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 [email protected]  

Summer came early for Southend and its traders this Easter with soaring temperatures and the return of the Southend Shakedown motorcycle event making it the busiest in recent memory.
 
After temperatures reached the mid 20’s, tens of thousands of tourists and residents flocked to the town’s sun-soaked beaches to enjoy traditional fish and chips, soak up the sun, and admire over 3,500 motorbikes that had roared their way to the seafront on Bank Holiday Monday.
 
A total of 18,461 sun-seekers visited the pier over the weekend – more than the whole of March. The Pier saw a fun Easter Egg hunt along with the opening of the new tearoom where Jamie and Jimmy’s TV show is filmed.
 
Meanwhile, the hidden historical gem of Prittlewell Priory attracted 5,442 visitors to its popular Teddy Bear Hunt – compared to 538 in Easter last year.

In anticipation of the busy weekend, significant extra resources were drafted in, including parking marshals to coordinate car park flow and BID rangers to welcome visitors and help reunite lost children with parents.

An extra 25 Veolia waste staff were drafted in to remove waste, with crews removing over 11 tonnes of rubbish from the seafront - from both bins and litter-picks - and clocking up a total of 320 working hours between them.
 
Scott Dolling, Director of Culture, Tourism and Property, said the success of the weekend showed that the extensive planning between the Council, emergency services and local police as part of Operation Heatwave had paid off.

He said: “This was the busiest Easter we can recall for many years with huge numbers visiting the breadth of our seafront and award-winning parks. The sunshine certainly helped, but the huge numbers clearly show the continued appeal of Southend as a visitor destination.

“I, like many, was delighted to see the return of the Southend Shakedown and congratulate the organising committee on such a well-attended, safe and enjoyable event.

“As one of the key agencies involved in ensuring the event ran smoothly, we will be attending a debrief and taking on board feedback from attendees, traders and residents.

“In particular, I would like to thank our Veolia waste crews for their fantastic work - many local residents and businesses have also told us what a fantastic jobs they did. They worked long hours, raking the beaches early in the morning, regularly empty bins throughout the day, then picking up litter in the evenings.

“It’s clear that our joint preparations have helped ensure were welcomed, had a fantastic time and will want to return again and again.”

Traders also saw a boom in trade. Joan Tiney, chair of Southend Seafront Traders Association, said: “We had live music on at The Borough and the atmosphere was great with no trouble just people having a great day out. I have not seen the seafront so packed in a long time and the organisers are to be complimented on all their hard work.”
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Jacqui Dallimore, chair of Southend Tourism Partnership, said: “The Roslin Hotel, like much of the Borough, has been exceptionally busy over the Bank Holiday especially on our large terraces and it’s been great to see the whole area buzzing with the glorious weather.
“There really is no better place to be when the sun is shining but of course Southend’s offer is increasingly all-year round with such a diverse and wonderful events programme.”

Residents, businesses and community groups are invited to shape the development of Southend over the next 20 years.
 
Southend Council is hosting three local events to seek people’s views on a new Local Plan which sets out the council’s proposals to manage development of the borough and how it will assess planning applications for the area over the next 20 years.
 
Local Plans address needs and opportunities in relation to housing, the local economy, community facilities and infrastructure, such as roads and transport. They should safeguard the environment, enable adaptation to climate change and help secure high quality and accessible design.
 
Cllr John Lamb, Leader of Southend Council, said: “Having a good Local Plan in place is vital for the future of the town. It will determine where major developments take place across the borough over the next 20 years and will impact on where people will live, work and spend our leisure time.
 
“In Southend, we have a real challenge in providing the level of housing growth we need to meet future demand, so where and how we let residential development take place will be an important – but by no means the only – part of this consultation.
 
“Importantly, it will allow the town to grow in a sustainable way, so that we have sufficient roads, medical facilities and schools while protecting valuable green spaces.
 
“I feel passionate about Southend and I want the best possible future for its residents. I know this passion is shared by people I speak to across the town.
 
“Please share your views now to shape the sort of town you would wish future generations to grow up in.”
 
The draft Local Plan can be viewed and commented upon by visiting https://localplan.southend.gov.uk until 2 April 2019.
 
The three public events will be held at the following times and locations:
 

• Saturday 23rd February – The Forum, Southend Town Centre 09:30 – 17:00
• Wednesday 27th February – Thorpe Bay Yacht Club 13:00 – 18:00
• Wednesday 13th March – Leigh Community Centre 15:00 – 20:00

You can also buy hard copies of the document. Hard copies can also be viewed at the Civic Centre and all the local libraries within the borough.
Email: [email protected]

Post: Business Intelligence Officer, Performance & Business Support, Department of Place, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, PO Box 6, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, SS2 6ER.

