by Ray George
There was a meeting of the North Southampton Community Forum on 24th November. I was impressed that the chairman, Jerry Gillen had managed to secure the presence of all three of our local MPs. There was general satisfaction that under the proposals by the Parliamentary Boundary Commission, the whole of Bassett Ward would once more be in Southampton Test. However, I expressed dismay that Swaythling would be in the Eastleigh constituency.
Jeremy Moulton, Deputy Leader of the City Council gave an upbeat view of the City’s future, despite having to save £75 million over 4 years. He mentioned the planned closure of Portswood Police Station by April 2012.
Chris Lyons, Planning and Development Manager for Southampton City Council, explained the developments concerning HMOs, which are dealt with elsewhere in this newsletter.
The forum is supporting the Lighter Later Campaign. I objected because the Committee of HCERA had decided that this was not properly a subject that fell within the objects of our association and, in any case, we do not know what the views of our members are on this. It shows how easy it is to hijack an organization to support a cause.