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Tesco roundabout work nears completion

27/3/2015

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The £4.7m upgrade of the Tesco roundabout will be completed on time and on budget next week by Southend Council and its main contractor Lafarge Tarmac.

The scheme supports Southend and Rochford councils’ ambitions to create 7,380 new jobs in the area around London Southend Airport over the next 15 years.

In 2014 the Council secured a £3.3m grant from the Department for Transport (DfT)’s Local Pinch Point Fund towards this work with the remainder of the project cost (£1.4m) being met by Southend Council’s own capital budget.

The completed improvements include:
  • Extra lanes on the roundabout and its approaches
  • The introduction of intelligent traffic-light controls at the roundabout – like those installed at Cuckoo Corner - which will respond to traffic levels at the junction and manage traffic accordingly. New attractive landscaping, including at least 10 more trees and comprehensive planting
  • New, safer signalled crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists
  • A reconfigured roundabout at the junction of Nestuda Way and St Laurence Way to simplify the northbound approach and provide access to the future development site
 
The reconfigured junction will be now be able to handle more traffic and, as an added benefit, will make it easier for vehicles to exit from the Tesco side of the roundabout (Thanet Grange). The newly installed traffic lights will start operation on Sunday 29th March, subject to weather conditions.

Over the next few weeks, minor landscaping, site clearance and tidying works will be completed, and the traffic light signalling will be tested and tweaked to ensure optimum traffic flow.

Martin Terry, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste and Transport praised all involved in the project and thanked motorists for their patience during the works.

He said: “I am delighted that this vital project will be completed on time and on budget. These improvements are central to us being able to deliver our aspirations for the Airport Business Park which will create valuable jobs and boost the local economy.

“We now have the highways infrastructure in place to handle any increase in traffic. It’s all about keeping the economy going and the traffic flowing and along with the upgrades to the junctions at Progress Road and Cuckoo Corner already made, motorists should notice a real difference.

“But we are not stopping there, and over the next two year will be carrying out further investment at the Kent Elms and the Rochford Road/The Bell junctions that will further reduce congestion and waiting times in the Borough.

“I would like to thank motorists and local residents and businesses for their cooperation and patience whilst we have been carrying out the works, and to Council staff and contractors who have ensured the smooth delivery.  I believe the contractors have been a good neighbour and have worked hard to keep everyone informed of developments and any issues.  We have also ensured throughout the project that we have avoided working during what are typically the periods of heaviest traffic and have kept night work to a minimum.

“We’ve carried out the project outside of the tourist season and we didn’t close lanes at weekends in the run-up to Christmas, so as not to deter Christmas shoppers.

“We’ve also used construction techniques that reduce disruption, such as “trenchless ducting”. This technique allows us to install underground cable ducts, such as those used for traffic signals, without having to dig trenches in the road.”

Patience called for during traffic light tweaking

The Council are asking for a little more patience from motorists as the traffic lights are optimised at the newly improved junction. The lights will start operating on Sunday 29th March, subject to weather conditions.

Cllr Martin Terry explains: “Over the next few weeks work will continue to optimise the timing of the new traffic lights at the roundabout so that we achieve the best possible result in terms of traffic flows.

“During that short period the improvements to journey times may not be immediately apparent, so I would ask motorists to bear with us whilst the light timings are gradually being tweaked until they are operating at their best.”

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Southend Maritime Festival to set sail

27/3/2015

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A brand new festival is ready to set sail this summer, celebrating Southend-on-Sea’s relationship with the waves.

The first ever Southend-on-Sea Maritime Festival (6-7 June 2015) promises to be a weekend of free activities, promotions and events for all the family.

Southend Council is organising the event to celebrate the maritime heritage of the borough.  Funding for the festival has been provided by the Coastal Communities Fund, to which the Council made a successful bid in 2013 to improve the Southend Seafront Economy and raise the profile of the history and culture of the area.

The all-new festival will include live music, celebrity chefs’ cookery demonstrations, wine tastings, opportunities to try your hand at rowing, sand castle-making and sculptures through to history talks and re-enactments.

Graham Longley, Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and Economic Development, said: "I am delighted that we have secured external funding to run this event and I am looking forward to being involved and part of it. We have a Film Festival, Folk Festival, and a Jazz Festival so I am very pleased that this year we will also have a Maritime Festival that will explore our important relationship with the water and our wonderful seafront. 

"This will be a wonderful event for all the family with a host of activities that will boost the seafront economy and be a great weekend for residents, businesses and visitors alike. I hope that it is well supported and could lead to it becoming a fixture in the Southend-on-Sea events calendar."
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Fly from Southend to see Santa

25/3/2015

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Specialist holiday company Transun have announced a new day trip service from London Southend Airport to Lapland for Christmas 2015, with one flight taking off on the morning of 13 December 2015. 