If you would like to be notified of future planning policy consultations, you can sign up to the council’s planning policy consultation database. Please contact [email protected] or telephone 01702 215408.

New planters, lighting columns and benches are being installed at the town centre end of London Road as part of a project to improve access and create a more attractive gateway to the town.
 
The work is part of the Southend Central Area Transport Scheme (S-CATS) and follows the reconfiguration of the highway and parking of London Road between Queensway and College Way as well as the introduction of new electric vehicle charging points.
 
A total of eight Corten steel lighting columns, which are designed to give a rust effect, were erected earlier this week together with seven complementary planters and seven benches. The planters will be planted with ivy within the next few weeks.
 
The landscaping scheme was the result of consultation with local businesses and marks the end of the first phase work along this stretch of London Road.
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Later phases of the project will focus on improving the section of London Road (from College Way to Victoria Circus) and then improving the Victoria Circus public area itself.
 
Cllr Andrew Moring, cabinet member for infrastructure, said: “I’m pleased to see work progressing on the landscaping of this important gateway to the town. The clever design allows us to introduce greenery to an area where planting trees into the ground was not an option due to the large number of pipes and cables beneath the road, as well as introducing attractive new lighting and seating.
 
“I’d like to thank all the local businesses who fed into the final design by sharing their ideas.”
 
Southend Central Area Transport Scheme (S-CATS) is a £7m project is being fully funded by the Department for Transport’s Local Growth Fund through the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP).
 
The first phase of S-CATS was completed in 2017 with £1m worth junction improvements on Victoria Avenue (Great Eastern, Carnarvon Road and East Street/West Street).
 
Phase 2 (just completed) is a £2m public realm and streetscape improvement scheme along London Road (between Queensway and College Way through to Elmer Avenue) to make this an attractive gateway to Southend High Street.
 
Later phases of the project will focus on improving the section of London Road (from College Way to Victoria Circus) and then improving the Victoria Circus itself. A much wider stakeholder engagement process is planned to develop design options for these phases.

​More than £35m of new projects are being put forward by Southend Council as part of its draft capital budget proposals for 2019/20.

In addition to existing schemes already ongoing or planned, this would give the council a capital investment programme of £177m for the next four year period, including over £18m of investment into the Pier, £26.3m investment into improving roads and pavements, £3m for community safety improvements and £1.2m on parks and open spaces.

An additional £36.5m worth of new projects are also included in the draft programme, but will be subject to external funding and detailed and viable business cases being prepared and approved, including up to £20m for commercial property purchases over the next three years, £10.5m for a new pavilion deck on the end of the pier and £1m for the refurbishment of the Cliffs Pavilion in summer 2020.

The capital budget, which is separate to the council’s day to day revenue budget, is used to make one-off investments in things like regeneration and housing projects, and to carry out essential improvements to leisure and cultural facilities and ICT systems. Funding is raised from a mixture of external funding, reserves and borrowing.

The proposals for new projects include £3.25m over the next two years to replace ageing Pier trains which were introduced in 1986 with a predicted 20 year lifespan and an additional £3m over three years to fix more pavements and roads.

Safety measures are also a big new investment, with a further £2m proposed to continue to upgrade the borough’s CCTV system and install new cameras in key locations following a recent consultation.

A new children’s residential care home, new public toilet provision, better traffic management and car park improvements are some of the other projects highlighted for new investment in the draft budget.

Over £20m is also being added to the capital programme from 2021 to 2024 for investment in the council housing stock, which will be funded through the housing revenue account (HRA).

Cllr James Courtenay, Deputy Leader of the Council, says: “Capital and revenue budgets are two entirely different things and we have a duty to fund essential things like ensuring we can look after our most vulnerable residents, and also ensure that facilities like the Pier and Cliffs Pavilion, which are a source of pride and joy for so many, are invested in and safeguarded for the future. Financially we have tightened our belts, but this must not be to the detriment of our future vision for Southend-on-Sea and our plans must remain bold and ambitious.

“The resident and stakeholder led ambition document Southend 2050, has helped us identify the type of town our residents and stakeholders want to see. With feedback from more than 35,000 people, it helps us to focus both on the work that is needed now, but also over the next few years, to help make those ambitions a reality.

“This can be seen with more investment in things that are important to people in the here and now, including fixing more roads and pavements, investing in more public toilet provision in the seafront area, and ensuring our housing stock is up to decent homes standard, but also looking to the future with investment in the Pier and the Bell junction for example.

