The meeting of the Southampton Federation of Residents’ Associations on 9th June provided an opportunity to ask questions of the City Council’s Cabinet members.
Fortunately in our area, we are spared many of the problems, such as rarely getting a good night’s sleep because of noise from drunken revellers leaving night clubs or the deleterious effects of housing in multiple occupation.
Concern was expressed about fine large houses being demolished and replaced by blocks of flats. Councillor Baston said that except in Conservation Areas they had no power to prevent demolition. There was a great need for more homes for single people. She hoped that the blocks of flats would be built in character with the local area. They were starting to write a design guide for the suburbs.
Councillor Mizon said that if they had a transit site for travellers, it would cut down on expensive legal costs to move them off land. They were looking into having a transit site but a suitable spot was hard to find.
As for anti-social behaviour, Councillor Mizon said that they use all the tools they have at their disposal. There is now a City Patrol of 20 officers which functions from after school hours until 11pm and at weekends. They focus on hot-spots and respond to calls.
Some useful numbers are:
Report all incidents to the police on 0845 045 4545.
The City’s Actionline 0800 519 1919.
Domestic noise nuisance: 023 8083 2531.
Anti-social behaviour team: 0845 605 2222.