John Denham

Welcome to the website of John Denham

John Denham has been representing Southampton Itchen in Parliament since 1992. 

He is currently Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. 

On this website you'll find news about what John's been up to in both Southampton and Westminster. 

You can get in touch with John on constituency issues by following the link below.

 

Ocean Village - latest news

This is an update to an earlier article - latest news is in red

John Denham gives a new year update on Ocean Village

Firstly, my apologies for not posting this update sooner.  I had been waiting for replies to a number of letters I sent.

At the meeting I held in November last year, people raised a number of concerns. Many people were particularly worried about the general air of neglect pervading Ocean Village now that the building work on the Admirals Quay new flats at has been halted. People felt that the hoardings left were unsightly. Concerns were also expressed about the state of the Calshot Spit Lightship and the containers that are used for storage.

The good news is that I wrote to Hampshire Probation Service and suggested that the Lightship might be a suitable candidate to be repainted by offenders carrying out community payback (formerly called community service) and have had an encouraging reply. However, they cannot start work without the permission of the owner (see below).

I also wrote to Marina Developments Limited (MDL) about residents' concerns and they have replied that they are aware as similar concerns were raised at a meeting that they held with residents. However, MDL do not own the hoardings or the Lightship; these are owned by Wilson Bowden Developments Ltd (now part of Barratt Homes). I have written to Barratt's to take up the concerns with them and see if they would like the probation service to arrange to paint the Lightship.  Although I have had an acknowledgment, I have not yet had a detailed reply. 

Good news!  Barratt's have replied and said that they are willing to talk to the Probation Service about getting the lightship repainted.  They were less encouraging about the hoardings which are apparently a safety requirement.  More news here as I get it. (Updated 29/01/09)

I said at the meeting that I thought one way forward would be for the City Council to designate an officer to deal with Ocean Village as a whole so that a coordinated approach could be taken. I wrote to Councillor Royston Smith (who is the Cabinet Member responsible for development) and offered to work with him on a non-partisan basis. Councillor Smith has agreed to meet me and I would like to take some representatives of the residents of Ocean Village, as well as local Councillor Sarah Bogle, along to the meeting.

I'll keep you posted here.