A tour operator for over thirty years, Transun specialises in breaks to the Arctic Circle and runs dedicated charter flights to Lapland from regional airports in the UK – London Southend is their latest offering.


Check for more details and flight availability here.
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Parliamentary debate on inward investment in Southend

25/3/2015

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Southend West MP Sir David Amess organised a Parliamentary debate with Greg Clark MP, the Minister for Universities, Science and Cities, about inward investment in Southend on March 20th. 

In the debate, Sir David outlines recent achievements across Southend, and calls for additional investment on a range of projects across the borough:
  • Investment in Southend Pier
  • Improvements to the A127 and A13
  • Funding for a museum on Southend seafront
  • Funding to create a marina in Southend
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£5,000 available to those affected by 2013/14 floods

24/3/2015

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Homeowners and businesses that suffered from local flooding from April 2013 to March 2014 could benefit from £5,000 of Government funding to help protect their homes.

Southend Council's cabinet approved recommendations last night (Monday 23rd March) that could help up to 300 Southend homeowners and businesses access funds to carry out flood protection works. Full Council will now discuss the recommendations on Thursday 26th March.

The council will underwrite the costs of administering and delivering the scheme (£500 per property or up to £150,000 for administration and up to £1.5m for the actual works) which will pay for expert external assistance to help local homeowners and businesses take up the grant, arrange bulk-buying and oversee the contracts and installation of flood resilience measures to the value of £5,000.

The council will use Government grants to cover the administration and costs of the works, but needs to underwrite the costs at this stage. The delivery of the scheme would be carried out by the council’s appointed consultant for Flood Risk Management issues, URS.

URS will now write to 300 properties where internal flooding is known to have occurred within this period, telling them more about the scheme and assistance available and about financial relief that they could also be eligible for.

Cllr Martin Terry, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste & Transport, said: “Anyone who has been affected by flooding will know how distressing the experience can be, even without the added anxiety of how you will pay for the damage and protect your property in future. For many local residents, this repairs grant and support scheme could offer some measure of financial relief and add resilience to their homes or places of work, so that they’re better protected and have greater peace of mind if similar floods occur in future.

 "In the last couple of years, I’ve met countless people whose lives were shaken by unprecedented flash flooding – from pensioners whose homes have been inundated to businesses whose trade has been significantly damaged. That’s why I want to ensure that everyone who is eligible to receive financial relief or access grant to protect their properties has a fair opportunity to stake their claim.”

In November last year, the Council encouraged residents and businesses in known flooding hotspots to report flooding incidents to them. Now the Council is now making contact with these respondents and all other know flooding victims to ensure that as many affected people as possible are aware of the application process and are able to apply for relief.

For more information or if you believe you could also be eligible for a grant please visitwww.southend.gov.uk/flooding or emailcouncil@southend.gov.uk

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Flights from Southend to Slovenia this summer

19/3/2015

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A new route from Southend Airport to the Slovenian city of Maribor will be launched this summer.

Adria Airways will operate the two-hour service three times a week between June and October. It is the first route linking London with Maribor.

Announcing the news at a press conference with the Mayor of Maribor and representatives from Southend Airport, Adria Airways Chief Executive Mark Anžur said: "We are absolutely excited about our new scheduled connection from the second biggest city in Slovenia, Maribor to London Southend Airport.

“We are looking forward to a beginning of a successful partnership and bringing our passengers to both attractive destinations, with the new route offering the travellers from both countries to explore new destinations and everything both countries have to offer.

“We are very pleased to welcome travellers from UK to enjoy the diversity of Slovenia and all that it has to offer; from mountains to seaside."

Flights go on sale from March 30th with return prices starting from 69 euros.

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Work completed on £650,000 Southend business hub

19/3/2015

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Work has completed on a £650,000 project to transform the first floor of Southend’s Beecroft Gallery into a new enterprise centre for fledgling businesses.

Southend Council’s Economic Development Team has now taken the keys for the new business space, which includes an initial nine flexible incubation units of 46-115m2, at least 34 hot-desks and shared meeting and conference space. The centre will be known as The Hive: Southend Victoria.

Contractors started work in mid-November and completed the refurbishment last month. In this period, the Council has selected the organisation that will operate the centre, Enterprise4 Good (Community) Ltd.

The centre has already attracted interest from a range of start-ups and existing companies in Southend.  Enterprise4Good will now take on the discussions with these existing leads generated by the Council as well as finding other tenants and managing the facility.

The £651,325 for the conversion of this unused space into a vibrant business hub was secured by Southend Council via the City Deal negotiation with central Government last year.

Cllr Graham Longley, Executive Councillor for Enterprise Tourism and Economic Regeneration, said: “This new enterprise hub will provide flexible space at reasonable rates for these fledgling businesses, and will nurture them with the right environment and support to give them every chance of becoming the major employers of tomorrow.

