Memorandum by Southampton City Council
(CT 19)
INTRODUCTION
1. Southampton City Council is a unitary
authority and as such has statutory and non-statutory functions
in relation to the city of Southampton—a major coastal city
on the central south coast of England.
SOUTHAMPTON WITHIN
THE CONTEXT
OF COASTAL
TOWNS
2. The issues concerning coastal "towns"
are usually thought of as being a reference to coastal resorts
(eg Hastings, Margate, Eastbourne) that have lost their raison
d'etre and as a consequence are suffering economic and social
decline reflected in high unemployment, low economic activity,
ageing populations, etc.
3. Other coastal towns, particularly ferry
and fishing ports (like Dover or Folkestone) have experienced
similar conditions.
4. Although the fortune of coastal cities
like Southampton has been more strongly influenced by changes
in international shipping (eg Liverpool and Glasgow) or national
defence (the impact of naval cutbacks on place like Chatham, Portsmouth
and Plymouth), or the collapse of a major industry like shipbuilding
the impacts have been similar to those of other coastal towns—higher
rates of unemployment, lower economic activity, redundant skills
and below average salaries—all of which have social and
health, as well as wide economic, implications.
SOUTHAMPTON AND
ITS ECONOMIC
CONDITION
5. Southampton has not been immune from
these impacts despite the recovery that has taken place in the
port in the last twenty years. Employment directly related to
the city being a coastal location such as shipbuilding and ship
repair and the manufacture of sub-sea cables have virtually disappeared
from the city's economy.
6. The 2004 Index of Multiple Deprivation
reveals that Southampton is 96th (1 being the worst) of 354 local
authorities in the whole of the UK. It scores particularly badly
in respect of the education, skills, and training. The domain
with the second poorest result being in respect of living environment.
Southampton has the three worst Super Output Areas in the South
East in respect of income deprivation affecting older people.
Whilst Southampton's performance in terms of GVA is slightly better
than that of the South East as a whole the rate of growth per
annum in GVA has lagged behind that of the South East and adjoining
areas.
7. Southampton has some of the characteristics
of a prosperous local economy but has:
— A low level of entrepreneurial activity
with the number of VAT registrations per 10,000 economically active
being only 62% of the comparable figure for the South East
8. Southampton also suffers a legacy of
brownfield sites as a consequence of the withdrawal of major businesses.
These sites frequently suffer from contamination and a multitude
of problems that distinguish them from inland sites—poor
local access (as a factor of the coastal location), inadequate
or expired coastal and flood defence systems, and issues of nature
conservation arsing from the value of inter-tidal mudflats to
feeding birds. This is within the context of a highly urbanised
area that suffers from a shortage of good quality employment sites.
SOUTHAMPTON AND
THE SOUTH
HAMPSHIRE CONTEXT
9. Similar characteristics are to be found
in nearby urban areas such as Portsmouth and Gosport. that are
two of Southampton's partners in the Partnership for Urban South
Hampshire. The Partnership for Urban South Hampshire is seeking
to secure between 2006 and 2026 a step change in the economy of
South Hampshire—lifting the long term annual growth rate
in GVA from 1.7% per annum to 3.5% per annum for the period 2021-26,
generating 59,000 jobs, and transforming the economy through an
increase of approximately 50% in the number of jobs in business
services.
10. Changes of this magnitude will require
significant investment in a range of essential underpinning infrastructure
such as transport systems and utilities; education; training and
skills; brownfield sites, key worker housing, and business start
up and advice services. Whilst the private sector, local government
and other local agencies have important contributions to make
in planning and implementing measures to deliver these factors
the long term economic success of the area that fulfils its potential
and its contribution to the regional and national economy will
not be achieved without significant funding support from central
government and organisations such as SEEDA.
PORT ISSUES
11. There are also specific port issues.
The Port of Southampton makes an important contribution to the
regional and national economy but this has implications in terms
of freight and passenger movements and the land required for cargo
assembly and storage.
12. Large amounts of freight and passenger
traffic are generated with implications for access to the port
and the use of large amounts of land for the storage of cargoes
including containers and cars. In order for the port to operate
efficiently and maintain/expand it role there needs to be:
13. High quality road and rail links from
the national and local networks into the port with the emphasis
on the connections with the main origins/destinations of freight.
For Southampton this means upgrading rail links with the Midlands
to accommodate the increased size of containers and providing
for good access to the Western and Eastern Docks from the local
highway network, but with the emphasis being on increasing the
proportion of freight carried by rail or short sea shipping. The
position is exacerbated by the peninsular position of the city.
14. Sufficient land maintained in open storage
and for port development (eg the construction of berths and terminals)
to accommodate growth without damaging the other economic functions
of the city or its image and overcoming the potential conflict
with residential amenity and nature conservation issues.
| 
