Cllr Paul Holmes

Bitterne Park Sixth Form- Letter to Echo.

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:46:00 GMT

Dear Editor,

Following on from the recent articles on the development of a sixth form centre at Bitterne Park I wanted to offer further thoughts on this exciting development.

The proposal will support the education plan for the city as the proposed 180 place 16-18 centre will offer a range of vocational and academic subjects including the new diploma, that reflect the schools specialist status in Performing Arts and Applied Learning.

With a strong ethos of ‘nurture’, the school aims to support young people in gaining work related skills in order to gain employment or aid their aspirations to secure a place at University. So a programme that includes a mix of BTEC, A Level’s and Supported Learning is planned.

We noted that the school produced its proposal on the basis of a sound reputation, high academic achievement, and a caring ethos and must be congratulated for this.

The City is hugely supportive of the development of high quality resources and learning environments for its young people. Internally the resources will include ‘state of the art’ IT facilities with multimedia suites and recording studios. Also planned is a small theatre and workshop.

The new sixth form will complement existing provision and support the rounded offer that the City is keen to secure, through its Building Schools for the Future programme and developments such as this in the post-16 field, for all young people in the City.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Paul Holmes

Cabinet Member for Children's Services

Conservative Councillor for Redbridge

Labour betrays Southampton Colleges

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:38:00 GMT

Labour's decision to pull the plug on funds to rebuild Taunton’s and Itchen College is disgrace.

Colleges in Southampton and the rest of Hampshire were promised funds for ambitious rebuilds which would give them the facilities they need to equip young people for the 21st century.

At the end of June the Government announced a shortlist of 13 further education projects that would proceed. Southampton has been left waiting for months to hear if its planned projects would be given the go ahead and we have now finally learned that the city is excluded from the list, with the majority of funds going to the Labour heartlands in the North of England.

Southampton's colleges join the list of over a hundred colleges around the country that have been betrayed by Labour and not given the funds they were promised. The 13 colleges that remain on the list are still not guaranteed to go ahead and if they do they may find that their funding is considerably reduced.

More than a million pounds has been spent locally in Southampton in preparation for the rebuilds. Taunton’s College has received planning consent from the city council and building work was ready to start. On the east of the city Itchen College was due to move to the Eastpoint Centre in Thornhill. This was part of a much more ambitious, wider project which would aid the regeneration of the area, supporting the redevelopment of the Eastpoint Centre and Sholing Technology College being rebuilt on the vacated Itchen College site with Building Schools for the Future funds. The city council is now working hard to ensure that these other important projects are not jeopardised by the Government withdrawing the college money.

This is another blow for Southampton from a government that is not interested supporting the city. This comes on top of the decision earlier this year to scrap a planned grant of £4.6m to refurbish the city centre’s Guildhall Square and extra taxes that are being piled upon businesses in the Port.

Despite all the rhetoric from Gordon Brown saying that he is investing in public services, all we see locally is broken promise after broken promise and money being taken away from the city.

State of the Art Sports Facilities at Test Playing Fields

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:33:00 GMT

The Conservative Council is pushing ahead with plans to build state of the art new sports facilities at Test Playing Fields (off Lower Brownhill Road). This will be delivered in partnership with Southampton Solent University and the Football Foundation.

The new community facilities will include a synthetic turf pitch, a Multi User Games Area and associated changing rooms and parking. Holy Family Roman Catholic Primary will benefit from free time tabled use of the Multi User Games Area.

I was pleased to agree the Solent University lease on Monday. The City Council already has a superb sports partnership with Solent, where their students run extra hours of sport for children on the west of the city. The next step is this fantastic new facility which will benefit the local community and nearby schools.

Future is Bright for Southampton

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:31:00 GMT

This week Conservatives on the City Council took the decision to award a contract for a new street lighting partnership for Southampton.

Many of city’s 28,000 streetlights are very old and in a poor state due to years of underinvestment by previous Labour and Lib Dem Council administrations.

More than half of the street lights will replaced in the first few years of the new contract.

In addition to the extra council investment Conservative Councillors have secured nearly £30m of inward investment from the Treasury.

As well as good quality, well maintained streetlighting for the next 25 years, Southampton will have better quality, more efficient lighting, helping reduce road accidents and cutting crime and the fear of crime in the city.

Green Light for Newlands Primary School rebuild

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:46:00 GMT

Newly appointed Cabinet Member for Children's Services, Cllr Paul Holmes has given the go ahead for the long awaited rebuild of Newlands Primary School. £7.5 million has been committed to the new school which should be open by 2013.

Paul said; 'Its brilliant that we can assure the staff, parents and children that we are committed to the rebuild of Newlands Primary School, it was particularly pleasing for me as it was one of the first decisions I made as Cabinet Member for Children and it was a matter that was close to my heart in the Redbridge Ward.

New Role for Local Councillor

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:26:00 GMT

Cllr Paul Holmes has been appointed to an important new role at Southampton City Council. As Cabinet Member for Children's Services he will be responsible for education in the city.

Paul said, ''I am proud to take on the job. Helping to improve all our schools is a top priority for me and I will work hard to be a champion for local children''.

Adams Morey Parking update

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:24:00 GMT

Paul Holmes and Jeremy Moulton have taken up residents concerns about Car Parking in Old Redbridge. The Double yellow lines outside of Adams Morey will be removed in early August so that this will free up more space for their staff to park and mean less pressure on the neighbouring roads.

Sedbergh Road Cutway News

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:51:00 GMT

Following months of consultation and pressure from local residents, the very successful recent CREW (Crime Reduction and Environment Week) tackled the issue of the very run down and overgrown Cutway in Kendal Avenue and Sedbergh Road. The cutway is used by many school children to get home during the day.

