Statistics published yesterday by the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed Southend-on-Sea as an overall area performed well above the national* average under the Government’s new GCSE measures, coming 16th out of 151 local authority areas for the new Attainment 8 measure, and 13th for students achieving Grade 5 or above in English and maths combined (54.1% compared to 42.6% nationally).
 
Grade 5 is now the threshold considered to be a ‘strong pass’ by the DfE.
 
Students also performed above the national average in Attainment 8, ranking us 16th in the country, with a score of 50.4 compared to the national of 46.3. In the Progress 8 measure Southend-on-Sea is ranked 40th with a score of 0.06 (2016 -0.01) compared to national score of -0.03.
 
Revised results also show that 70.9% (ranked 19th out of 151) of students in Southend-on-Sea achieved grade 4 or above in English & maths combined compared to 63.9% nationally. Grade 4 is the threshold considered to be a ‘standard pass’ by the DfE and the bottom of this grade aligns with the bottom of the previous C grade. In 2016, 69% of students achieved C or above in both English and maths compared to 63% nationally.
 
Cllr James Courtenay, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, said: “These are yet again outstanding overall results for the Borough and I am very pleased that the hard work and commitment of students, teachers and their families are paying dividends. They should all be rightly proud of their achievements. The results show how our schools are continuing to improve in maths and English, which are so important for work, training or further education.
 
“We will continue to work hard with all local schools, parents and pupils to support them and build on these achievements long into the future. This commitment also extends to constructive partnership working and discussions through the Education Board with those local schools and academy trusts that do face challenges.”
 
Data also showed that 38.4 % of students entered all components of the English Baccalaureate with 30% of all students achieving all components and a ‘strong pass’ in English & Maths. This is compared to 38.2% of all students nationally entering and 21.3% achieving the measure.

Notes
*National Figures based on all state-funded schools.
Measures referring to grade 5 or ‘strong pass’ cannot be compared to 2016 as there is no equivalent.

Southend Council is looking for residents and visitors, including young people, to take part in an online consultation for a possible new sports facility in the town centre for wheeled sports enthusiasts.
 
The online consultation looks to identify which of three possible locations local people and visitors would prefer to see the potential new facility built.
 
The potential locations that have been identified are:

•        Location A – Old Warrior Square Swim Centre site, situated east of the High Street
•        Location B – London Road North Car Park, situated south west of Victoria Gateway
•        Location C – Plaza side of the Civic Centre, situated south of the Civic Centre

 
Cllr Ann Holland, Executive Councillor for Culture, Tourism and the Economy, said: “We have a number of skateboarders, BMX’ers and scooterists in the town and we announced last year that we plan to have a new facility in the centre of the town that people can use to have fun.
 
“We have a selection of similar free to use facilities available at other sites across the Borough, but we aware that young people in particular need somewhere close to the town centre.
 
“To ensure we get it in the right place, we are launching a consultation with residents and visitors, particularly young people. Therefore please take five minutes to complete the survey, which will allow us to review all relevant options before moving on to delivering the new facility.”
 
Cllr James Courtenay, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, said: “I am delighted that we are asking the future users of this facility where they want it located, as it is important that it is easy for our youngsters to access it. This is the first step towards delivering the project that was agreed in last year’s budget.
 
“It is vital that we provide good facilities for children and young people and I hope that we get lots of feedback from this consultation, and I look forward to seeing the results.”
 
The consultation can be found at www.southend.gov.uk/wheeledsports and will be live for the next six weeks.

The council has unveiled its draft capital budget for April 2018 onwards, with around £20m proposed for new and existing projects up to March 2020.

This additional investment means that, if approved, some £185m of capital investments will made into the Borough over the next four years.

It is also proposed that a further £2.7m of council capital funding is set aside towards developing ‘The Forum II’, an educational, cultural and business space for the digital, cultural and creative industries. This extension to The Forum will, subject to relevant approvals, be majority-funded by Local Growth Funding and South Essex College.

