Two Southampton bodies have teamed up to revitalise a former shipyard which will create 700 skilled jobs. South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and Southampton City Council have combined with a private sector developer to draw up proposals for a maritime innovation quarter at Centenary Quay, the former Vosper Thornycroft site in Woolston.
The Southern region has bucked the trend for UK unemployment figures. The number of jobless people increased by 35,000 to reach 2.5 million in the three months to October. However, the Office for National Statistics has said that overall unemployment has gone down in the South East and London slightly by 1,000. In the South East, which encompasses the Southern area, the jobless total is 276,000.
A new building at the Oasis Lord’s Hill Academy school in Southampton has been given the go ahead. It will be situated next to The Cedar School on Lordshill Recreation Ground. Southampton City Council’s planning panel decided unanimously to approve the new build of Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill to start at a meeting this week (commencing Monday, December 20).
Hundreds of new jobs are due to be created when Southampton port chiefs confirm a fifth cruise terminal scheme in the city, which would boost the local economy by £150m a year. Associated British Ports joint chief Doug Morrison said: “This will be good for the people who live in Southampton and the people who come in because of the ships.
Talks to ward off a strike by hospital cleaners at Southampton General Hospital had to be cancelled because of heavy snow. Management and union officials were due to meet ACAS, in an eleventh hour bid to avoid industrial action. However, due to the wintry weather ACAS officials were stuck in nearby Fleet and unable to reach the city.
Hampshire County Council is one of many local authorities stating its worries over what factors would determine the level of funding as a result of this autumn’s Spending Review. The coalition has already announced that councils face an annual seven per cent reduction in their budgets.
Basingstoke-based printing concern De La Rue, which prints notes for the Bank of England and more than 150 national currencies, said production problems have cost the group £35 million. Profits at the mill at Overton, near Basingstoke, were affected by staff allegedly fudging quality-control paperwork.
Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs, Nick Herbert has registered his concerns about the proposal to close Findon and Keymer Fire Stations (two stations in his constituency) which forms part of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (WSFRS) Draft Action Plan for 2011-12. The WSFRS published the Plan with a view to reorganising fire services in the county and save £1.2 million.
Portsmouth Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson has said the authority will work with unions in a clash over the scale of council job losses in Portsmouth. The controversy erupted after the government said local authority funding will be cut by 28.4% by 2015. All parties agreed the cuts would mean job losses at the city council. The union Unison said 400 jobs will go but Mr Vernon-Jackson said the figure was likely to be 200.
Portsmouth-based aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is to be scrapped early as part of the government’s defence review. The measure means pilots are facing unemployment as Britain will not have the ability to launch fighter jets at sea until 2019 at least. HMS Ark Royal is the fifth vessel to bear the distinguished name. It entered service in 1985 and played a key role in the Balkans conflict in the early 1990s, and in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.