Residents of Southend-on-Sea shared their vision for the City’s future as part of engagement to help the council form a new strategy for the city centre.

On Thursday 12 May, new community hub The Ironworks at number 90 on Southend High Street opened its doors to residents who wished to share their opinions on the subject, with an online version of the survey also available on the Your Say Southend platform.

This engagement has started the process to create a new strategy to regenerate Southend City Centre. The strategy will set a clear vision and series of actions to guide the future development and direction of Southend City Centre for years to come. It will also help to form a list of projects to attract investment into the City to improve quality of life, bring jobs, and improve the environment. 

The six-hour event hosted over 85 participants from various sectors including education, local business, housing, arts and culture, transport, health and many more people dropped in throughout the day to provide their thoughts and suggestions. The sessions were led by architecture and urbanism experts 'We Made That’, who hosted a ‘question and answer’ style drop-in. Many passers-by also received leaflets with the survey website address to take part at home online in their own time.

A spokesperson from We Made That said: “There was lots of positive and helpful feedback from the sessions which we will take forward and help us shape the city centre strategy and investment plan. We hope that people found the sessions helpful and informative.”

Cllr Ian Gilbert, cabinet member for economic recovery and regeneration, added: “It was fantastic to see so many people drop by to take part in the consultation last week, and for those who were unable to make the in-person session, the consultation is still available online. I encourage as many people as possible to take part in the online survey so that we can develop a strategy that reflects the views of Southend’s residents.”
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A physical exhibition of the event is currently available to view at the Forum Library, and the online version of the consultation is available on the Your Say Southend website, which will run until Friday 27 May 2022.

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  

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: planningpolicy@southend.gov.uk

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 planningpolicy@southend.gov.uk or telephone 01702 215408.

​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/.

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).

Visitor numbers to Southend reached a record high in 2017, according to a new tourism assessment.
 
The key results from the 2017 Economic Impact Assessment – an independent assessment conducted by tourism insights experts Destination Research - has shown that tourism in Southend reached new heights in a record breaking year.
 
Key results show that:

• More than 7.5 million trips were undertaken in the area, an increase of around 500,000 from 2016
• £335m was spent by tourists, an increase of £22m from 2016
• 9,587 jobs supported for local residents, an increase of 607 from 2016
• £50m generated from overnight visits, an increase of £2m from 2016

Cllr James Courtenay, cabinet member for growth, said: “Figures from the recent Economic Impact Assessment reveal Southend’s tourism economy continued to go from strength to strength last year. The council has worked closely with our partners, such as Southend BID, to entice day-trippers to the borough and encourage them to stay longer.
 
“I’m pleased to see an increase in number of trips, number of overnight visits, money spent in the borough through tourism and also more tourism jobs filled by local people. This is all fantastic news for the town.
 
“So far this year we have also seen record visitor numbers for the pier, and I am confident that visitor numbers for this year will be similarly impressive. Our focus now must be to continue to ensure our town remains a place people wish to keep coming back to and our recent High Street summit is and important part of that.”

Passengers at Southend Airport can now enjoy an increased range of food and drink following the opening of Giraffe STOP and Costa Coffee.

The Giraffe STOP, which opened for the first time at the airport yesterday, follows the recent agreement with TRG Concessions to take over catering outlets. The airport also expects to see the opening of bespoke pub brand, The Navigator, later this summer.

The new outlets have led to the creation of 20 new jobs, including permanent manager roles.

Lauren Hawes, who lives in Southend will become the new Unit manager for Giraffe STOP having only started working with TRG Concessions at London Southend a few months ago. She said, “Working at my local airport has been a fantastic whirlwind experience for me. I haven’t been here that long but I’ve really enjoyed my experience and learnt a lot. It’s fantastic that the airport is creating such amazing career opportunities for local people like me.”

Nick Ayerst, the managing director of TRG Concessions, said: "We are delighted to have acquired sites at London Southend Airport, given its current growth and future prospects. We look forward to trading them with a view to developing further award-winning new concessions at the airport over the next few years. We welcome our new team members into the business and will be investing in them to help support future growth in our Southend business.” 
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Glyn Jones, CEO of London Southend Airport said, “This new partnership with TRG Concessions, which will bring six new high street brands to London Southend Airport, is fantastic news for passengers. It is also a great vote of confidence in the UK’s fastest growing airport, another step along our road to becoming both bigger and better. And as we grow, we can create even more job opportunities for the local community.”

London Southend Airport owner, Stobart Group, has today announced an exciting new partnership with Ryanair.