The capital budget, which is separate to the council’s reducing revenue budget, is a rolling budget used to make one-off investments in things like regeneration and housing projects, and to carry out essential improvements to leisure and cultural facilities and ICT systems for example. Funding is raised from a mix of external funding, reserves and borrowing.

Proposed new investment includes:

• Adding a further £10m to the current budget for investment in commercial property. As central Government funding reduces, councils must become financially self-sustaining. Continuing to build a commercial investment portfolio will help build long-term income streams to help fund services. The fund will also be used to secure housing for temporary accommodation. The funds will only be spent if and when appropriate opportunities arise.
• £3.7m on highways schemes, including:

£2.25m for flood prevention works, with half of this coming from external sources – this will see new underground tanks, bunding and increased gulley capacity created on the central seafront to deal with surface water flooding that runs from Queensway down to the central seafront in heavy rainfall. A pumping station and tank storage will also be created to pump out trunk sewers around Hartington Road against high tides, reducing flood risk in the area.

£350,000 to improve the condition of pavements around existing trees.

£325,000 to stabilise an area of emerging cliff slip close to Manor Road, to protect the public footway, coastal road and support of private properties.

£300,000 to undertake improvements to Shoebury Common North, including the creation of a new children’s play area, new paths, new seating and outdoor fitness equipment.

£250,000 to create coach parking and drop-off facilities to accommodate visitors to the seafront.

£200,000 to develop and improve car parking signage for the whole Borough and introduce new signage for the seafront car parks and potential park and ride sites.

• £1m for fire improvement works that become necessary due to any national changes to building regulations and compliance, and £500,000 for planned refurbishment to council property.
• £925,000 for essential works at our theatres and leisure centres.
• £875,000 to convert the former Beecroft Art Gallery in Station Road, Westcliff-on-Sea to 20 artist studios for rent. The building is owned by the Beecroft Art Trust and this project will largely be funded through £575,000 from Arts Council England and other external funding.
• £400,000 to create a small number of local residential care places for children.  This will enable children to stay near their communities, improve their life chances and reduce the number of costly out of borough placements saving £80,000 per year.
• £750,000 to get the Better Queensway project to the next stage of development.
• £500,000 to implement security measures required due to current national threat levels, focused on high footfall areas such as the seafront.

Cllr John Lamb, Leader of the Council, says: “Whilst it may seem unusual to see major investments at the same time as we are highlighting our ever reducing central funding and revenue budgets, we must remain bold, ambitious and invest in our Borough to ensure that we advance and prosper into the future.

“Capital and revenue budgets are two separate things, and we must continue to fund essential things like secondary school places, ensuring that our famous Pier is safeguarded, maintained and improved and investing in plans to look after our elderly and vulnerable through developing new facilities which we are already doing through money already allocated.

“These new projects will allow us to do things like build a commercial property portfolio to give us long-term income streams in the future, carry out important flood prevention works in the central seafront area, carry out fire improvement works where necessary and keep all our buildings up to the standard that local people rightly expect.

“We are also proposing significant new investment in a number of highways projects, and ensuring that we remain a modern business and workforce, by investing in ICT and software improvements.

“Wherever possible these projects will bring income into the council or just must be done.  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.”
​
The new investment would take the approved capital programme for 2018/19 to 2021/22 to £185m of which the level of external funding to support this investment will be £72m. For 2018/19 alone, the investment in the Borough will be £88m.

Southend Council's cabinet are to consider budgeting £2.7m towards a four-year programme to realise ambitions to deliver the second phase of development at The Forum on Elmer Square.

The contribution would help fund a £19m expansion of The Forum - the country’s first combined academic and public library - on the area in front of the award-winning building.

The proposal is part of the council’s draft budget proposals for 2018/19 being discussed by Cabinet next week (Thursday 18 January).
Always intended as a two-phase development, it would be the second stage to the successful Forum on Elmer Square and would be a joint venture between Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and South Essex College.

