With Labour run Southampton City Council teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. In May the council decided it would be time well spent to hold a meeting with voluntary actors dressed as animals, plants and flowers in the Civic Centre. Their goal? To give a voice to Southampton’s “non-human residents” and push for the city to become a National Park City.
The spectacle was part of the week-long Urban Wild festival in May 2025. At its heart was what organisers called an “interspecies democracy meeting,” where campaigners laid out their vision for an urban environment where people, culture, and nature not only coexist but thrive together. The actors were dressed as a mushroom, frog, duck and nettles amongst other things.
Proposals put forward included policies to protect Southampton’s unique habitats, its flora and fauna, and the River Itchen, a rare chalk stream that serves as a birthplace for Atlantic salmon. The group’s chair, Christelle Blunden, who arrived dressed as the river itself, told the chamber: “Southampton is particularly unique. We have a chalk stream here which is a birthplace for Atlantic salmon. We have some unique habitats and it’s looking at how we can gather momentum around the idea of looking at our natural heritage in the same way you would a national park.”
The campaigners’ message was clear: even in the midst of financial turmoil, the city’s natural heritage can’t be an afterthought. “It’s about looking at how other species contribute to our lives and how we can manage those relationships better,” Blunden added.
Labour Councillor John Savage, cabinet member for Green City and Net Zero advised “We’re doing an awful lot to make sure that we maintain and keep the green infrastructure across Southampton and develop it more,”
Adding to the theatrical atmosphere, outgoing lord mayor Councillor Dave Shields donned an owl costume and joined the performance. “We need to protect our environment, we need to be addressing net zero, we need to be taking more action to protect our wonderful biodiversity,” he said.
Southampton City Council came within a whisker of bankruptcy in 2024. The council was facing a £39 million budget shortfall and publicly stated it would have to issue a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring itself bankrupt if emergency support from the government was not granted. Issuing such a notice would have meant a freeze on all new spending except for protecting vulnerable residents and delivering statutory services.
In the end, Southampton was given “special flexibility” for the 2024/25 financial year, narrowly avoiding bankruptcy thanks to intervention and support from central government. Council leaders admitted the authority would “almost certainly” have faced a Section 114 notice without that help
Watch the meeting here:
