These are the Daily Echo’s top stories from February 2023

21/12/2023

The Daily Echo’s first front page of the month revealed the possible GBP200 million redevelopment. Teachers were also out on strike.[1] One of 100 campaigners in Guildhall Square described leaking roofs, damaged floors, and walls covered in mould [2] as reasons for them taking action.

There was also some shocking footage which resonated with our readers. Parents pushing a buggy were nearly struck by a bus at a notorious zebra crossing in Portsmouth Road. [3] Daily Echo: The Princess Royal meets members of the community. The Princess Royal visits Southampton to confer the Letters Patent to the city on behalf of her late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and to award Southampton it's City Champion status for green The interest in the Royal Family shows no signs of slowing down, as a royal visit also captured our readers’ attention.

Princess Anne visited her namesake maternity hospital and celebrated Southampton’s new Lord Mayor status. [4] International affairs also crept into our own headlines, when Niyazi Kaya, the owner of Turkish restaurant Ottoman Kitchen, spoke of his heartbreak at the deadly earthquake in his home country. [5] Meanwhile, two NHS nurses from Southampton, Tatiana Brandao, 30, and Raquel Moreira, 28, died in a car crash near the Grand Canyon.[6][7]

Daily Echo: Some breaking sports news also made it into February’s top stories. Saints sacked manager Nathan Jones [8] after seven defeats in eight Premier League matches.

Interim boss Ruben Selles then won his first match in the hot seat [9] as a James Ward-Prowse free-kick sunk Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. We also shone a light on the conditions NHS staff work in. Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed [10] that NHS workers have been sexually assaulted, slapped and spat at while on duty caring for patients in Southampton.

Meanwhile, court coverage also got readers talking. Sexual predator Philip Packham followed a woman in her 80s before walking into her Lordshill home and launching a sex attack, a court heard.[11] Daily Echo:

One of the biggest stories of the year was the bid for Southampton to become the UK City of Culture in 2025. While ultimately unsuccessful, the bid was released to the public in full for the first time [12] in February. A 30-page document entitled Make it SO revealed details behind the GBP1.5 million three-year failed campaign.

Meanwhile, thousands of householders across Hampshire were left without running water for the second time in less than two months.[13] A fault at Southern Water’s Otterbourne site disrupted supplies to 13,000 homes. In some major transport news, it was the end of a 144-year era as red buses departed Southampton.[14] Daily Echo:

And in what would become an ongoing saga, Southampton City Council’s chief finance officer warned the authority could run out of money.[15] Back at the courts, a lorry driver who killed three people in a 55mph crash after watching a LadBible video on Facebook was jailed for 12 years.[16] A murder investigation was also launched when Mark Noke, 64, died after being stabbed in the chest in his Thornhill flat on February 25.[17]

Finally, about 200 Weston Secondary School students staged a protest, calling for a ban on unisex toilets.[18]