Labour in power: The first 100 days

And this week marked his first 100 days in office as the new leader of Southampton City Council .

Sitting in his sparse office, news clippings of his election triumphs on the wall, Richard Williams is keen extol his vision for a fairer, more fun city and to show he is bristling with fresh ideas.

To show they mean business his new Labour administration has become the first to “in the interests of transparency” publish a paper highlighting their achievements.

Adopting a more collegiate approach then his Tory predecessor, Cllr Williams has set up seven working groups take forward his priorities - to root out inequalities, raise pride in city, attract more investment and jobs, particularly for the young, and encourage more house building.

All this will be under the umbrella of Cllr Williams big idea - the “green economy”.

The biggest headline grabbing achievement has been to strike a proposed deal with unions to end industrial strife at the council over pay cuts.

Labour promised to restore the pay of council staff that was cut last summer by the Tories and industrial action has been halted for the deal to be put to 2,400 union members at the council next month - but questions remain over how it will be funded.

Cllr Williams has pleased campaigners against a biomass power station at the docks by announcing a non-binding vote on the scheme this November - although has hit a legal hurdle in combining them with election for a new Hampshire police commissioner.

A new compulsory licensing regime for landlords has also been promised for 6,500 shared homes in the city in a bid to crackdown on rouge landlords and improve standards for tenants.

On housing, Labour has revised a scheme to flattened part of an estate in Townhill Park and rebuild 675 homes - deciding to buy back 400 of them in the largest council housing scheme in a generation.

The party wants to boost the number of cheaper homes in the city, promising one affordable home a day, or 1,500 by 2016 on top of previously existing plans.

Cllr Williams said he wanted to get a “bigger bang for the buck” in securing “affordable” homes in new developments.

On the development front, Cllr Williams has agreed to give Hammerson another two years to progress the delayed Watermark WestQuay scheme, which could bring up to 1,000 jobs.

An agreement has also been concluded with bus companies to give cut price fares to students attending a Southampton college, to help offset the loss of the educational maintenance allowance.

Cllr Williams has also appointed an official chief scientific advisor, a first for a council, although his predecessor claimed the same man as an advisor.

Small amounts of money have already been earmarked for schemes such neighbourhood improvement weeks to transform run down streets from “shabby to chic” and to trial marked parking bays to cut congestion.

A busy list of reviews, workshops and fledgling schemes have also cited as achievements, but have yet bear any fruit.

opposition Tories claim much of Labour's list had been started by them - with the remainder “aspirational” and showing “little real achievement”.

The 100 days has not been a smooth ride personally for Cllr Williams, who was quickly accused of “creating jobs for the boy” by creating more committees and a new Cabinet post.

That Cabinet member for efficiency and improvement, Keith morel, quit just two weeks into the job, and questions are still unanswered over whether Cllr Williams knowingly misled the public in stating he had gone on health grounds when the councillor later confessed he was fighting fit and his boss knew it. Cllr Williams insists he did not. He survived a vote of no confidence brought by the Tories but it has not be cleared up who was telling the truth.

Cllr Williams and his front bench also appeared ill-prepared on taking office when opposition questions demanding details their plans for the city were largely brushed off with excuses about not yet fully examine the council's books.

As in previous years, the biggest immediate challenge is the council's budget deficit.

Even after a mini budget in July, which controversially proposed the removal of a subsidy for Oaklands pool among £2.5m of cuts and 20 job cuts, Labour will next year face a budget gap of £28m, rising to £43m over the next two years.

Cllr Williams said his first big job was to “re-engage" with the unions and staff after damaging rows over pay cuts brought in last summer by the previous Tory administration.

The long running dispute has undoubtedly hit staff morale - a point not unnoticed by Ofsted inspectors in a damning report that found the council was providing “inadequate” child protection services.

“It remarkably different now,” Cllr Williams says. “We do see some people actually smiling which is quite a novelty.”

Although Cllr Williams admitted many were eager to now when they will get their money back. The lowest paid got their answer this week when details of a proposed deal revealed most will see it restored over the next 18 months, starting with the lowest paid this November.

But Tories have accused Labour of keeping secret plans to axe staff and service in next years' budget, the outline of which will be published a month after union members vote on the pay cuts deal. Unions said it was not linked to job losses but nearly £3m in savings must be found to pay for it.

Labour's finance boss Simon Letts had warned a likely 30 jobs could be cut.

“It's not an exact science. I can't guarantee we can't have any but the idea is minimise them,” Cllr Williams explained.

He insisted redundancies under his watch would be kept to an “absolutely minimum”, although denied any assurances had been given to unions, one of whom said they had got a “no redundancy guarantee for next year”.

To avoid laying-off staff Cllr Williams is set to launch a new redeployment scheme - based on a scheme in Sunderland - to keep staff who find their jobs have been axed on the payroll for up to a year while they are found new roles. However questions remain over the costs of the scheme and whether enough suitable vacancies can be found within the council or at other public employers to take them.

