EITHER of the two main political parties would significantly boost the number of votes they receive by promising to do two things in the next two years.
1. The (mis)handling of complaints to the city council being a standing joke amongst the population. Councillors should take back control of the Standards and Governance Committee by demanding that ALL complaints from the public – reconciled or not – be recorded and put before the committee for semi-annual review and publication.
2. The council tax collection methods used in Southampton have been described in the national press as “heavy handed” [for which read bullying].
Councillors should take control of the methods used by ‘Local Taxation Services’ (the disguise used by a privately owned company named Capita,) by first insisting that Capita learn to say ‘please/thank you’ and by finding out the number of ‘Liability Orders’ issued by this company in the last five years.
The democratic process would be much improved by these two simple and cheap objectives.
DAVID SCOTT, Southampton.
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