Election result

Published on Saturday, 10th June 2017

To the surprise of many, we now have a Labour MP in Portsmouth South. Congratulations to Stephen Morgan for becoming the first representative of his party to take the seat.

I would also like to put on record my thanks to Flick Drummond for all the work she has done both in parliament since 2015 and over the last ten years. Flick had been growing into being a very effective constituency MP, but this election came a little too soon for her and this result has come as a blow to me and to my colleagues.

My guess is that the government will continue in office until after Brexit negotiations are concluded, but really anything is possible and one way or another, another General Election before the 2022 deadline is likely. 

Tags: Election

New shower to be installed in Canoe Lake

Published on Friday, 9th June 2017

A new external shower is to be installed outside the Canoe Lake public toilet block, located on the beach side of the open space. The shower will be aimed at beach users you might want to clean up before heading home. 

The £10,000 cost was included in the council’s capital budget, so money has been set aside to pay for it.

Tags: Seafront

Rewarding volunteers

Published on Friday, 9th June 2017

The City Council is actively pushing volunteering as a means of strengthening society. The Portsmouth Together programme has been running for three years now, with a focus on making it easy for people to find voluntary activities for their spare time. Some areas of the council have for many years benefited from large numbers of volunteer helpers, particularly libraries and museums, but the emphasis isn’t just (or mainly) on helping the council but rather it is on encouraging people to give time to projects of all kinds.

With this in mind, the council has teamed up with ValueYou to provide rewards to people who put in a hundred hours of voluntary effort. A ValueYou card gives discounts in participating local businesses – in Portsmouth, 22 have signed up, ranging from coffee shops, to a florist and a shoe repairer; six are in Albert Road. Typically a card holder receives 10% off as a thank you for their efforts, while the business owner hopefully engenders greater loyalty from their customers.

The ValueYou model originated in London, where some hundreds of independent traders support the scheme. Officers at the City Council have spoken to scores of local businesses, seeking their support. To register for a card, go to http://www.valueyou.org

Tags: Volunteering

The causes of delayed discharges from hospital

Published on Friday, 9th June 2017

A lot has been written lately both about delays in discharging patients from hospitals. Part of this heightened profile is simply the General Election campaign, but there is a real issue here too and it is true that across the country the system’s performance is slowly worsening.

The biggest cause of delays is hospital processes, but the domiciliary care market also plays a role. Providing personal care has always been a low paying job and is one that is difficult to find people to do. Locally, there was a noticeable tightening in the market when the new Tesco store opened by Fratton Park, as more than a few care providers decided they would rather have a job there than spending long hours helping get people out of bed, keeping them feed and clean and ensuring they take medication.

Arranging a domiciliary care package often takes time and this can create some delays. In recognition of this, the City Council is increasing its reimbursement rate to care agencies by 7.5% to near £16 per hour. Taking into account central office costs, travelling time and holidays this still implies a fairly low take home rate of pay, but it still significantly more than last year and is more than the council can really afford: the early indications are that social care will struggle to stay in budget and that making further savings next year will be challenging.

The other part of the system over which the council has some control and influence is the hospital-based discharge team. This consists of just 9 people (by way of comparison, Portsmouth Hospitals Trust has 7000) and they work as part of an integrated service led by the NHS. This new integrated structure has not been working as well as it might and the council is seeking changes.

Most of what happens in any hospital is controlled by the hospital itself and that is the case in Portsmouth. Local authority social services are a factor in delays in getting people out of hospital, but they are not the main one. A shortage of capacity in the Spinnaker and Victory step-down wards, both run by Solent NHS, is a major problem, as is the processes within the hospital itself. The council is, however, trying to influence things where it can. 

Tags: Adult Social Care, Hospital

Public access to the pier and licensing hours

Published on Thursday, 20th April 2017

The pier is open again, which has to be good news. Two other updates: the council has put together a public access agreement, which will ensure members of the public are able to walk on the pier; once the details are finalised it will be made public. 

Secondly, there has been a licensing application for music and for regulated entertainment (which includes live music, recorded music and boxing). The proposed terminal time for alcohol sales is 2am (12:30 am on Sundays) and 3am for regulated entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays, 12:30 on Sundays and 2am on other days of the week.

The deadline for comments is 26th April. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your views.

Tags: Pier, Licensing

Marks and Spencer closure

Published on Thursday, 20th April 2017

It was very disappointing to hear today that Marks and Spencer’s is to close its Commercial Road store. The council had no advance warning of this decision and so as things stand details on what will happen next are scant, although press reports suggest a food-only store will open in Ocean Park. 

Debenham’s has announced that it will close ten stores across the country and with the chain having branches in both Commercial Road and Palmerston Road, there is a real chance that one or the other will be on the hit list.

The fragility of Commercial Road as a retail centre is a direct result of the failure to get the Northern Quarter scheme built before the shift to online and out-of-town shopping became as embedded as it now has. High Street retailing in the 2020s and beyond will have to be tied in with leisure activities and in future shop spaces will increasingly be shop window units, with customer orders being placed online. This requires a new approach.

The council’s ability to influence events is limited: all the units in the city centre are privately owned and so decisions on rents do not rest with the council; the same applies to the two main car parks at the Cascades and the Tricorn. As ever, the council just doesn’t have millions of pounds to spend. It can however try and secure funding for the new city centre road, which is the key to getting development moving.

It’s taken three years to do it, but enough money has now been saved up (an extra £11m) to be able to make a serious bid to government for the remaining cash. If approved, a mixed use regeneration scheme becomes viable. That will still take five years to plan and build though; what happens in the meantime is an open question.

Tags: City Centre, Planning