So how will Cllr Williams tackle the council's finances when he admitted “instead of cutting to the bone you're probably cutting bones now”.

He said he wanted to provide “economically sustainable model for the city council” working on the assumption funding will not be returned to previous levels by Government.

Cllr Williams said he wanted the council to be commercial with a small “c”, generating extra revenue where it could be made to close the deficit.

He has unveiled a ambitious scheme to turned the local authority into an energy trader by piping heat from the Marchwood incinerator to sell on to customers such as the general hospital and to cut the council's rising council housing heating bill, forecast to more than double to around £10m a year over the next decade.

But that estimated £15m scheme is years away - and he must first raise the finance in an planned £100m-plus bond with a club of ten or so other like-minded authorities, with all its financial risks.

The sum could be then doubled in a match funding bid to Brussels, where Cllr Williams has worked in his day job to evaluate projects for funding support.

A more solid plan is Cllr Williams' ambition to “Green wall” council housing across the city with better insulation, and to put solar panels on older people's homes, walk-up blocks and council buildings in a new “green deal” for the city in partnership with energy giants such as E.On and NPower.

He said it would leave a legacy by insisting new apprenticeships were created for local residents to give them green skills, while the energy companies would help to meet obligations to cut carbon emissions.

He said he hoped the green savings and extra income from elsewhere, such as selling services to other authorities, would offset “draconian” cuts the council is being forced to make by Government.

The council will also look to find other savings by working master, making better use of technology, and by sharing services with other councils.

Staff have been asked to come forward with ideas of their own, to fill half a million of the costs of the pay cuts.

Another ambitious target is to renegotiate a contract with Capita, which has since 2007 run swathes of back-office services, to save “millions” a year. A Five year contract extension was a “big carrot” to negotiate a better deal, Cllr Williams said, and his new Cabinet member for efficiency councillor John Noon, who was hired after Cllr Williams initially axed the post, has been tasked with that job.

“If I have one Cabinet Member and he can deliver me a million or two's worth of savings from a contract like Capita's then he's certainly worth his political worth,” he said.

Cllr Williams, a GMB member, said his preference was to keep services in-house and be “more creative and innovative” but had no principled objection to working with private companies.

While not looking to do so he didn't rule out further outsourcing but said services such as waste collection would be kept in-house unless an “unbelievable” deal come along.

If it his ideas all come off, significant savings will be found but a sizeable budget gap will remain to be filled and Cllr Williams admits that will mean some cuts.

Obviously we'll have to look at where we stand in terms of what services we provide and you can't guarantee that absolutely everything will be done on the same level, he said.

The details will have to be revealed in coming months but Cllr Williams said unions would be kept “in the loop” over budget cut proposals so there should be “no surprises”.

‘My vision to make Southampton a go-to place in UK’

He aims to make Southampton the must visit place in the UK.

That’s the vision of Southampton City Council’s new council leader as he looks forward to the next two years in power.

Outlining where he wants to take the city, Councillor Richard Williams said: “In simplistic terms it’s to make us a go- to place in the UK, a place where you’d want to come because things are happening, because things are moving forward.”

He said he wanted the city to be “progressive” and address the needs of the 21st century “positively” as well as |being a “fun place to come” in hard times.

Cllr Williams said: “We’ve got to try to be proud of what we are and we can do that if we show that we can enjoy what we do, that we’re positive about what it is and that we can actually make a difference.”

He said Saints’ promotion to the Premiership was a “cracking example” of a city that “achieves and can achieve more” and said it was how he wanted Southampton to be portrayed locally, nationally and internationally.

He said he was keen to explore opportunities for “Southampton FC to help promote Southampton Plc”.

In a bid to celebrate the city Cllr Williams plans to launch a “Southampton festival” at the end of September.

He said it would set a marker for a larger event next year as an umbrella for the city’s “cultural diversity”, keeping people and money in the city at the end of the boat show and help to bring students back earlier.

Cllr Williams also confirmed his commitment for a £21m arts complex at Guildhall Square.

But controversy is also brewing with a plan to revive a debate on proposals for a Las Vegas-style casino. Southampton was one of eight cities given the rights to licence one by the last Government.

Cllr Williams plans to launch a |public consultation in the next few months.

“We’re not going to rule it out, far from it,” he said.

“Some people have some legitimate reservations about super casinos, but from the point of view of the economy, that would be a significant addition to Destination Southampton.

“Something like that makes Southampton a more weekend or a more stop-over destination.”

Cllr Williams said a casino remained a key anchor element of the proposed £450m Royal Pier redevelopment.

A public vote on the casino remained an “option”, he said.

Other forthcoming schemes will |see the council make better use of its world-class £180m art collection, largely kept hidden in the council’s vaults, by projecting images of the art on public buildings.

The lengthy process of applying |for world heritage status for the city walls and medieval town would also be started to submit a bid “during this decade”.