Croatian airline Sea Air is introducing a new route from Southend to Osijek from March, according to its website.

The airline says it will offer passenger flights every Thursday and Sunday from March 24th - and the price will include a free one way train ticket from Southend to London Liverpool Street station.

More information is on the Sea Air website, although Southend Airport is yet to confirm the news.

Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia, and the largest economic and cultural centre in the eastern region of Slavonia. It is located on the right bank of the river Drava.

The percentage of pupils in Southend achieving five or more A* - C GCSE grades has climbed from 62.2 per cent in 2014 to 64.7 per cent in 2015, which is well above the national average of 57.3%.
 
As a result of the improvements in the borough, Southend has jumped nine places from 24th to 15th in the local authority rankings and is ranked second in the eastern region. The average GCSE points score per pupil Southend was 418.9, putting Southend seventh out of all local authorities in the country in this measure.
 
Three quarters of Southend pupils made expected progress in English, up nearly two percentage points from last year and in maths the figure improved by nearly four percentage points to 73.7%, putting Southend in the top 20 local authorities. 
 
As well as the publication of revised Key Stage 4 results, the Department for Education also released revised A-Level results yesterday. In Southend’s state-funded schools and colleges, the average point score per entry for the A-level cohort was 222.4, compared with a state school national average of 216.1.
 
Cllr Anne Jones, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, said: “I am delighted to see our schools and pupils continuing to achieve improved results, and achieve well above national averages. The provisional results were pleasing, but these official results are even better which put us towards the top of the national tables.

“It is great to see the progress being made, particularly in maths and English, which continue to be the core subjects looked at by employers when recruiting.
 
“As excellent as these results are, we cannot afford to take our foot off the pedal when it comes to our children’s education and there is still work to be done - ways we as an authority can better support our schools and their students to aim higher and give our students the best possible foundations for their journey into adulthood.  Parents can rest assured that this is a challenge we are determined to continue tackling head on.”

Southend Council is to continue its drive to create more local affordable homes for rent, with the building of 18 new properties in Shoeburyness.
 
Following a competitive tendering process, the Council has now appointed DCB (Kent) Ltd for the contract to design and build these affordable housing units across six under-used garage sites in Shoeburyness.
 
The project has a budget of just over £2.8m and will start on site in mid-March with the start of garage demolition works. The completion of all 18 units is expected by April 2017.
 
Cllr David Norman, Executive Councillor for Housing, says: “The need for affordable housing for rent within the borough is as great as ever and our commitment to addressing housing need is well documented.
 
“Following the Council’s first home that was completed recently, I am delighted that we can now take forward a much more substantial and impactful scheme that will make a real difference to local people.
 
“This is an exciting opportunity to build a number of new council homes for the first time in decades and to begin to tackle the urgent need for good quality accommodation in the town at a moderate cost.
 
"Whilst more work needs to be done on looking at long term options for council housing, we have development funds available to pursue this pilot scheme. Part of this is time limited money including Right to Buy (RTB) receipts and Section 106 planning contributions that if not spent will be handed back to central Government.
 
"The pilot sites suffer from anti-social behaviour and cases of fly tipping and so this is also an opportunity to regenerate these sites.”
 
Planning permission for the six sites was granted in April 2015 and a breakdown of the sites is detailed below:
 
Ashanti Close:
·        8 x 3 bed houses
·        5 x 2 bed flats
 
Bulwark Road:
·        2 x 3 bed houses
 
Exeter Close:
·        2 x 3 bed houses
·        1 x 2 bed house

Popular Southend bar The Alex is set to reopen on Saturday 30th January following a £330,000 refurbishment.

The transformed bar, located on Alexandra Street, spans over two floors and 11 new jobs will be created.

Opening from 10am for breakfast, a grab-and-go coffee counter will be installed, serving fresh pastries and free refillable coffee. The whole site will be equipped with free Wi-Fi and tables will have charge points for phones and laptops. Printing will also be available for those looking for an easy-going workplace away from the office.

