From 31 August, Southend Airport will offer passengers twice weekly direct flights with Widerøe to Bergen, known as one of the happiest places in the world.

Bergen is Norway’s second largest city and offers an adventurous retreat with the feeling of a small town. It has much to offer, from hiking in the hillsides, stunning fjords and mountains to exploring the cobbled streets and colourful buildings, seafood markets, art exhibits, museums and more.
 
Passengers can fly to Bergen via the new Embraer 190-E2 jet, which is the market's most modern and environmentally friendly jet in this class and has a seat configuration of two + two allowing 144 passengers. The 1 hour 50-minute flight will offer passengers a fast connection to Norway.
 
Christian Skaug, Commercial Director Widerøe, said: “We are strengthening our focus on Bergen as a hub for traffic throughout the country. With this new route we continue to build on the network Widerøe has developed in and around Bergen and Western Norway in recent years. We start cautiously, but if we see that the offer is well received, we will consider adding more weekly departures.”
 
Glyn Jones, CEO of Stobart Aviation, “We are pleased to offer this new route to one of Europe’s most stunning cities. A further 8 connections also become available from this destination, allowing easy connectivity across Norway. London Southend Airport is extremely accessible, boasts excellent customer service and has been ranked London’s best airport by consumer group Which?”
 
www.wideroe.no  
 
https://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/fjord-norway/bergen/

After the Government announced multi-million pound funding for infection and prevention control measures in care homes, Southend Council has outlined how the money will be spent.

A total of £2,734,683 has been allocated to Southend and 75% of the cash will go directly to the 95 care homes in the Borough. The council has decided the remaining £683,670 will be used to support the whole care sector in Southend.
 
10% (£273,468) will be distributed to home care providers, and a further £196,950 will help support people in supported living placements and the remaining money will be used to fund additional infection prevention control advisors for Southend care providers and to provide out of hours escalation support.
 
Cllr Trevor Harp, cabinet member for health and adult social care, said: “There’s no doubt that this funding is welcome relief for local care providers. I am impressed with the ways in which our local providers have worked with us to continue to provide good care to their residents during this pandemic.
 
“This latest round of funding will support this work, whilst also allowing for future planning regarding infection prevention control, a key defence tool in the battle against Coronavirus.”
 
The funding will be distributed in two tranches and providers who are registered with the council and agree to comply with the Government’s spending and audit requirements, will have already received their first payment.
 
A daily review of the care market is in place, and the NHS capacity tracker has been used to identify providers (care home and home care providers) who need additional support.
 
Since the beginning of Coronavirus, the council has set up 13 isolation beds as an alternative provision for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients being discharged from hospital. Over 40% over Southend care homes have consistently paid staff their full wages.
 
Working with Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT), training has been supplied carers via the Care Home Education Team. Carers have not been allowed to transfer between homes to limit contact, and there has been training around Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
 
Cllr Harp, said: “We know those over the age of 70 and those with underlying health conditions are more vulnerable to coronavirus. I think it is admirable how everyone has pulled together to do everything possible to protect our older and more vulnerable residents from Coronavirus.”

Over 2,400 potholes were repaired across the Borough between April and June as the council’s highways contractor worked tirelessly throughout the Coronavirus lockdown.

With people staying home following the Coronavirus pandemic, the council’s contractor, Marlborough, took to the streets to repair reported defects through the Find and Fix programme.

The programme involved a team of spotters going out and actively finding and marking up potholes. They worked up to a week ahead of the maintenance crews, who followed up and repaired the approved defects.

The council defined intervention levels for potholes but we actively encouraged that this programme included any adjacent defects or those that were close to intervention levels so that the process became proactive rather than just reactive.

All spotted potholes were documented and the evidence (log sheets and images) were passed back to council staff for approval. A system within WhatsApp was developed to deliver the spotted defects, with associated locations references within the images for easy tracking.

In total, 2,430 defects were repaired between 2 April and 4 June 2020, more than the whole of last year (2,057). The repairs were also carried out at a cheaper cost compared to previous years, and lower than the national average cost.