The Cutway has for some years been completely overgrown and has attracted anti social behaviour and rubbish in the area. This has now been rectified by removing the overgrown hedges and replacing them with with more sightly wooden fences. This has opened up the cutway so that it is easier to see in darkness and attracts less rubbish.

Paul said; 'I am very grateful to all of the Council staff, including neighbourhood wardens, officers and local residents for the work that they did in reducing the risk of anti social behaviour in this area. I walked down the cutway to see the results for myself and I am confident children and residents will feel more safe in getting from A to B.'

Promise Kept- A Historic Council Tax level.

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:53:00 GMT

Southampton Conservatives are sticking to an election pledge to keep council tax under the rate of inflaion. This year’s council tax rise will be the lowest in the history of the council at 2.94%.

It has been a challenging year for Southampton. We are faced with the backdrop of worst recession in recent times, a miserly funding settlement from the government and falling income revenue and investment revenues.

Chronic underfunding from the Government means that the city council faces huge budgetary pressures each year. We face cuts in real terms to the funding received from central government. The dismal financial settlement means added pressure on the council tax and on local residents.

When the Southampton Conservatives took office in May we were faced a budget blackhole of over 13m. We have been working harder to deliver more for less. In the last year we identified over £11m of efficiencies and savings.

As well as balancing the books, by prioritising and redirecting spending we will also invest millions of pounds more in front line services, such as schools, road repairs and the city’s infrastructure, improving street lighting and safety, safeguarding vulnerable children and reducing the financial burden on pensioners.

From Daily Echo: Rose Road Charity Skydive

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:32:00 GMT

A TRIO of councillors are about to plunge 10,000ft for a good cause.

The skydive will raise cash for the Southampton-based disabled children’s charity the Rose Road Association.

City councillors Jeremy Moulton, Ben Walker and Paul Holmes hope to make more than £1,500 for the organisation that provides education and respite care for disabled children and young people.

Cllr Moulton said: “Rose Road does an amazing job working with 200 children and young people with complex disabilities.

“It’s a superb cause and I hope that lots of people will sponsor us if they can.”

Cllr Holmes added: “We are really excited about the jump but a bit nervous. However it’s for a great cause.”

To sponsor the Valentine’s Day jump in Wiltshire log on to justgiving.com/cllrpaulholmes.

Ice Rink Fun

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:06:00 GMT

Paul visits Ice rink

This week, Paul along with good friends and colleagues, Cllr Ben Walker and Jeremy Moulton visited the ice rink to join many fun seekers. The Ice Rink was authorised by the city Conservative Administration on the council. Organised a run by a outside private firm, it cost nothing to the tax payer!

City Patrol Visit

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:48:00 GMT

On the 29th November Paul, along with Cllr's Neil Fitzgerald (Scholing Ward) and Ben Walker (Coxford Ward) visited the headquarters of City Patrol. In this visit they talked about the tasks that City Patrol had to carry out and went on patrol with them.

Later in the evening, Paul went out with one of the city patrol vans in the Millbrook/Redbridge area. Paul got to see first hand the problems of anti social behaviour in the Windermere and Kendal Avenue areas of Redbridge.

Paul said, 'It was a great evening, and to see the hard work that city patrol put into tackling the problems in the areas of the city. These range from fly tipping to anti social behaviour in our estates. The Conservative Administration fully support the services that city patrol provide and will continue to support them. My thanks go to Rich, Terry and Garry for their hospitality on the evening.

Cllr Paul Holmes and Ben Walker waiting to patrol the Millbrook areas of the city.

Christmas Ward Update

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:46:00 GMT

After numerous complaints about the state of the road signs in Old Redbridge, particulaly in Gover Road, Westover Road and Test Lane, Paul has successfully had them replaced with new clean and modern signage. The road signs should last for a great number of years and add a new cleaner feel to the area.

Paul summed up his month: 'This month has been a busy one, I have attended numerous events on behalf of the people of Redbridge. These range from some consultation meetings on the new Lordshill Academy Site, through to Residents meetings in the Channel Islands Estate area and the Maybush District Community Association. The MDCA also invited me to have the honour of being their President for the year. I have had meetings over the future building of Redbridge Primary School, and have continued Chairing the Planning and Rights of Way Panel at the council. Of course, the casework also continues!'

Lordshill Mini-Moto awareness day

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:45:00 GMT

On Friday, Paul spent some time at the Lordshill Sainsbury's with Cllr Ben Walker and Jackie Compton, an Anti Social Behaviour Officer at Southampton City Council to raise awareness about the dangers that Mini Moto's can present, and the penalties that can occur if you are caught riding one illegally.

Part of the Redbridge Ward, (the Millbrook Estate) has some 'hot spots' of mini moto activity, and Paul realises the concern that this causes residents. The new administration, along with the council's anti social behaviour team are working hard to eradicate this problem.

Two days before, Paul and Ben Walker, spent a few hours walking in Lordswood with Police Officers in order to target any illegally ridden motorbikes.

If you are having trouble with this problem please get in contact with Paul Holmes or Ben Walker to report this problem. It can be tackled.

Millbrook Towers Consultation event

councillor.p.holmes@southampton.gov.uk — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:32:00 GMT

On Thursday 9th October, Paul went along to Millbrook Towers to take part in the consultation event to see how they would like the £1.5 million would be spent to improve the area. The Millbrook, Redbridge and Maybush area have been allocated the most money by the new Conservative Administration.

Paul met residents, neighbourhood wardens and Housing Officers to discuss some of the issues in the area.

Residents heard about the new decent homes standard, and the new concierge system that is to be installed in Millbrook Towers by next Febuary.