Southend Council has commissioned architect ADP to design a new pavilion for the Grade II listed Southend Pier.

Located at the shore head of the 1.34-mile Victorian pier, the new pavilion will provide a year-around, all weather facility with retail and restaurant outlets and exhibition space, to encourage visitors and encourage them to stay longer in the town. Flexible education space is also proposed for local interest groups.

The concept for the pavilion has been designed to complement the rich heritage of the pier whilst capturing views in all directions across the Thames Estuary. Proposals also include a unified lighting design and illuminations scheme. 

The design will also ensure the protection of the unique maritime habitat, with materials robust enough to withstand the elements in a coastal environment. 

Originally constructed in 1830 from timber, Southend Pier is an internationally recognised symbol of the town. The present iron pier was first opened in 1889 and has survived fires, boat crashes and two World Wars, as well as evolving to meet the trends of the passing decades. The site of the new pavilion will be the wide, open deck that formally housed a bowling alley before this was devastated by fire in 1995. The regeneration of the pier will help ensure its long-term survival, and will support Southend-on-Sea’s ambition to become the cultural hub of the Essex Thames Gateway. 

Cllr Ann Holland, Executive Councillor for Culture, Tourism and the Economy at Southend Council, said: “The pier is undoubtedly the jewel in Southend’s crown and is a symbol of immense pride among the town’s 180,000 residents and 6 million annual visitors. 
“Despite the litany of fires and crashes over its 187-year history, the Council has remained committed to maintaining and restoring the pier. 

“Follow our condition-survey of the pier last year, which confirmed the structure was safe to build upon, I’m delighted that we are now able to appoint ADP to bring forward designs for this new pavilion, which will generate new jobs, boost the local visitor economy and bring fun back to the pier.”
​
Liz Jarrett, ADP London Studio Director said: "ADP is delighted to be taking forward the design of a third generation pavilion on the world famous Southend Pier. The two previous pavilions were both lost to fires, and this project is a further step forward in Southend’s regeneration strategy, as part of the Thames Gateway. This delivery of this project will build upon our successful relationship with Southend Borough Council following the successful delivery of the award winning Forum civic centre." 

An innovative new service allowing access to shared pedal bikes and electric bikes is being piloted in Southend.

Initially three automated bike docking stations will be live at the Civic Centre and City beach, providing pedal and electric bikes for residents and visitors to use 24 hours a day, with rates from £2 per hour. See www.southendbikeshare.com for more information on the bikes.

The service is part of a wider Motionhub project, which is aimed at providing integrated booking of bikes, electric car club vehicles and public transport. Motionhub is led by E-Car Club, with Hourbike Ltd, EValu8 Transport Innovations, Transport Systems Catapult and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council as partners.

MotionHub will be rolled out in several progressive stages between now and the end of the year, the first stage going live in this week with the availability of on-street pedal, e-bike, and electric cars from a number of locations in Southend.

Up to ten electric car club vehicles located in up to five locations will also be available, with four currently live in Victoria Avenue and Short Street. See www.ecarclub.co.uk for more information on the electric car club.

Tim Caswell, Managing Director of Hourbike says “We are delighted to be launching a bike sharing scheme in Southend. We are confident that it will be a valued transport option for local residents and visitors alike.”

Cllr Tony Cox, Executive Councillor for Transport, Waste and Regulatory Services, said: “We pride ourselves on Southend being a cycle-friendly town and this pilot scheme will enable even more people to get around our town on two wheels at little cost.

“The Council already makes use of both pedal and electric bikes for its employees, enabling staff to be greener and reduce mileage. This pilot will effectively extend the benefit of that scheme to the people of our town.”
​
More information will be released on the wider Motionhub project in the coming months.

A £2m scheme to improve an important gateway to Southend High Street will be considered by the council’s cabinet next week.
​
The project would see a much improved public area including better lighting, an improved drainage system, seating, block paving and enhanced landscaping along London Road (between Queensway and College Way). It will also include the removal of two mini-roundabouts and improved access and safety for pedestrians and cyclists. 

Smaller-scale improvements will also be made between London Road and The Forum along College Way, Queens Road and Elmer Avenue.

If approved, work will start shortly and will focus firstly on improving the drainage network, with an additional 100m3 of storage created, which will allow surface water to be held and discharged into the drainage system at a very slow rate during extreme rainfall and storms. This would be followed by the public realm improvements.
 
The project is being fully funded by the Department for Transport’s Local Growth Fund through the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) who will also be asked to approve the plans on 22nd September.
 
Key features of the proposed layouts in both options include:

• Realignment of the roads and pavements to include cycling space
• Replacement of Sainsbury’s’ mini roundabout with a simple junction acting as a traffic calming feature
• Replacement of the mini roundabout junction at College Way with a simple junction acting as a traffic calming feature
• Speed reduction measures at London Road’s junction with Ashburnham Road and Gordon Road
• Reduction in the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph
• Sustainable Urban Drainage System along the footway and cycleway
• Improved street lighting
• New block paving of footway, cycleway and parking bays
• Improvements to landscaping including introduction of trees and planters

 
Cllr Tony Cox, Executive Councillor for Transport, Waste and Cleansing, says: “These changes will provide a larger area for pedestrians and cyclists, a much improved street environment for shoppers and diners, and continued access for essential delivery vehicles, taxis and cars. It will also see a major improvement to our drainage network, with increased capacity for extreme weather events.
 
“It is a testament to council officers that we have secured this central Government investment in our town centre, enabling us to improve the appearance of this key gateway and also encourage further private sector investment.”
 
The work falls under the Council’s £7m Southend Central Area Transport scheme, which, when completed, will have seen work carried out across central Southend along Victoria Avenue, the London Road area between Queensway and Victoria Circus and Victoria Circus itself.
 
