About Southampton City Council

Southampton City Council is a unitary authority. This means we are responsible for all local services within the city and provide the full range of local government services. This includes:

• Council tax
• Libraries
• Highways
• Social services
• Processing planning applications
• Waste collection and disposal
• Housing
• As a local education authority, we run some schools as well

In fact we manage around 700 different services - from foster carers to archaeology, recycling and cycle routes, public health (working alongside the NHS) or rock concerts in the park, as well as all the day-to-day operations for 250,000 residents, 16,300 tenants, 6,000 businesses and over 3,000 employees.

Our customers include everyone living, working, volunteering, investing, studying, running a business in or visiting Southampton and our main focus is to support our customers however we possibly can. We offer a range of helpful advice and resources on topics such as:

• Health
• Adult social care
• Children and families
• Benefits and welfare
• Information for businesses
• Moving into Southampton
• Information for students
• Getting into work

Council buildings

The Civic Centre is located in the centre of Southampton and are where our main offices are based, along with the SeaCity Museum, the O2 Guildhall Southampton, Southampton City Art Gallery and the Central Library.

The council also has other sites located around Southampton where council employees are based.

Have your say

You can have your say on various council issues.

Key strategies, plans and policies

View our strategies, plans and policies which shape the way we deliver and improve council services.

Councillors

Find out more about your elected councillors and their roles.

How decisions are made

Find out how decisions that affect you are made within the council.

Life events

Big events can feel a little overwhelming, so we've created a checklist of thing you might need to know during a major life events.