A statement from Solent Students' Union on Southampton City Council's spending:
“We are disappointed to learn that Southampton City Council invested £8,500 into collateral celebrating the King’s coronation, while claiming it is unable to fund the operation of streetlights throughout the night. Students and the public will rightly be asking questions of the council's spending priorities.
“This information was published after a Freedom of Information request was made by openDemocracy and can be found here.
“In February, Southampton's city centre was awarded the Purple Flag status for safety and wellbeing of residents and visitors making the most of the city's night-time economy. This is a huge tribute to the hard work of the council and partners across the city and we congratulate them on this award.
“Although this is great news, we understand that no city or town can ever be completely safe and that there is still a great deal of work to be done to improve safety in the area, both for our students and the public.
“We urge those with a responsibility of keeping the public safe in Southampton to avoid using vital funds on inconsequential advertising when we are in a cost-of-living crisis. The importance of investing more of their resources, time, and funding into improving the community, food banks, charities, protection in the area and helping those who need it most needs to be a top priority.”