The first phase of the project saw three junctions along Victoria Avenue improved and was completed in the Spring this year.
 
Later phases of the project will focus on improving the section of London Road (from College Way to Victoria Circus) in 2018/19, and then improving the Victoria Circus public area itself in 2019-2020.
 
Consultation and engagement on the two options is underway with local businesses and other affected stakeholders.

Plans to provide 150 new secondary school places by September 2018 and open a new free school for another 180 by September 2019 will be discussed by Southend Council next week.
 
The report provides an update on the council’s ongoing secondary school expansion plans and shows the preferred site of the new free school is land adjacent to St Laurence Park.
 
Cllr James Courtenay, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, says:  “Whilst we are working hard to meet expansion requirements for September 2018 through our ongoing work with current schools, as already stated we need to open a new free school in the Borough by September 2019 to provide enough secondary school places for local children and meet our statutory obligations. This will be funded through a bid by a proven academy trust to the Department for Education, with the council’s support.
 
“I am excited to say that the academy trust envisages this being a Science, Technology, Engineering and Manufacturing (STEM) school, which will enhance what we can currently offer in the Borough, expand parental choice and open up innovative and important links with the nearby airport, and Airport Business Park Southend which is under construction.
 
“Officers have investigated a number of possible council and privately owned sites across the Borough to make this happen.  In a densely populated urban environment such as Southend-on-Sea, there is not one site that meets all of our requirements exactly, but we believe this is the best and most realistic site to achieve what we need to. Local residents will be consulted, and any plans will go through the necessary statutory processes.
 
“Whilst the timeframes are challenging and we are reliant on Government funding being forthcoming, we are confident that all parties can make this happen for the good of our borough.”
 
School expansion updates

• Shoeburyness High School has agreed to expand permanently by one form of entry from September 2018, as well as taking a ‘bulge year’ from September 2018. Planning permission has been granted for work that will start shortly;
• St Thomas More has agreed to expand permanently by one form of entry from September 2018, with a planning application recently submitted;
• The Eastwood Academy has consulted on expansion, and a capital project is currently being costed for internal refurbishments.  The council is awaiting confirmation of these plans;
• Belfairs Academy is undertaking a feasibility study for potential expansion of up to two forms of entry. The council is awaiting confirmation of these plans.

Stobart Air, Europe’s leading franchise flying partner, has today reported an impressive 300% jump in passenger numbers on its Flybe routes from Southend Airport.

The increase comes after Stobart Air introduced the first of its new fleet of long-distance Embraer E195 jet aircraft to Flybe’s expanded route network, which includes Lyon, Milan, Budapest and Prague.

Headquartered in Dublin, Stobart Air employs a workforce of 570 people. Earlier this year, the airline announced the addition of 60 new jobs and an investment of €25 million in the airline.

First jet flights on these new routes commenced in May from Southend. Since then, almost 163,000 seats have been sold, in addition to existing ATR turboprop services. In April, prior to the introduction of the jet fleet, Flybe passenger numbers at Southend were over 8,700; in August, following its introduction, passenger numbers reached over 35,000.

August was a particularly strong month in terms of volumes, with some routes achieving over a 90 percent load factor and an overall network result in excess of 75 percent on new jet-operated routes.

The strong numbers follow Stobart Air’s recent announcement of three Flybe routes from Southend Airport commencing 29 October: Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow. These new routes will bring the total number of Flybe routes from London Southend to seventeen.

The Dublin—Southend route will be operated by a new Embraer E195 jet, with flights up to three times daily. Flights to Manchester from Southend will operate with the same frequency; flights to Glasgow will operate up to twice daily.

Commenting, Graeme Buchanan, Managing Director of Stobart Air, said: “August’s strong record passenger numbers are a testament not only to Stobart Air’s commitment to service excellence, but to the immediate success of our three-year investment strategy. The company’s purchase of a fleet of Embraer jets was a sound move that is already paying dividends.

“Passengers choose Flybe and other Stobart Air services because they value convenience, affordability, and our comprehensive network of European destinations. This bears out in the numbers: we are on track to carry two million passengers in 2017, a 50 percent increase in passenger numbers over the past five years.”

Which? Travel’s annual survey ranked LSA London’s best airport for a 5th year in a row (2013-17). With a customer rating of 84% LSA was an impressive 16 percentage points higher than the next best London airport. Additionally, the Airport Operators Association voted LSA “Best Small Airport” in 2015 and 2016.

Make Southend Sparkle are offering small grants to help local groups make Southend-on-Sea a cleaner, greener and more attractive place in which to live, work and visit.
 
The scheme is ready to grant funding for any group that is aiming to make a difference locally by helping make their part of the borough clean and well-kept.
 
Grants will be given to up to 20 different projects that offer to breathe some fresh air in the local community. This can vary between painting the front of building overlooking the street to revitalising an underused community garden.
 
Cllr Ann Holland, Executive Councillor for Culture, Tourism and the Economy, said: “I am thrilled that we are able to offer this grants scheme to the local community. Anyone that is prepared to take time out to help make the town they live in more attractive, deserve some funding to support them.
 
“We are confident this scheme will make a difference, not only to the residents, but to visitors who will hopefully see Southend as a clean, green place that they want to come back to time and again.”
 
Grants of up to £500 are available. Applications will be accepted from charities, voluntary groups, community groups, schools, uniformed children’s groups (e.g. Guide or Scout Associations,   Boys or Girls Brigade), churches or faith groups or any other constituted organisation.
 
For more information on the scheme, to apply for funding or to see if your group qualify for a grant, please visit http://www.southend.gov.uk/mssgrant