Costs of council's masterplan for Southampton kept secret (Southampton Liberal Democrats)

Southampton Liberal Democrats <info@southampton-libdems.org.uk>

Costs of council's masterplan for Southampton kept secret

May 25, 2010 8:21 AM
By Matt Smith in Daily Echo website

Southampton Civic Centre COUNCIL chiefs have come under fire for hiring consultants to draw up a "visionary" masterplan for Southampton and refusing to reveal the costs.

Milton Keynes-based town planners David Lock Associates are being paid to map how the city centre should grow over the next 16 year, with 25,000 new jobs and 5,000 new homes.

Southampton City Council has so far only released sketchy details of the project and refuses to disclose the consultants' fees, although it is understood the total project costs will be up to £200,000.

Internationally renowned Danish architects Gehl will help create the plan, dubbed A Masterplan for Renaissance.

The latest in a long line of city visions comes as the Government ordered £1 billion of cutbacks on spending on consultants and advertising. The council has already agreed to slash 120 jobs to help save £8m this year.

Mark Wallace from the Taxpayers' Alliance questioned why elected councillors and paid officials were handing such "big decisions" to external consultants.

"If the council leadership don't have the vision of where they think the city should be, you've got to question what they are doing in post. If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it's that you cannot say what's going to happen in 20 years' time. These consultants' fees must be made totally public. The Government has made it very clear that all public spending by councils over £500 should be published online for everyone to see. After all, it is our money."

Mike Tucker, branch secretary of the Unite union, said: "We are concerned at a time when the council is reviewing expenditure they continue to spend money on consultants. We need to be sure the work could not be done by inhouse professional staff."

A select group of councillors and officials were invited to a seminar held behind closed doors last week.

The council's Cabinet member for economic development, Councillor Royston Smith, claimed there was no secrecy about the project but that it was in its early stages.

He said the masterplan was needed to provide a "coherent narrative" for developers, architects, businesses and investors and would avoid "hit and miss piecemeal development".

He added: "We wouldn't have done it if we didn't have the money directly from central Government."

But Lib Dem councillor Steve Sollitt warned the masterplan may turned out to be useless.

He said: "It's subsequent to a number of other documents and plans, and lots of them have not come to fruition as circumstances have changed. My concern is circumstances are likely to change even more than in the past because there is lots of economic uncertainly. We've already seen in the city how projects have been delayed or not gone ahead."

A council spokesman said: "There are potential issues of confidentiality which prevent us from giving any financial information at this time."