The two partners have commissioned a detailed feasibility report, which considered a number of options for the development and identified an option that would provide around 5,000m2 of development space, subject to detailed design. If it secures funding and gains planning consent, the building will have a focus on digital, creative and cultural industries – an area of growth for Southend’s economy and skill base, underpinned by the Economic Growth, Tourism and Digital strategies adopted by the Council last year.

Although plans are at an early stage – and funding contributions from the College and other external parties are yet to be confirmed - it is anticipated that the Council contribution would help facilitate contemporary and community art gallery space and associated office, shop, café and project space to expand the existing gallery offer at the Forum as well as digital workspace for creative digital industries.
 
The Digital Workspace aims to deliver affordable workspace for local creative and digital businesses, provide affordable access to the latest digital arts equipment and will include co-working space, meeting pods, workstations, an editing suite and a seminar room.

For the college, the new building would house a public and teaching restaurant, performance studios, music rehearsal and performance space including computer music suites and teaching rooms increasing opportunities for students to gain skills in the sector.

Cllr Ann Holland, Executive Councillor for Culture, Tourism and The Economy, said: “Following the success of the Forum, which has attracted over 1.75m visitors since it opened in 2013, officers have begun exploring the second phase of the development with partners and funders. Discussion with partners has identified a significant need for additional and reconfigured space by South Essex College who remain committed to the project.

“The mix of accommodation would, we believe, create a vibrant and lively environment that should enhance the town’s burgeoning educational quarter and also encourage the public and students to visit and use Elmer Square more.”

Anthony McGarel, Deputy Principal and Chief Executive of South Essex College, said: “We’re extremely excited about the proposed new development. It would allow us to increase our popular Digital, Media, Music and Performing Arts offer in Southend plus provide the town with a new restaurant, benefitting students and the local communities we serve.”

The Council are still in discussions with South Essex College and external funding bodies to confirm funding contributions that would bring the project forward.

Design for the new building would need to go out to tender once funding has been confirmed. However, the partners are targeting completion of the building in advance of the academic year commencing September 2021.

QinetiQ and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are investing £20 million into MOD Shoeburyness to upgrade the Environmental Test Centre (ETC) based at the range and recruit more specialist engineers.

Part of a strategy to modernise UK test & evaluation, the investment will ensure that the ETC remains the leading facility of its type in the UK and, combined with improved efficiencies, will enable more work to be conducted at the range*.

Throughout their life span, all Ordnance, Munitions and Explosive (OME) assets will be subjected to many and varied environmental conditions, but must still perform as intended when functioned. The ETC provides facilities, technology and expertise to allow customers to safely assess how their live munitions react when subjected to these various different environments and climates so that they can have confidence it will work when and where they really need it. 

Using remotely controlled test equipment, the ETC can replicate vibration, shock and impact effects under extremes of temperatures and carry out climatic tests such as humidity, driving rain, immersion, and sand and dust. Radiographic equipment is also used to carry out non-destructive inspection throughout the testing programme.

The £20m investment will fund new and refurbished and expanded test buildings, the replacement of ageing and obsolete equipment and the recruitment of additional specialist engineers to strengthen the technical team’s capability.

Steve Fitz-Gerald, Managing Director Maritime, Land and Weapons, QinetiQ, said: “At QinetiQ we are seeing a real increase in demand from customers who require the type of activity that only the Environmental Test Centre can provide. This investment is a direct response to that. Being able to provide confidence to a customer that their Ordnance, Munitions and Explosive (OME) assets can perform as designed in all weather and climatic conditions is vital to our national security. The investment will allow for a more varied number of tests and increase the capacity to meet the demand for this work, providing value for money to our customers.”

QinetiQ manages MOD Shoeburyness on behalf of the MOD as part of the Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA). To find out more about the Environmental Test Centre or the LTPA, visit the LTPA website.

*All testing is undertaken indoors which means there will be no additional noise at the range resulting from the increase in work.