“The proposals in this draft capital budget will make a real difference to important local facilities and infrastructure and shows that we are open for business and here to do the very best for local people and businesses.”

If all external funding and viable business cases are approved, then the capital investment programme could be £229m for the period of 2019/20 to 2023/24.

Other investment within the capital programme and already allocated includes £12.7m for the ongoing secondary schools expansion programme, £24.8m for the continued development of Airport Business Park Southend, £11.5m for the delivery of a new 60 bedroom care facility and day centre and £1.3m for the continued construction of  affordable housing on housing land.

There will also be a business and voluntary sector budget consultation event on Thursday 17 January at Holiday Inn, Eastwoodbury Crescent starting at 8.30am (registration from 7.30am). This will give local businesses and stakeholders the opportunity to hear an insight of the 2019/20 budget.

Local authorities across south Essex are working together to support the training of over 1,600 local people for jobs in the construction industry by 2020.
 
This follows a successful bid for £1m of funding from the Construction Skills Fund, led by Southend Council and put together by local authorities across south Essex, including Basildon, Castle Point, Thurrock and Rochford Councils.
 
Plans have been put in place for three construction hubs to be set up in locations across south Essex at the Airport Business Park Southend, Basildon town centre, and Thurrock. These hubs, located on or adjacent to construction sites will be central to training people up for these construction positions.
 
Councils will be working closely with the construction companies and the sub-contractors to identify which skills they need on site and what roles they are recruiting for so individuals can be trained to match these needs.
 
The news comes as the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) announced that they would be setting up the Construction Skills Fund (CSF), which is backed and funded by the Department for Education. This programme is designed to enhance the construction industry as the government aims to build 1 million homes in the UK by 2020.
 
Cllr James Courtenay, cabinet member for Growth at Southend Council, said: “This funding opportunity is fantastic news not only for Southend-on-Sea, but for the whole of south Essex. Locally, we will be working with over 40 different construction companies, all of whom will benefit through the provision of work and site ready applicants for their construction vacancies.
 
“We have worked closely with agencies and organisations across the borough including HARP, local schools and colleges and also our partnering authorities. We are excited at this news and we look forward to creating a sustainable construction industry here in south Essex.”
 
Rochford District Council’s portfolio holder for Enterprise, Cllr George Ioannou, said: “This funding will make a huge difference to the lives of 1600 people who will be trained locally for jobs in the construction industry, as well as to the families they support.
 
“I am delighted that this opportunity will be offered on our doorstep at the Airport Business Park, a game-changing prime employment space which is set to provide new economic opportunities for south Essex.”
 
Sarah Beale, Chief Executive of CITB, said: “The Construction Skills Fund can be a genuine game-changer for both the construction industry and the individuals being trained. We have a massive need for homegrown talent and these projects will bring thousands of new people into our sector, giving them the crucial onsite experience they need to start a career in construction. These 26 hubs will be based at some of the most innovative sites in the UK, and CITB will be working hard to make sure they deliver the skills our industry critically needs.”
 
For more information about the Construction Skills Fund, please visit www.citb.co.uk/.

Free festive parking will return to Southend town centre this December.
 
All 10 of the council run car parks across Southend town centre will be free on Thursdays after 4pm for late-night shopping and all day on Sundays throughout December.
 
Cllr Andrew Moring, cabinet member for infrastructure said: “The Christmas period is important for local traders and that is why we are pleased to once again offer our free festive parking on Thursday evenings and Sundays. I hope that both residents and visitors to Southend-on-Sea will take advantage of this and help local retailers enjoy a bumper Christmas.
 
“We’re also supporting Small Business Saturday on December 1 providing free parking all day in seven of the council run car parks across the Borough, and I hope that residents use this opportunity to shop locally.”
 
Free Sunday parking starts on Sunday 2 December and runs up to and including Thursday 29 December. Car parks included are: Alexandra Street, Warrior Square, Seaway, Clarence Road, Tylers Avenue, York Road, London Road (behind Pizza Express), University Square, Essex Street and Short Street.
 
Free all day parking on Saturday 1 December to celebrate and support Small Business Saturday will be available at the following car parks: Ilfracombe Avenue, North Road, Hamlet Court Road, Elm Road (Leigh-on-Sea), North Street, Ceylon Road and Thorpe Bay Broadway.

Southend Council is set to campaign for an outer relief road to the east of the borough, another river crossing to the east of the Lower Thames Crossing, and for the Crossrail line to be extended to Southend.
 
The ambitious demands form part of a draft five-year plan (2019-2023) which will be discussed by the council’s cabinet on November 6th.
 
The draft plan has been drawn up on the back of a major public engagement programme called ‘Southend 2050 – be part of the conversation’ that started in spring 2018.
 
Over 35,000 people were reached through the work, with 4,000 people actively taking part and 55 events taking place.
 
This work has identified the sort of place residents and stakeholders want Southend-on-Sea to be, and the work needed now and over the next five years (to 2023) to help make that happen. The roadmap also identifies key milestones and projects that will be delivered up to 2023.

Other milestones in the draft plan include the first tenant moving into Airport Business Park Southend by 2020, the start of the Better Queensway regeneration scheme in the same year, the opening of the new Pier pavilion in 2021, and the completion of the Airport Business Park by 2023.
 
The milestones also highlight that a renewed partnership with the voluntary and community sector is a key aspiration for 2019, as is working with schools and academy trusts to secure improvements in underperforming schools.
 
Cllr James Courtenay, Deputy Leader of the Council, says: “Our draft five-year plan for the borough demonstrates a clear ambition and clear direction of what we want to do and what we want to achieve as a council and also as a place.
 
“We know that Southend-on-Sea, and south Essex as a whole, are going to grow in the future, and we are working with councils across south Essex on that.  It will bring numerous economic and social benefits to the area. 
 
“However, we are also adamant that this must be infrastructure led and that is why we are planning to campaign for a road to the east and aim to secure funding for it by 2023, call for Crossrail to be extended to Southend-on-Sea and also help make the case for a further river crossing to the east of the proposed Lower Thames Crossing.”
 
Cllr John Lamb, Leader of the Council, added: “I am delighted to present this plan for the future of our Borough. This is truly a resident and stakeholder led piece of work, and I want to thank each and every person who has got involved.
 
“Our ambition for the Borough and our draft five-year plan has come directly from what local people, businesses and stakeholders have told us they want.
 
“I want to be clear that this isn’t about the year 2050, but it is about planning for the future whilst also dealing with the challenges and issues we face today, tomorrow and over the next five years.
 
“Planning ahead and having an ambition is an essential part of any successful business or place.
 
“Our draft ambition and five-year roadmap has emerged from detailed engagement with a cross section of the community and helped us to identify what we want to achieve as a place, and how we deliver that collectively with our public sector partners, local residents and businesses.
 
“It has told us clearly what is important to local people and it is already helping us to deal with the here and now too.
 
“The excellent and extensive engagement work we have done has helped us to clearly focus on what needs to be done now and into the future to ensure that we achieve our outcomes for the community.”
 
Cabinet are being asked to approve the draft documents and refer them to all three November scrutiny committees for further comments before consideration by a special cabinet on 4th December and then Full Council on 13th December.
 
The draft documents can be read here (agenda item 4).

Southend has been named as one of the first UK locations to be covered by new ultra fast broadband.

The multi-million pound CityFibre project aims to provide gigabit speed connectivity. It is estimated that the upgrade could mean economic benefits for Southend including £24m in boosted productivity and innovation and £15m in new business start-ups.

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre, said: "We are committed to making Southend-on-Sea one of the best-connected digital towns in the UK. Building on our existing investment, which has connected local schools, businesses and public sector buildings, we are now committed to bringing this digital capability to homes and businesses."

CityFibre is working closely with Southend Council to plan and co-ordinate work.

Cllr Andrew Moring of Southend Council said: "We are delighted that Southend-on-Sea is at the forefront of full-fibre roll-out - the finest digital infrastructure the UK has ever seen. This significant investment into the Borough is very welcome.

​"This inward investment will help us attract businesses, help develop our emerging creative and tech sector and encourage hundreds of business start-ups. With this extension of the project, the full benefits will soon be felt by everyone who lives and works here."

The council has unveiled its draft capital budget for April 2018 onwards, with around £20m proposed for new and existing projects up to March 2020.

This additional investment means that, if approved, some £185m of capital investments will made into the Borough over the next four years.

It is also proposed that a further £2.7m of council capital funding is set aside towards developing ‘The Forum II’, an educational, cultural and business space for the digital, cultural and creative industries. This extension to The Forum will, subject to relevant approvals, be majority-funded by Local Growth Funding and South Essex College.

The capital budget, which is separate to the council’s reducing revenue budget, is a rolling budget used to make one-off investments in things like regeneration and housing projects, and to carry out essential improvements to leisure and cultural facilities and ICT systems for example. Funding is raised from a mix of external funding, reserves and borrowing.