There is a new dedicated Games Room with pool, gaming machines or retro consoles. For those wishing to enjoy music, the venue’s popular QUIDS in night will return every Tuesday. Customers can even try their hand at being the DJ, as a simple ‘check in’ allows them to select music from their phones to be played throughout the venue.

Andy Pipe, General Manager at The Alex, said, “We’re really excited to open the doors to the new Alex and can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of our new look. We know that a late night offering is really important to our customers and we want to keep up our reputation as the go-to place in Southend, whether you’re looking for a great night out or something a little more relaxed. We’ll also have a regular program of live music and comedy, and continuing our renowned sports screenings which we know will be even more important for 2016.”

The Alex reopens at 6pm on Saturday 30th January, with free craft beer tasters and samples from the new menu available to try. Local bands The Lucky Strikes and Darren Jones and the World Music Band will be performing from 8.30pm.

Victoria Avenue could get a bigger car park and up to 52 new homes as part of plans unveiled in Southend Council's draft budget for 2016/17.
 
The council is proposing to spend up to £10.9m over the next four years reconstructing the ageing car park adjacent to the former Central Library with a larger car park and redeveloping the Civic East car park with around 52 new homes.
 
Cllr Ron Woodley, leader of the council, said: “These combined proposed projects are very exciting and will add to the regeneration of Victoria Avenue which is really starting to gather pace, what with the recent opening of The Hive, the on-going renovation of many office blocks into housing and the police station refurbishment.
 
“The existing car park that served the former library building is approaching the end of its design life, and we believe that this provides a perfect opportunity to create more parking spaces in this area.
 
“Instead of simply replacing what is already there on a ‘like for like’ basis, a new car park with additional levels could be created providing more parking spaces in this location close to the town centre.
 
“These new spaces would provide new staff parking for council workers displaced by the redevelopment of the Civic East car park, but also more spaces closer to the town centre for shoppers, local businesses and visitors to use.  It will also generate much needed additional income for the council.
 
“The redevelopment of the Civic East car park with 52 new homes would follow on from the ongoing regeneration of the former South Essex College site in Carnarvon Road, help with our ambition to create more housing for local people and also generate sustainable income.”
 
The Victoria Avenue car park that served the former library provides 165 spaces, and the Civic East car park (staff parking behind Civic Centre) provides 164 spaces. The new car park could provide 335 to 410 spaces depending on the height.
 
In a separate project, it is also proposed that £400,000 is spent from April 2016 to March 2018 to improve general car park infrastructure.  
 
Pay and display equipment will be upgraded across all car parks, there will be surface improvements at East Beach and Rayleigh Road, lighting upgrades at Belton Gardens, layout alterations to improve accessibility and security and communication links with the CCTV service at University Square, and communication link improvements with the CCTV service at Tylers Avenue.

The council always wants to increase parking charges at the Seaway, Fairheads Green and Western Esplanade car parks between April and October each year. Raising prices at these three central seafront car parks will raise an additional £200,000, which the council says is needed to keep the seafront clean throughout the busy summer months.

​Southend Council is set to continue its ambitious capital investment programme, with an additional £52.7m of projects being proposed over the next four years.

The programme would help to deliver a number of objectives, including additional secondary spaces for local children and improvements to local facilities and infrastructure.  The new projects proposed include:

• £10.9m to redevelop the Civic Centre East car park with up to 52 new homes, and the reconstruction of the former library car park in Victoria Avenue, potentially creating up to 245 more spaces in that area.
• £8m for additional secondary school places via the conversion of PROCAT and Wentworth sites and partial expansions of other schools. This is in addition to £10m already identified in previous capital programme budgets. Government capital grant funding is expected to cover this, but is subject to confirmation.
• £8m to continue the completion of the Decent Homes programme in 2019/20 and carry out energy efficiency and health and safety works funded through the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) major repairs allowance.
• £4m for highways and footway improvements (£1m each year to 2019/20) across the Borough and in addition to £2.8m already identified
• £1.98m for non-structural Pier works and improvements to decking, lamp columns, electrics, shelters and toilets in addition to £2.65m identified for structural works in last year’s capital programme.

