The latest and very best of care for women and their unborn child is now a reality at Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, thanks to the opening of a dedicated fetal medicine unit.

The unit, the only one of its kind in Essex, is set to become a leading regional clinical and research centre for the assessment and treatment of unborn babies.

The state-of-the art suite, which includes seven scanning rooms, has been made possible thanks to a £400,000 charitable donation from the foundation set up by world leading fetal medicine expert Professor Kypros Nicolaides.

Fetal medicine includes the assessment of fetal growth and wellbeing, the maintenance of fetal health and the diagnosis of fetal illnesses and abnormalities.

The Southend unit will be affiliated to the world renowned Kings College fetal medicine centre in London run by Prof Nicolaides, where women from the local area would have typically been referred.

Subspecialist maternal fetal medicine consultant Mr Mandeep Singh who trained under Prof. Nicolaides, heads up the new service and works jointly between the two hospitals.

Scans in the unit will be carried out by research fellows - consultants who are specialising in fetal medicine - which enables a more detailed scan to be undertaken resulting in improved detection rates.

Mr Singh said: "Women with suspected fetal problems are understandably anxious and rightly require access to specialist services as soon as possible to understand any problem with baby and what the possible options are with continuing their pregnancy.

"Having this sort of expertise locally, from finding a problem through to supporting women in whatever choices they make, will do much to improve their experience of what can often be a traumatic and upsetting diagnosis."

As well as the diagnosis and treatment of fetal abnormalities, the unit is already participating in international clinical research, including a study into pre-eclampsia, a potentially life threatening condition for both mum and baby which is often not diagnosed until late into pregnancy.

Colleen Begg, head of midwifery and gynaecology at the trust added: "This is a tremendously exciting development of our services for women here at Southend Hospital which has only been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Fetal Medicine Foundation and we are extremely grateful both for the donation and Prof Nicolaides' personal help in establishing this unit which will make such a difference for our local population."

The organisers of the Southend Airshow have confirmed that it will definitely go ahead next year.

The event has not taken place in the last two years after the council withdrew funding for it, but the group behind trying to bring it back say they have now raised enough money and secured enough attractions to put it on.

It will now be known as the Southend Airshow and Military Festival and will take place on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of September 2015, and will coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Dan Rodgers, Event Manager had this to say on the launch of Southend Airshow & Military Festival: "It's extremely exciting to see after 18 months of hard work behind the scenes that we are finally
able to confirm a date and bring a fantastic people's Airshow back to Southend".

Thomas Curtis, Director of Media and Communications commented: "There is no doubt in my mind that Southend Airshow & Military Festival will be the highlight of Summer 2015, the team has worked incredibly hard over the last year and a half to create a fully costed, workable and sustainable event that Southend can be proud of and put the town on the map.

"We will have more announcements to come, but for now we hope the whole town is excited as we are that the Airshow is back.

Mr Curtis added it will benefit the whole town: "In years past the council's said the Southend Airshow brings in £10 million into the local region. It's an event that brings in excess of 300,000 people so it's a huge trading opportunity both along the seafront and on the High Street."

There is more information about the airshow at http://www.southendairshow.com.

Work is to start next month on a multi-million project to replace all street lamps in the Borough with energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) street lighting.

Street lighting engineers are awaiting their first delivery of 300 new lamps and will start replacing street lights along Eastern Avenue with the new units from mid-November, before moving on to Royal Artillery Way.

The installation follows a trial of several different LED street lighting systems in different neighbourhoods across the Borough. Each of these was assessed for their performance and feedback from local residents was considered as part of the selection process.

The council intends to replace all 14,000 street lamps in the borough over a five-year period.

Councillor Martin Terry, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste & Transport, said: “Investing in these lights really is a no-brainer. We calculate that it will cut 50% off our energy bill for illuminated street furniture over a five-year period, improve the quality of the lighting and substantially reduce our carbon emissions.

“What’s more, the feedback we’ve received from the residents of the streets, where our chosen lamp units were trialled, was extremely positive, with residents praising the much cleaner, more targeted light.

“Like other authorities across the country, we’re facing some major pressure over reducing our costs. That’s caused some other councils to decide to turn off street lights during certain periods of the night, raising concerns over public safety. We were determined not to go down that route and instead find a solution that serves us well in the long term.

“We believe that the project will bring substantial savings in energy and maintenance costs for the Council.”