“Furthermore, as they grow, these businesses may wish to move into the proposed new commercial space that we have planned at the Airport Business Park as part of our Joint Area Action Plan with Rochford District Council.

“Southend has an amazing entrepreneurial spirit, enviable connections to our capital and a growing number of European destinations via our burgeoning international airport, and a high quality of life for its residents.

“It’s a great place to work, live and play and we will not be shy on selling this unique proposition to attract entrepreneurs.

“We are delighted to have appointed Enterprise4Good to manage the centre .  They share our vision for a hub which is fully integrated into the community and seeks to support entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes and sectors.”

Mark Kass, Chair and CEO of Enterprise4Good said they were delighted to have been appointed to run the facility. He said: “We look forward to working in partnership with the Council, the wider business support network and of course the incredibly entrepreneurial residents and business community of Southend to make this THE place to start-up and grow small businesses.

“As Enterprise4Good is a not-for-profit, social enterprise and a start-up in its own right, we'll be channeling all our efforts and ultimately our profits back into the business to ensure The Hive grows alongside its clients.

“With its brilliant links to Central London, the rest of the South East and of course with London Southend Airport on our doorstep, I am confident we can attract new businesses to The Hive not only from the rest of the UK but from Europe, too.

“As we are co-located in the newly regenerated Old Central Library with the Beecroft Gallery, we're sure to attract occupiers from the creative industries. 

“We are investing in a state-of-the-art IT infrastructure that should see us attract some world class technology entrepreneurs and by working closely with the schools, colleges and universities, are keen to ensure that local people help us deliver our vision to extend London's TechCity concept to Southend.

“We will be creating a community of businesses in The Hive that we will encourage to work together to ensure businesses survive and grow. It will be its own ecosystem where small business helps big business and vice versa....so we proudly call this the "Enterprise4Good SMEcosystem.”

This is the second phase of work to redevelop the former library. The first phase involved converting the basement, ground and first floors into gallery spaces to house the Beecroft Art Collection. Building work was completed in June last year, with the gallery opening to the public in August last year.

Space at The Hive: Southend Victoria will be very flexible, offering opportunities for hot-desking up to renting more formal office space. As the Council’s “Business Southend” team will also be relocating to The Hive, it will offer unrivalled access to business support services.

The Beecroft Gallery remained open during the entirety of the construction work.

Anyone interested in finding out more about space at the Incubation Hub should contact Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Economic Development team oneconomicd@southend.gov.uk or call 01702 215022.

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Free websites for Southend businesses

18/3/2015

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Southend businesses can get a new website made for free until the end of March thanks to the Low Carbon Business Programme.

The Programme will fund these new websites for Southend businesses, to be designed and produced by a company called Delicious Webdesign.

To take advantage of this special offer, businesses are urged to contact them on 01375 460094 as soon as possible.

Meanwhile firms can also send a staff member to a day’s free workshop to learn how to build and develop a business website for themselves Included in this opportunity is the chance to get a domain name of their choice as well as the hosting charges, entirely free.

The course aims to teach businesses to operate their own sites from wherever they like in the world, so they can avoid expensive developing and website support costs.

Find out more about getting your business online through the Low Carbon Business Programme website:  http://www.lowcarbonbusiness.org.uk/services/get_your_business_online.

There are also free workshops for businesses taking place throughout Essex, covering the advantages of Social Media and the basics of book keeping.

Again, these are completely funded by Low Carbon Business and usually include free lunch and snacks.

Please visit the events page of the Low Carbon Business Programme for the full list of workshops and to book your place: http://www.lowcarbonbusiness.org.uk/latest_events
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Metro Bank to open in Southend this month

17/3/2015

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Metro Bank in Southend
Metro Bank opens a brand new branch in Southend this month, with two days of celebrations on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th March.

The new Southend Metro Bank store can be found at G19-G22 The Victoria Centre, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 2NG - the site previously occupied by HMV. Customers will be looked after by a team led by Local Director, Steve Ackroyd and Store Manager, Sandra Grainger-Jones. A total of 25 new jobs are being created.

People visiting the store will have the chance to enjoy an array of grand opening festivities, including stilt walkers, face painting, performing dogs and live music.

Kevin Walker, Regional Director of Metro Bank, said: “We are thrilled to be opening our Southend store and look forward to being part of the Southend community. We’re excited to bring local people a bank that is dedicated to providing amazing service and convenience. Our role is to make banking simple and convenient, and we look forward to welcoming both personal and business customers on our journey as we revolutionise UK banking.”

Southend Mayor, Councillor Chris Walker, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Metro Bank here to our High Street. This exciting new development is another example of how our town centre – and indeed our borough as a whole – is growing and developing.”