Cllr Ron Woodley, Leader of the Council, said: “In such tough economic times, we must be careful what we decide to invest in and in austere times we cannot and will not waste time and resources on ‘vanity projects.’

“However we must also remain ambitious, move with the times, innovate, encourage investment into the Borough and look to the future.

“That is why we are proposing that we invest in essential things like ensuring that we have enough secondary school places in 2017 and 2018, the famous pier, road and pavement improvements, rebuilding a town centre car park, and vital ICT and software improvements to ensure we remain a modern business and workforce.

“I am committed more than ever to reducing the planned amount of council borrowing, so wherever possible these projects will bring income into the council or are simply unavoidable.  Despite the austere times this gives us an impressive capital budget to make a difference to important local facilities and infrastructure and shows that we are open for business and here to do the very best for local people and businesses.”

Further proposed projects include:

• £1.5m to undertake reinstatement and stabilisation works to the Belton Hills steps in Leigh-on-Sea following ground movement
• £1.5m to progress the New Museum project and move it to the technical design phase and tendering of the ground and first floors, which will include a new central seafront car park
• £1.4m to be invested in theatres, museums, shelters and leisure centres to ensure they remain safe and operational (in addition to £969K already budgeted)
• £1.385m on core ICT infrastructure and software improvements that are vital to ensure the council remains a modern and productive business
• £1m to enable the council to buy any commercial properties in Southchurch Road if they become available, to help deliver the Better Queensway project.
• £960K to install solar PV panels on the roofs of Southend Hospital, Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre and the Cliffs Pavilion. Local operators would be charged for energy consumed and provide them with savings, with the council receiving an income from a Feed-in-Tariff.  A further £750K has been set aside for small scale energy efficiency projects such as those already completed at Temple Sutton school
• £380K to install monitoring equipment and carry out ground investigation along Cliff Parade and the cliff slip area to mitigate against any further slips
• £370K to replace the ageing Pergola Walk at the Southend Crematorium
• £600K to ensure the delivery of the Three Shells Lagoon project by Summer 2016
• £280K for the replacement of play equipment and 86 gates within play areas.

Of the proposed new investment, £10.3m would be seen in 2016/17, giving a total capital programme of £65.6m in 2016/17 and £177.6m over the next four years.

The Council will consider the proposals at the following meetings:
​
19th January                           Budget Cabinet meeting 
25th to 28th January               Scrutiny Committees debate budget proposals
11th February              Second budget Cabinet meeting
25th February              Full Council meeting (to set budget and council tax)

Around 20% of Southend Airport's annual electricity requirement will now be generated by a brand new solar farm on the airport site.

The 2.5 megawatt ‘Solar Photovoltaic Array’ was built by Stobart Developments and is located on 3.2 hectares of unused grassland at the north of the airport site.

The array consists of over 9,500 individual solar panels, which are mounted on 3 metre high steel frames supported on approximately 2600 piles across 37 rows.  The layout of the panels has been specially designed to prevent reflective glare affecting approaching aircraft and the air traffic control tower.

Installation of the £2 million solar farm involving one hundred workers got underway in November 2015. It was registered with OfGEM on 31 December 2015 – however contractors are continuing on site during January for the final commissioning and hand-over.

The solar farm will now start supplying electricity to Southend Airport, with additional capability for limited power also being exported to the national grid.

Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation that owns London Southend Airport said: “Our new solar farm is actually the largest at a UK airport and supports one of our key objectives, which is reducing our carbon footprint and the electricity we require from the national grid network.  We are delighted as London’s newest airport to have opportunities to introduce the latest ‘green’ initiatives as part of our development.”

In 2014, Britain’s largest airport solar installation to date was completed at Southend Airport as part of the £10m terminal expansion. 496 solar panels now supply the terminal’s shops, cafes and restaurants with clean solar electricity via the airport’s private electricity network, avoiding around 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the next twenty years.