LED lighting facts

• LED lamps use around half the energy of traditional street lights, which is good for the environment. 
  The light is whiter and brighter than traditional street lights. This promotes public safety by improving the quality of CCTV camera images, making car registration plates easier to read and colours easier to discern.
• The light is more targeted, so that it does not spill into nearby properties to the same extent and reduces light pollution.
• The lamps last approximately 20 years on average, whereas traditional lamps last only three, greatly reducing maintenance costs.

Visitor numbers to Southend Pier have reached their highest level since it was ravaged by fire in 2005.

By 21 October, 294,190 people had already visited the pier compared to 283,468 for the whole of 2013: the previous record year since the fire.

The pier’s management say the figures are ‘extremely encouraging’ and that the attraction will almost certainly smash the 300,000 visitor mark by the end of the year.

Councillor Graham Longley, Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and Economic Development, said: “Southend Pier – the longest pleasure pier in the world – is a national treasure and a symbol of immense local pride.

“2014 has been another fantastic year for us. We’ve had one of the driest summers in recent history and the pier has again drawn the gaze of film and television producers, such as Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.

“However, there’s still a lot more I want to be done to drive these figures up further – including the possibility of extending pier opening times - and increase its income to bring it to self-sufficiency.

“I’d like to explore all our options for how we use the space of the former bowling alley, increase private bookings at the Royal Pavilion and attract further private sector investment.

“It’s a world-class landmark and we want to ensure it enjoys a long and prosperous role in our town.”

Visitor numbers since 2005 
2005 – 331,306 
2006 – 169,018 (following Pier fire in October 2005) 
2007 – 243,396 
2008 – 255,849 
2009 – 243,169 
2010 – 218,512 
2011 – 230,353 
2012 – 246,551 
2013 – 283,468 
2014 (up to 21 October) – 294,190

The next Southend Business Partnership Briefing will be held at the Holiday Inn Southend on Thursday 20th November 2014, 8.30am to 10.00am. 

The latest news in Southend will be presented by Rob Tinlin, Chief Executive, Southend Borough Council and the keynote speaker will be Dino Forte, Managing Director of Ventrica.

Roger Clements, Chief Communications Officer for Stobart Aviation will also be attending and will provide an update on routes and destinations along with being a member of the Q&A panel. There will also be a prize draw.

As always, there will be time before, and after, the briefing for you to network with other businesses.

From 10.30am there will be an opportunity to stay for some Supply Southend Information Sessions, which will give your business the opportunity to procure to other businesses for FREE.

To register for the event please email economicd@southend.gov.uk  - on the day registration will start at 7.30am to provide you with an opportunity to network before the briefing starts.

If you are unable to attend the Business Briefing and you have booked a ticket, please contact the Economy and Tourism team as soon as possible.  

Newly restructured Stobart Group is in talks with up to 50 airlines to begin flying out of Southend Airport, according to chief executive Andrew Tinkler.

The company, which yesterday published its results for the six months ended August 2014, restructured earlier this year to focus on its aviation and energy divisions.

The aviation business is comprised primarily of airports at Southend and Carlisle. 

Mr Tinkler said: “Southend is an airport that can really serve London. You fly in and you’re off the plane and on to the train in 10 minutes if you’ve only got hand luggage.” 

Southend Airport railway station links to Stratford and London Liverpool Street.

Southend airport currently handles around one million passengers annually – with a 19 per cent jump in numbers in the first half of this yea. It aims to triple that number by 2017. 

“We’re seeing good traction with airlines we’re speaking to,” said Mr Tinkler.

“Our aspiration is to achieve £10 Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisa­tion] per passenger going through the airport.”

While he declined to name any of the airlines in discussion with Stobart, Tinkler stated that the firm was speaking to “all the airlines across Europe”, adding: “All of those airlines would potentially fly through Southend.”

The owners of Southend AIrport have promised further growth at the Essex terminal as passenger numbers increased 19%.

The Stobart Group, which owns and operates London Southend Airport, has revealed revenues from its operations for the first six months of the 2014/2015 financial year were up 17% to £56.2 million.

Passenger numbers were also up 19% at the Essex gateway, which covers until August 31, reaching 628,000 for the six-month period.

The support services and infrastructure group has also secured planning permission to transform Carlisle Lake District Airport.

