Green Party, Joe Cox

The Green Party will stand a full slate of candidates in Southampton, giving voters in all 16 wards the opportunity to vote for a Green candidate. The party aims to present an viable alternative to the politics of austerity which puts the needs of people first.

We have pledged to reverse the cuts made by successive administrations in recent years to Adult Social Services, Sure Start centres, libraries and youth clubs. The impacts of these cuts has fallen primarily on poorer and more vulnerable groups in our city. We will not pander to prejudice by persecuting people for being homeless, as the current administration seeks to do with its Public Space Protection Orders; we will instead try to get homeless people the help they need.

We are the only party that is pushing for action on air pollution, which kills around 100 people a year in Southampton. Whilst other parties have tried to find ways of ignoring the problem, for example by removing monitoring stations, the Green Party is pushing for measures to reduce traffic levels, such as the creation of safe cycle routes across the city centre.

We are the only party that has made any promises about future development in the city. We have pledged to oppose new large-scale corporate developments which are likely to damage the viability of the small business community. We are also opposed to waterfront land being used to build exclusive luxury flats which provide no benefits for the majority of Southampton's population.

Liberal Democrats, Adrian Vinson

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PRIORITIES FOR SOUTHAMPTON

● Building attractive neighbourhoods - re-introducing a dedicated team to tackle litter, graffiti, dog fouling, fly-tipping etc

● Creating safer streets – repairing our roads and pavements, supporting 20 mph and Residents’ Parking Zones, fighting crime and anti-social behaviour

● Maintaining balanced communities - providing affordable family homes and managing houses in multiple occupation

● Championing families - supporting schools, rebuilding the Youth Service, improving playgrounds, defending libraries

● ‘Greening’ our city through recycling and alternative energy; extending cycleways and bus services, reducing congestion through park and ride

● Cutting bureaucracy to protect vulnerable people, key services and jobs while keeping Council Tax low.

Liberal Democrat councillors will: listen, keep in touch all year round (not just at election times), promise only what we are confident we can deliver.

Independent Councillors Against Cuts, Keith Morrell.

This May residents will have the chance to vote for Independent anti-cuts candidates across the city who will form a united group on the City Council pledged to defend public services, come what may.

Some of the Independent Anti-Cuts candidates already selected, all of whom live in the wards they wish to represent, are: in Bargate, John Easton; in Coxford, Tammy Thomas; and in Shirley, David Fletcher.

The people of Southampton want councillors who will fight passionately to keep open the libraries, care homes and day centres and all the other local public services that the Conservatives and Labour are determined to close down.”

The successful fight by the community in Coxford to save popular local facilities has shown that there is an alternative and that cuts are not inevitable. Our success in Coxford can be replicated across the City.”

The new candidates have made a pledge that they will keep their promises and will never betray the people who vote for their anti-cuts stance.

Labour, Simon Letts

Labour took power in the city in 2012 following a period of chaotic rule by the Conservatives, which had left a million rotting bin bags on the streets of our city and vital children’s services in disarray after social workers left following pay cuts.

Despite vicious and unfair cuts to our budget we are proud of our record over the last four years.

Since 2012 your Labour Council has worked hard to bring investment into the city. Thousands of jobs have been created as well as 6600 apprenticeships, one of the reasons why we have one of the lowest youth unemployment rates in the country.

It’s essential that our kids get the best start in life so we have kept all of our Sure Start centres open and are part way through an ambitious programme of investment in play areas.

We have protected local services like Libraries and Oaklands pool by working with local organisations and charities and by partnering with housebuilders and developers we have tripled the number of affordable homes built in Southampton.

Unlike the Tory Government we have set a balanced budget each year and reduced the council’s debts. This means that if re-elected we will be able to continue to invest in Southampton – as Council Leader I give a personal pledge to use this money to build a new set of public toilets in the city centre and a public services hub at the Bitterne precinct as well as continuing to invest in roads.