This five-year agreement, extendable to ten, will see Ryanair open a new base at London Southend Airport with three Ryanair planes operating out of the airport from Summer 2019, providing 13 routes to eight European countries, including six new destinations.

Ryanair is making a $300 million investment in the new routes and will operate over 55 weekly flights, creating 750 “on-site” jobs per year.
This agreement will enable the airport to welcome at least one million additional passengers in the first year and in excess of five million in the first five years.

The destinations will include Alicante, Barcelona Reus, Bilbao, Brest, Corfu, Cluj, Dublin, Faro, Kosice, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Palma and Venice.

David O’Brien, Chief Commercial Officer of Ryanair, said: “We are pleased to add London Southend Airport to our UK base network. Ryanair guests travelling to and from London and the Essex area can now enjoy low fares on a choice of 13 routes through London Southend’s exceptionally passenger friendly terminal. Southend’s train station will deliver direct services from the terminal to London Liverpool St and also the new Crossrail service (opening in 2019), making the airport even more accessible from all parts of London.”

Warwick Brady, CEO of Stobart Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome Ryanair, Europe’s favourite airline, and its customers to London Southend Airport.

"Passengers are increasingly turning to London Southend Airport amid the capacity crisis found elsewhere in the capital, where holidaymakers and business travellers face frustration from overcrowded airports, impacting on customer service.

"In contrast, London Southend Airport offers an excellent, efficient passenger experience, and we are delighted that this is becoming increasingly recognised, demonstrated by the tremendous momentum within our Aviation division.

"We have a clear and focused strategy to grow our airport in order to welcome five million passengers a year by 2022. This long-term partnership agreement with a leading airline such as Ryanair will help us achieve that aim. Since joining Stobart Group over 12 months ago I have been working closely alongside the team at London Southend Airport to secure a major airline that will allow us to deliver on our growth targets. This agreement demonstrates that we now have the right team, skill set and strategy in place to deliver on our stated ambitions."

​About the Ryanair route destinations
13 new routes: Alicante (5 weekly), Barcelona Reus (2 weekly), Bilbao (4 weekly), Brest (2 weekly), Corfu (2 weekly), Cluj (3 weekly), Dublin (12 weekly), Faro (5 weekly), Kosice (3 weekly), Malaga (5 weekly), Milan Bergamo (4 weekly), Palma (4 weekly) & Venice (4 weekly).

Oak Furniture Land, the UK’s largest retailer of solid hardwood furniture, will open its first showroom in Southend this weekend.

Featuring a mezzanine floor, the 18,284 sq ft furniture store is located at the Airport Retail Park, in Rochford Road, and will open its doors at 9am on Saturday, March 31.

The new showroom has created seven new jobs and forms part of the company’s on-going expansion plans, which saw the retailer open 22 new stores last year.

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.

QinetiQ and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are investing £20 million into MOD Shoeburyness to upgrade the Environmental Test Centre (ETC) based at the range and recruit more specialist engineers.

Part of a strategy to modernise UK test & evaluation, the investment will ensure that the ETC remains the leading facility of its type in the UK and, combined with improved efficiencies, will enable more work to be conducted at the range*.

Throughout their life span, all Ordnance, Munitions and Explosive (OME) assets will be subjected to many and varied environmental conditions, but must still perform as intended when functioned. The ETC provides facilities, technology and expertise to allow customers to safely assess how their live munitions react when subjected to these various different environments and climates so that they can have confidence it will work when and where they really need it. 

Using remotely controlled test equipment, the ETC can replicate vibration, shock and impact effects under extremes of temperatures and carry out climatic tests such as humidity, driving rain, immersion, and sand and dust. Radiographic equipment is also used to carry out non-destructive inspection throughout the testing programme.

The £20m investment will fund new and refurbished and expanded test buildings, the replacement of ageing and obsolete equipment and the recruitment of additional specialist engineers to strengthen the technical team’s capability.

Steve Fitz-Gerald, Managing Director Maritime, Land and Weapons, QinetiQ, said: “At QinetiQ we are seeing a real increase in demand from customers who require the type of activity that only the Environmental Test Centre can provide. This investment is a direct response to that. Being able to provide confidence to a customer that their Ordnance, Munitions and Explosive (OME) assets can perform as designed in all weather and climatic conditions is vital to our national security. The investment will allow for a more varied number of tests and increase the capacity to meet the demand for this work, providing value for money to our customers.”

QinetiQ manages MOD Shoeburyness on behalf of the MOD as part of the Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA). To find out more about the Environmental Test Centre or the LTPA, visit the LTPA website.

*All testing is undertaken indoors which means there will be no additional noise at the range resulting from the increase in work.