This includes a multi million-pound redevelopment with construction of a freight terminal, a revamped runway, car parking, and a fire station, set to be started before the end of 2014, and has long-term plans to reintroduce limited passenger services.

The Stobart Group’s underlying profit before tax was also up by 110% to £4.4 million, while net debt reduced by 94% to £8.1 million.

During the period it also says the board it says was “significantly” strengthened with the appointment of one executive and two non-executive directors.

Chief Executive Andrew Tinkler said: “We have a clear focus on the growth of our energy and aviation businesses. The increased volumes we are reporting, along with strengthening pipelines in both divisions, reinforce our confidence in the group’s prospects.”

From the Echo

Three big-name restaurants have signed up to help create Southend’s new leisure park, set to rival Bas Vegas.

Chiquitos, Coast 2 Coast, and Frankie and Benny’s have all applied for a licence to open up at the Seaway car park redevelopment, off Lucy Road – which could create up to 100 jobs.

It is believed that Cineworld is the operator chosen to run the multiplex cinema for the planned leisure complex, which would include a multi-storey car park.

Read the story on the Echo website.

Southend Council is appointing a special team to review drainage at flood hotspots across the borough.

This team will review the flooding locations and key aspects of drainage that fall within the Council’s remit, such as the condition and inspection schedules of drains and gullies in its ownership.

The Council’s emergency planning officer will work as part of the team to look into what can be done to improve flood response at hotspots across the borough.

This will be in addition to any exploratory work being carried out by Anglian Water, who have responsibility for the capacity and maintenance of the public sewer network.

Councillor Martin Terry, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste and Transport, said: “These recent flood events have highlighted a number of areas across the town that are susceptive to surface water flooding.

“The council has recently taken part in productive meetings with Anglian Water and we are both committed to co-operating to find long-term solutions.

“We need to be realistic by stating that we cannot solve flood risk overnight as solutions may well require major capital investments. We need to do a lot more investigation into the causes of the flooding before a robust engineering solution can be worked up with our partners.

“However, in the meantime, our emergency planning officer is looking into what lessons can be learned from the most recent flood events in the borough in terms of our response.

“They will be looking at such things as making resources locally available, overcoming potential delays and better ways of deploying teams to sites at times of flash flooding.

“These are still very early days and I cannot at this stage predict what the conclusions of our investigative works will be but it is clear there is a capacity problem that will need to be resolved. However, it is important that the public of Southend knows that we are taking this matter extremely seriously and treating it as a top priority. ”

A report into last year’s flooding will be going to Cabinet on the 11th November. A report into the most recent flood is currently being produced.

Preparatory works for the new Tesco junction scheme on the A127 at Southend start today (Thursday 9th October) with essential landscape clearance.

There will be lane closures for part of today and part of Friday, to allow plants and mainly small trees to be removed ready for the junction improvements to begin in earnest on Monday 27th October.

The retrieved plants will be taken back to the Council’s nursery and replanted elsewhere in the borough, while the 13 trees taken away will soon be replaced by 26 new trees of varied species planted in and around the area.

Executive Councillor for Public Protection, Waste and Transport, Councillor Martin Terry said: “These landscape works on Thursday and Friday will prepare the way for the major junction improvements to start on Monday 27th October.

“We welcome the lead up to the start of this much-needed project because it is imperative for us to improve this important road junction and boost crucial access to Southend.

“We would like to reassure residents that most of the trees being removed are small and not very old. Most were planted when the roundabout was initially installed in the 1990s. Under the Council’s strict policy for tree removal, each one taken away will be replaced by another two.

“We would advise drivers to allow extra time for their journeys in case of delays caused by the temporary lane closures.”

For more details about the new junction scheme please visit: www.bettersouthend.com.

Further details about the project can be found here:http://www.southend.gov.uk/info/200447/better_southend/488/a127_tesco_s_junction_improvements/2

A new online meeting place called “Supply Southend” is set to boost local supply chains and help the wider local economy.

Supply Southend is a place where local buyers and sellers can discover each other. If a Southend business is looking for a supplier it can post details of the contract on offer through the Supply Southend portal. Suppliers in turn can check out the portal for opportunities and respond to those that are relevant.

The service, which is being run by Business Southend, will put businesses in touch with potential partners, suppliers and customers, so will help strengthen the local supply chain.

To find out more and register for free, visit http://www.businesssouthend.co.uk/supply-southend/