In May you should vote for Competence not Chaos – vote Labour

UKIP, Pearline Hingston

UKIP Southampton Test members appreciate all our local support, and hope to field candidates in each Ward.

The issues highlighted by Southampton residents, and on which we will focus include: •Poor housing, lack of affordable properties, and multi-occupancy •Pressure on schools due to the ever increasing population •Appalling state of our roads and pavements. The massive increase in road traffic, congestion and pollution •Closure of facilities for the elderly and disabled, which badly affect families and communities UKIP as a political party believe that we should use taxes to support our own population, instead of sending millions of pounds abroad.

Conservatives, Jeremy Moulton

Providing MORE QUALITY HOUSING and helping local people to have their own homes will be the driving mission for a new Conservative Council.

The Labour council have failed utterly on housing.

They promised 1,500 new affordable homes but have completed just 27 new council homes. It is a scandal that for years they have left hundreds of council homes empty in Townhill Park, when there are over 10,000 people on the housing waiting list.

A Conservative council will deliver new and better homes by regenerating our city estates, and we will change council policy to focus on delivering shared ownership housing. Many local people would love to have their own home but are priced out of the market. We will enable the building of hundreds of new shared equity homes, and promote government schemes like the Help To Buy ISA, helping more people to get on the housing ladder.

Conservative Councillors have worked hard to secure a good deal from government, helping win £8M to protect our weekly bin collections and to fund our new glass collections. Southampton got one of the best government settlements in the county this year, with £46M extra over the next 4 years, compared with what council finance chiefs were predicting.

By securing a good deal for Southampton and by running the council more efficiently, by sharing management costs and services with neighbouring councils, we can protect important services like SureStart and local libraries, which have been cut back under Labour. It also means we can scrap Labour’s damaging evening parking charges and their unfair residents’ parking permit charges.

A Conservative Council will mean A CARING CITY, where the most vulnerable are looked after, young and old, and where our children have a good education and can get to school safely. We will also act now to tackle Southampton’s poor air quality.

We will work with business to secure MORE JOBS AND INVESTMENT for the city. Almost all the major developments taking place were started by the Conservatives when last in office – the completion of the Northern Above Bar Arts Quarter, of Ocean Village, and the planned Mayflower Park development for instance. Rather than sitting back idly as Labour have done, a Conservative Council will make sure we secure the next wave of much needed investment into the city.

We bring a long term transport vision to GET THE CITY MOVING, ensuring we have a transport network that keeps pace with the growth of the city. We will work with neighbouring councils to achieve this and will take advantage of government plans to devolve business rates and infrastructure spending to local authorities.

Finally we will RESTORE PRIDE IN OUR CITY. Southampton should be a place we are proud to call home. Labour have cut street cleaning so that local roads now swept just once every 2 months. They scrapped services like City Patrol which helped deal with fly tipping and in the city centre multi million pound public realm schemes are being allowed to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance, with paving slabs cracked and uneven.

Local residents will see the difference a Conservative Council brings within just a few months. We will clean up the city and restore pride in Southampton.

Nick Chaffey, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

TUSC candidates offer a 100 per cent anti-cuts alternative to Conservative austerity and Labour councillors who say there is nothing they can do. We need more councillors like Keith Morrell, Don Thomas and Andrew Pope who have voted against further cuts in Southampton.

No wonder anger at more cuts found a voice in the shock election victory of anti-austerity Jeremy Corbyn to leader of the Labour Party. Those hoping to see a change at Southampton Labour Council must be disappointed as more cuts were voted through in February with funding cut for libraries, Bitterne NHS Walk-In closed, elderly care at Woodside Lodge and Brownhill House closed and a housing crisis with 15 000 on the council waiting list.

We reject the argument that there is nothing Southampton Labour Council can do. Why not mobilise the anger of council workers, their trade unions and the local community and demand the Tory government restores the £90 million funding to Southampton, cut since 2010?

To do this would mean calling a halt to further cuts. The government has been forced to retreat on tax credit cuts, why not on council cuts?