To find out more about the service Metro Bank offers visit https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/

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Your chance to help shape Southend's new energy company

13/3/2015

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Southend Council is looking for residents who have not changed their energy supplier for five years or more, to help them guide the branding and marketing for a new local energy company for the area.

If you have not changed supplier for five years or more, then the council would like you to take part in one of three focus groups taking place next week.

The focus groups will take place as follows:

  • Wednesday 18th March – 10.30am to Midday at The Forum
  • Thursday 19th March – 2-3.30pm at Southend Association of Voluntary Services (SAVS), Alexandra Street and 7-8.30pm at Metal, Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Park
If you are interested in attending, please contact Michelle Passfield via michellepassfield@southend.gov.uk by Tuesday 17 March for more details.

Refreshments will be provided.

Southend Council recently signed up to an agreement to form a new local energy company, working in partnership with energy supplier OVO Energy.  It will be the first time Southend has had its own energy company since Southend-on-Sea County Borough Corporation was disbanded in the late 1940s when gas and electricity energy industries were nationalised. The new local energy company would benefit all members of the local community by offering some of the cheapest tariffs on the market and possibly providing extra support for those suffering fuel poverty. It is thought that the new company could then be formed and operational within six months.

OVO Energy is one of the leading independent suppliers in the UK retail market. Since it entered the market in 2009, it’s grown to over 440,000 customers.
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Clear up or cough up

12/3/2015

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Westcliff residents who blighted their streets by leaving heaps of rubbish in their front yards are now facing a hefty fine as part of a Council clampdown.

Last month, enforcement officers patrolled several streets in Westcliff and issued letters to 30 properties giving them 14 days to clear up their front yards before formal notices were served. Sixteen notices had to be issued which gave residents a further 28 days to take action before the council stepped in and carried out the clearance themselves.

In total four failed to take action and will now be taken to Court and could face a fine of up to £2,500. They will also incur an additionalclear up cost that the Council will recover from each offender.

The areas within the Victoria Ward are the first to be targeted as part of the Council’s Clean and Green campaign. Continuing patrols of the areas and other untidy streets across the Borough will follow.

Ron Woodley, Leader of the Council accompanied enforcement officers on the latest blitz. He said: “We are very proud of our borough and want to do our utmost to keep Southend looking at its best – for our residents and for the more than six million visitors who coming here every year.

“So when people allow rubbish to pile up outside their homes, they are letting down their neighbours by blighting their street and creating a health risk, affecting house prices and encouraging vermin. Indeed, it’s one of the main issues that constituents contact me about.

“The Council provides household waste recycling centres free of charge for residents and we can remove bulky items of waste, such as unwanted furniture, for a nominal fee. So there really is no excuse for letting rubbish pile up.

Southend Council operates Household Waste Recycling Centres on Stock Road, Southend or Leigh Marshes. You can arrange for waste and unwanted items to be collected from your house at a small fee by contacting Cory Environmental.

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Lord Heseltine speaks at South Essex prosperity summit

12/3/2015

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Leading councillors, council officials and business leaders from across south Essex discussed future plans for the region and heard former deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine speak this week.


The South Essex Growth Summit attracted around a hundred delegates to London Southend Airport, where they were welcomed by Kate Willard from Stobart Group and chair of the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.

Lord Heseltine, who described himself as a “small businessman” called on the “public and private sectors to work together to ensure the massive fund of money available from the public sector has a full impact on the private sector”.

And the leaders of Thurrock Council, Cllr John Kent, and Southend Council, Cllr Ron Woodley, both emphasised the work that has already been done, the work to do and the importance of the summit’s three themes: growth, transport and education & skills.

Cllr Kent said: “The attendance here this afternoon of Lord Heseltine simply highlights the importance this area still has to the proposals he put forward a couple of decades ago now … the Thames Gateway.

“So I think it is really fitting that we are here in the country’s fastest growing airport to look at the way ahead.

“South Essex not only boasts the fastest growing airport, but the fastest growing port – DP World – and London’s premier port – Tilbury.”

And Cllr Woodley added: “Here in south Essex we are blessed with some unique conditions for growth and our position next to the capital needs to be fully recognised and exploited. In the last year Southend-on-Sea’s Growth Hub has helped around 80 businesses to advance their plans and is helping create over 300 new jobs.

“Together, our offer to Government is strong - we can deliver growth to make a difference for the national economy. It makes sense to back South Essex and together we can make a great business case for investment.”

Both men also highlighted the ambition, drive and opportunity there is in south Essex.

Following Lord Heseltine’s presentation, the delegates discussed the three themes, coming up with what they saw as the specific priorities needed for the whole south Essex region – not just Southend and Thurrock – to prosper and take advantage of the opportunities becoming available.

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