Southend Council has been awarded £1.7m of Government funding from the Department of Transport.
 
The ‘National Productivity Investment Funding’ (NPIF) will be used to carry out £2.5m of road improvements in key town centre locations, including improving right turn access to Warrior Square and Tylers Avenue car parks and providing better car parking signage around the town.
 
Cllr Tony Cox, Executive Councillor for Transport, Waste and Cleansing, says: “I am delighted that once again we have secured national funding to deliver local improvements and I would like to say well done to all the officers involved in putting the successful bid together.
 
“This project will help improve local access to the town centre by redirecting car parking traffic through better signage and making minor changes to roads that will deliver real tangible improvements.
 
“The project will also utilise ‘smart’ technology to help drivers navigate around the town centre, improve the public areas around the travel interchange at Southend Victoria station and improve connections between the bus and rail stations. We also believe this will help to reduce congestion, thus reducing journey times and improving air quality."
 
Christian Brodie, Chairman of SELEP, said “SELEP warmly welcomes the £18m of NPIF investment in schemes across Essex, Southend and Kent. These schemes, endorsed and championed by SELEP, will support local economic growth by reducing congestion and improving business efficiency”.

Southend Airport is re-launching a service which allows passengers to connect to 11 North American destinations through Dublin Airport.

From 29 October 2017, passengers will be able to connect to Aer Lingus transatlantic services and complete US pre-clearance in Dublin Airport, ahead of their onward journey to the US and Canada.

Aer Lingus flies to a total of 12 North American destinations, including New York, Boston, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Newark, Toronto and Hartford, Connecticut.

Completing pre-clearance at Dublin Airport - operated and staffed by US Customs and Border staff - means that on arrival in the US, passengers are treated similarly to domestic passengers and so avoid the lengthy delays so often associated with US security.
One-way fares from London Southend to North America start from £199 including taxes and charges. Book now at www.aerlingus.com.

GCSE statistics published this week show that Southend has again performed above the national average in all headline performance measures.

This year the Government introduced a new numerical (9 to 1) grading system in English language, English literature and maths, with other subjects continuing to be graded A* to G. 
 
Over 2,000 young people were entered into GCSEs at schools in Southend-on-Sea. Provisional figures published for the first time by the Department for Education today show that Southend-on-Sea is performing above the national average in the Attainment 8 measure (average grade across the same suite of eight subjects) and also above the national average for Progress 8 (average of all students' progress across eight subjects between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4).
 
The percentage of pupils achieving a standard pass at GCSE (9-4) in English and maths is also above the national average (70.6 per cent compared to 63.5 per cent). Local pupils also performed above the national average in the percentage achieving a strong pass (9-5) with 53.9 per cent, compared to 42.4 per cent.
 
The new data means Southend-on-Sea is ranked 15th of all 151 local authorities under Attainment 8 and 38th under Progress 8.
           
Cllr James Courtenay, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, said: “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 local schools, parents and pupils to support them and build on these achievements.”

A new private jet centre is opening at Southend Airport next month.

London is Europe's busiest city for private aviation, and Southend has become the latest airport to tap into the market by announcing that the Stobart Jet Centre is opening in November.

The centre is expected to cater for 5,000 private flights per year by 2022, and will be open 24/7 for 364 days a year.
The airport's owner Stobart Aviation, part of the Stobart Group, said the flexible hours should prove a big draw for the capital's private jet users.

Stephen Grimes, managing director, Stobart Jet Centre, said: "Convenience, speed and comfort are absolutely vital to the business and private aviation market. This has been at the heart of our thinking in developing our new terminal.
"The Stobart Jet Centre will offer guests and pilots a smooth, premium experience because we can offer 24-hour availability and departure routes outside London’s crowded airspace.

"We are confident that London Southend Airport will become a refreshing, hassle-free alternative to London’s current, crowded private aviation terminals."

The airport is 42 miles from the heart of London's West End, while chauffeur transfers are under an hour by road to central London. There are also helicopter transfers to and from Canary Wharf or Battersea Heliport.

Southend Airport said that with no slot restrictions, it will be able to offer faster departure routes outside of London airspace, reducing flight times.

The airport is also hoping to prove competitive when it comes to landing, parking and handling prices. To park a Boeing business jet at the airport for 24 hours will cost £1,000 - seven times cheaper than some other London airports.

Southend Airport has submitted an application to Rochford District Council for permission to extend its terminal building. This will offer greatly improved facilities for passengers and enable it to meet new aviation regulations.

The multi-million-pound project has two elements:

• An extension to the southern end of terminal building housing new baggage sortation and screening systems. This will enable new equipment to be installed, ensuring London Southend Airport meets the forthcoming European Hold Baggage Security Screening Standard, which comes into force on 1 September 2018.

• An extension to the northern end of the terminal improving baggage reclaim facilities. The existing arrivals baggage area will be replaced with a new spacious area offering vastly improved and more flexible reclaim facilities for customers arriving at London Southend Airport.

Both extensions are single storey and have been designed in keeping with the existing terminal building.

Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport said, “We currently serve over one million passengers a year and more and more people are realising that London Southend offers them a better way to travel. This development is all about ensuring we maintain the highest levels of customer experience and ensuring we are able to comply with new regulations.”

He added “The airport was designed to deliver the best possible passenger experience; this extension ensures that we can continue doing just that as we grow.”

If planning permission is granted, then construction is expected to start in early 2018. This will allow both sections to be open before the summer peak, minimising any passenger disruption, and ensuring the Departures baggage sortation and screening system is fully operational ahead of the September deadline.