Cllr Ron Woodley, cabinet member for transport, inward and capital investment, said: “The Find and Fix programme has proven to be a resounding success. With the greatly reduced traffic during the lockdown, the crews were able to work quickly and efficiently, without causing major disruption to motorists and residents.

“We are delighted to see the repair rate figure so high, and at a cheaper rate comparative to last year, benefitting the taxpayer. The programme has also eased the current burden on our highways inspection team who have seen a 50% reduction in recorded potholes on the carriageway.”

If you spot a road defect, please report this at MySouthend.

A shop local, shop safe campaign has been launched ahead of the wider reopening of shops on Monday 15 June.

Over recent weeks Southend Business Improvement District (BID), councillors and officers from Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Leigh Town Council, the seafront traders association, Essex Chambers of Commerce and other local businesses have been working together to deal with the Government’s relaxation of lockdown measures and ensure that the Borough is a safe place to visit and shop.
 
The group is working hard to help our local economy bounce back stronger than ever and help businesses to reopen safely and keep residents safe too.
 
Local businesses have been provided with signage, poster templates and guidance, and hundreds of public signs are also being put up in shopping areas across the Borough.
 
In central Southend, welcome hosts and sanitisation stations will be available for shoppers and people will be encouraged to keep left.
 
In Leigh-on-Sea, there will be a small number of parking bays suspended in Broadway West outside the bakers, butchers and greengrocers, on Elm Road outside the fishmongers and fish and chip shop and on Rectory Grove outside the bakers and health food shop. These have been identified as potential ‘pinch points’ for queues and this will create more space for people to safely queue.
 
Other areas will be monitored carefully and any necessary measures to help keep people safe will be brought in if necessary.
 
Shoppers are also being asked to ‘stay safe, stay apart’, and respect measures and staff in place working to keep people safe. The group is also asking people to shop local and to expect a different shopping experience for the time being.
 
Cllr Martin Terry, the council’s cabinet member for community safety and chair of the relaxation measures stakeholder group, says: “As shops reopen it is important that local people take responsibility to stay safe and stay apart from people they don’t live with. Please do your bit both to stop the spread of coronavirus and to support your local businesses.”
 
Denise Rossiter, chief executive of Essex Chambers of Commerce, says: “Our collective message is to shop local and shop safe. As a group we have worked really hard together to get plans in place across the Borough as the Government has eased its lockdown measures. We will continue to review plans regularly and I just urge people to visit and support your local businesses. They need it more than ever.”
 
Cllr Kevin Robinson, the council’s cabinet member for business, leisure and tourism, says: “The group has been working very hard to help our local economy bounce back and I want to thank everyone for their efforts. With wider reopening next week, this is the ideal time to encourage people to shop local and shop safe.”
 
Suzanne Gloyne, Southend BID manager, says: “We are pleased to say we are back open and we are pleased to welcome shoppers back to the Borough. We want people to shop local and we have worked collectively so that shoppers can be confident of a safe environment. We also ask everyone to do their bit too by keeping your distance, not blocking pavements and respecting the staff and new measures that are there to keep you safe.”
 
A guide for businesses that has been put together to help guide them through reopening is available at: https://www.southendbid.com/retailrecovery

Southend Airport has updated its careers page with some new vacancies and are looking for talented individuals to support the team as part of its preparations to welcome passengers back. 
 
The airport offers excellent career opportunities within the growing local airport, whilst COVID-19 has impacted operations the team are looking to invest tens of millions over the coming years to put in place an enhanced passenger experience to deliver customer confidence in a post-COVID world.
 
The Airport has already been named one of the safest in the UK and the only airport in London that is on the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) list, meaning its passengers will find an easier experience travelling to countries such as Greece.
 
Glyn Jones, CEO of London Southend Airport said: “We are working hard preparing to welcome passengers back to the airport. Lots of work is going on and new protocols being introduced to create a safe biosphere within the terminal to enable passengers to have confidence when flying from London Southend Airport
 
“Employing talented individuals is key to completing the airport family whilst supporting the local economy. It is a challenging time but we hope to offer new employment opportunities to maximise peoples potential”.
 
Visit www.southendairport.com to view vacancies on the careers page, applications should be sent to lsahr@southendairport.com