Proposed new investment includes:

• Adding a further £10m to the current budget for investment in commercial property. As central Government funding reduces, councils must become financially self-sustaining. Continuing to build a commercial investment portfolio will help build long-term income streams to help fund services. The fund will also be used to secure housing for temporary accommodation. The funds will only be spent if and when appropriate opportunities arise.
• £3.7m on highways schemes, including:

£2.25m for flood prevention works, with half of this coming from external sources – this will see new underground tanks, bunding and increased gulley capacity created on the central seafront to deal with surface water flooding that runs from Queensway down to the central seafront in heavy rainfall. A pumping station and tank storage will also be created to pump out trunk sewers around Hartington Road against high tides, reducing flood risk in the area.

£350,000 to improve the condition of pavements around existing trees.

£325,000 to stabilise an area of emerging cliff slip close to Manor Road, to protect the public footway, coastal road and support of private properties.

£300,000 to undertake improvements to Shoebury Common North, including the creation of a new children’s play area, new paths, new seating and outdoor fitness equipment.

£250,000 to create coach parking and drop-off facilities to accommodate visitors to the seafront.

£200,000 to develop and improve car parking signage for the whole Borough and introduce new signage for the seafront car parks and potential park and ride sites.

• £1m for fire improvement works that become necessary due to any national changes to building regulations and compliance, and £500,000 for planned refurbishment to council property.
• £925,000 for essential works at our theatres and leisure centres.
• £875,000 to convert the former Beecroft Art Gallery in Station Road, Westcliff-on-Sea to 20 artist studios for rent. The building is owned by the Beecroft Art Trust and this project will largely be funded through £575,000 from Arts Council England and other external funding.
• £400,000 to create a small number of local residential care places for children.  This will enable children to stay near their communities, improve their life chances and reduce the number of costly out of borough placements saving £80,000 per year.
• £750,000 to get the Better Queensway project to the next stage of development.
• £500,000 to implement security measures required due to current national threat levels, focused on high footfall areas such as the seafront.

Cllr John Lamb, Leader of the Council, says: “Whilst it may seem unusual to see major investments at the same time as we are highlighting our ever reducing central funding and revenue budgets, we must remain bold, ambitious and invest in our Borough to ensure that we advance and prosper into the future.

“Capital and revenue budgets are two separate things, and we must continue to fund essential things like secondary school places, ensuring that our famous Pier is safeguarded, maintained and improved and investing in plans to look after our elderly and vulnerable through developing new facilities which we are already doing through money already allocated.

“These new projects will allow us to do things like build a commercial property portfolio to give us long-term income streams in the future, carry out important flood prevention works in the central seafront area, carry out fire improvement works where necessary and keep all our buildings up to the standard that local people rightly expect.

“We are also proposing significant new investment in a number of highways projects, and ensuring that we remain a modern business and workforce, by investing in ICT and software improvements.

“Wherever possible these projects will bring income into the council or just must be done.  Despite the austere times this gives us an impressive capital budget to make a difference to important local facilities and infrastructure and shows that we are open for business and here to do the very best for local people and businesses.”
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The new investment would take the approved capital programme for 2018/19 to 2021/22 to £185m of which the level of external funding to support this investment will be £72m. For 2018/19 alone, the investment in the Borough will be £88m.

Train operator c2c has announced a deal for £100m worth of new trains to be manufactured by Bombardier in its Derby factory.

The agreement will see 60 carriages of the latest Aventra trains delivered to c2c by the end of 2021, three years earlier than previously planned.

Each of the new trains is expected to operate in a fixed set of 10 carriages providing a 15% increase in capacity compared to the current 12-carriage trains.

The Trenitalia-owned operator introduced 24 new carriages on a short-term contract last year, and will continue to use this stock until the new fleet is delivered.

Responding to the deal, c2c managing director Julian Drury said: “This is excellent news for c2c customers and we’re delighted to have secured such an important long-term deal for local passengers and the local economy.

“We have accelerated our original plans for new trains because of the scale of growth planned in the boom areas of south Essex and east London, and these British-built trains will help ensure c2c is playing its part in unlocking those benefits to the economy.”

Rail minister Paul Maynard added: “These British-built Bombardier trains, which are coming into service earlier than planned, will provide much needed extra capacity for thousands of passengers across London and Essex, and also come with facilities such as wi-fi, air-conditioning and plug sockets.”

Originally the new fleet was planned to have a phased delivery, with the complete stock given to c2c by 2024. But Trenitalia – which took over the operator earlier this year – decided to speed up plans.

Bombardier’s UK managing director, Richard Hunter, remarked: “Our modern Aventra trains are proving ever more popular and this order will help transform the travel experience for c2c passengers and deliver 25% more seats to c2c’s fleet.
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c2c is also in discussions to lease additional carriages from December next year to fill the gap before new stock arrives – more details on this are expected next year.