATER, they haven't improved. The rubber ducks are fun, but they bring a serious point that the contract has failed Southampton, despite the huge amount of public money spent on it.
Residents want the Balfour Beatty contract CANCELLED - a decision which our independent colleagues in Herefordshire Council have told us, has already been done.
But Labour has allocated £60 MILLION to a company that has repeatedly admitted blacklisting - despite Councillor Andrew Pope changing the procurement rules of the Council when last a councillor, to prohibit blacklisting.
Extension, not Cancellation - IN SECRET
As exclusively investigated and reported by our Co-Founder Andrew Pope, the Labour-run Council has EXTENDED the failing roads and pavements contract with Balfour Beatty. The Council call it the Highways Service Partnership.
But there was no fanfare. As exclusively confirmed by Andrew Pope's questions to Council officers, there was no media release of the extension.
The decision was done in the Council Chamber in secret, with the public not allowed to see the details or hear any debate or ask questions about the detail. This is YOUR MONEY. The Head of Legal allowed this to be done. Do you agree that this is wrong?
The Council's so-called "Transparency Report" was hard to find. It was published in the tiniest writing that had to be zoomed into by 300% to be able to read. Buried in there, Andrew found the £60 million figure and asked Council officers why it was so hidden, and why it wasn't made clearer.
Council's Refusal of Cancellation - They Say It's All in the Past
As exclusively revealed, Council officers have REFUSED Andrew Pope's request on behalf of Southampton residents to CANCEL the contract.
Andrew asked for this because residents say that the contract has failed for sixteen years since 2010, and because Balfour Beatty blacklisted workers.
The Council claims that blacklisting is all in the past, so it's OK. Various unions including Unite have said that blacklisting is continuing. Is there another secret list, the same as the Economic League and Consulting Association.
So we have exclusively revealed which Labour councillors voted FOR this extension. They would have had to stand up in the Council chamber and said "For!" when each of them was asked by the Lord Mayor for their vote.
As in our previous article, they were:
"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."
Andrew Pope says:
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| Andrew Pope on BBC South Today when councillor Image: Southampton Independents (CT) |
We have provided the councillors' names, and now we also provide web links to their councillor pages on the Council website, so that you can email them and ask them why.
That is how our democracy is supposed to work, isn't it?
Elected representatives must be held accountable for their decisions on behalf of the people of Southampton. Otherwise this looks like a highway robbery by Labour.
Tell us what they say.
Tell us if they don't respond.
Southampton Independents is a voluntary organisation. It was founded by residents for residents.
We listen to residents. We act with residents.
If elected to the Council again on 7th May, I will have more powers to get answers for residents on the roads and pavements. And I will continue my campaign to get the Balfour Beatty contract CANCELLED!"
The Councillor web page is here. Just click the councillor's photo and you can then see their email address.
The format for Southampton councillor email addresses is "councillor" then a dot/full stop then their initial for their first name, then a dot/full stop, then their surname, then "@southampton.gov.uk".
So for the Leader of the Council and Shirley ward councillor Alex Winning (at least until Friday 8th May), it is:
councillor.a.winning@southampton.gov.uk
For Councillor Simon Letts, who was responsible for that year's budget, which the spending is part of, it is
councillor.s.letts@southampton.gov.uk
And so on...
Let us know how you get on, by contacting us here.
