A City in Need: Housing Woes and Flood Defences

Last time I wrote for Liberal News, I focused on Southampton City Council’s quest for financial stability and its accompanying Transformation Programme.

Since then a number of issues have come to the fore. Housing has been particularly important. 

In a judgement released on 27 November the Regulator of Social Housing stated: “Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed. Southampton City Council”. 

It’s a damning indictment of the Council’s failure over decades to invest in its housing stock as well as its failure to be a good landlord.

The Regulator’s report together with the Council’s plans for improvement will be on the agenda at the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee (OSMC) on Thursday 12 December.

Also on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting is a project update on the River Itchen Flood Alleviation Scheme (RIFAS). Here too the news is not good. RIFAS is crucial both for the city’s adaptation to climate change and to its economic development. The project has essentially stalled and the papers provided to OSMC tell a story involving a lack of capacity to manage complex infrastructure projects, rising costs, and the major investor (the Environment Agency) considering pulling out. At this point it looks as though we need more than hope and optimism to save the project.

This contribution to Liberal News strikes a pessimistic note, but one becomes a politician in the hope of improving people’s lives and making a positive difference, and one hopes that one can do that by setting a new course. It's certainly needed in Southampton!