Latest news from Southend Rising

New route to Guernsey takes off from Southend Airport

25/1/2019

Blue Islands, a Flybe franchise partner, has today announced it will launch new daily flights to Guernsey from London Southend Airport, starting from 20 May 2019.

Tickets are on sale now at www.flybe.com. All ‘Just Fly’ seats are £29.99 one way, when booked by 30 Jan. From 31 Jan onwards fares will be from £29.99 one way.

The new service will be operated on 68-seat Blue Islands ATR 72-500, with flights taking just 75-minutes.

Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport said “We are delighted that Flybe franchise partner Blue Islands, has chosen London Southend to provide a new route to Guernsey from our fast growing airport. We have now launched an incredible three new routes in January alone. With our own railway station just 100 paces from the terminal door, up to six trains an hour into London in under an hour and our award-winning customer service, we expect our latest route to the Channel Islands to prove very popular with passengers from London and the South East.”

Rob Veron, Blue Islands CEO: “As a Channel Islands based airline, Blue Islands is proud to launch a new daily service from London Southend to Guernsey, making it easier than ever to discover our beautiful island. Equally, the service offers Guernsey residents an effortless way to arrive in London thanks to London Southend’s excellent train connections to central London.”

Stobart Group planning second hotel at Southend Airport

16/1/2019

Stobart Group today announced plans for a second hotel and other major improvements as it celebrates 10 years since the acquisition of Southend Airport.

At a special event to mark the milestone, Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of Southend Airport, said “As you’d expect from London’s fastest growing airport, we’ve seen a lot of change over the last 10 years - and we’re planning for even more change over the next 10. That’s why today we have not only considered our achievements to date, but also looked forward to what the next 10 years could bring – for both London Southend Airport and the airport industry.”

The runway is currently being resurfaced to allow a greater variety of plans to operate from the airport, ahead of the arrival of new partner Ryanair in April. There are also plans to extend the terminal, introduce self-service Bag Drop and increase the food and beverage outlets on offer to passengers. In 2009 when Stobart took over LSA there were just 3,000 passengers a year using the airport – in 2019 there is expected to be 2.5 million.

Mr Jones also revealed the airport will be submitting plans to build a second hotel, commenting: “As we get bigger, we also want to get better – unlike other airports we have absolutely no intention of letting the passenger experience slip as we grow, we want it to improve. We will continue to invest in great people, use big data to understand our market and embrace technology and partnerships. We are absolutely determined to retain our title of Which? ‘Best Airport in London’, which we’ve been named 5 years in a row.”

The airport also joined forces with the start-up hub Founders Factory to invite six exciting companies to join the event for a series of quick-fire presentations that explained the opportunities for change and demonstrated the new technology being developed in the travel industry.
Companies taking part included Dronomics (the first strategic partner for IATA's drones initiatives), ChargedUp (the ‘Boris Bike’ of mobile charging) and Car and Away (the AirBnB for car owners).

Alice Ferrari from Founders Factory said “London Southend Airport and Stobart Group are key partners of easyJet and we have all been working together to bring innovation to the airline industry. Today has been really exciting to see how lots of different key stakeholders are intrigued and so welcoming of innovation and new ideas.”

£10m upgrade to Southend Airport runway

20/12/2018

Works get underway in the new year on a £10 million project to upgrade the durability and performance of the runway at Southend Airport.

Over the past few years the number of passengers using the airport has grown to 1.5 million and this number is expected to rise further in 2019. The runway upgrade is part of the strategic plan for ongoing investment to cater for increased aircraft operations, which will lead to even more local job creation – including the 750 “on-site” jobs created per year with the opening of a new Ryanair base at London Southend in summer 2019.

The majority of the works will be undertaken during night time in order to keep the airport operating smoothly during the day. The runway will be closed to all aircraft between the hours 23:30 – 06:30 to enable the contractors to carry out the planned works in a safe environment.

The work begins on January 9th and is expected to last approximately 3 months.

Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport, said: “It is essential to maintain a safe runway. The last set of major runway works were in 2011 and were part of the runway extension development. Previous to that, maintenance was carried out in 1994. As part of the strategic plan for continued investment to cater for the growth of the airport, within our existing S106 Planning Agreement, we are enhancing the durability and performance of the runway.”

He added “We value our relationship with the local community and, although the nature of these works means that some disturbance is unavoidable, we will be putting a series of measures in place and making every effort possible to ensure that any disturbance is kept to an absolute minimum.”

For further information, please visit our website https://southendairport.com/faqs and click on ‘Runway Works.’

Leigh-on-Sea named happiest place to live in Britain

29/11/2018

Leigh-on-Sea has been crowned the happiest place to live in Britain for the second time in three years after topping Rightmove's 2018 Happy at Home Index.

The town originally took top spot in the 2016 index, and has climbed back into first place again this year.

The findings follow a survey of more than 21,000 people by Rightmove, which asked people how happy they are with where they live across 219 areas in Britain, based on factors such as community spirit, feeling safe, earning enough money to live comfortably, proximity to green spaces and amenities, friendliness and artistic and cultural activities.

Leigh-on-Sea scored highly for community spirit, the opportunity to develop skills, and restaurants and shops.

Valerie Morgan of Leigh-on-Sea Town Council said: "We’re all quite friendly here. People like to pass the time of day with one another, rather than ignore each other. There is also quite a large dog walking community down here so there’s lots of social interaction and people stopping and chatting to each other.”

Rob Cooke, director of Hunt Roche estate agents in Leigh-on-Sea, said: “There is just a lot going on, there are some pretty trendy parts of Leigh-on-Sea.”

The 10 happiest places to live according to Rightmove’s survey:

1. Leigh-on-Sea, East of England
2. Farnham, South East
3. Monmouth, Wales
4. Christchurch, South West
5. Leamington Spa, West Midlands
6. Newbury, South East
7. Macclesfield, North West
8. Hitchin, East of England
9. Tunbridge Wells, South East
10. Kendal, North West

Commemorative poppy garden opens at Southend Airport

9/11/2018

A Community Garden featuring 2,000 red ceramic poppies made by hundreds of children from 25 schools across Southend has been unveiled at Southend Airport this week.

The dramatic installation on the lawn in front of the terminal building is in the shape of a poppy, with its four large petals each consisting of 500 hand-crafted poppies mounted on green bamboo sticks. It is the same flower as the Royal British Legion Poppy, sold annually to raise money to help service men and women from the conflicts of the past 100 years.

Unveiled just ahead of Remembrance Sunday (11 November), The Commemorative Community Poppy Garden is a special dedication to remember the fallen of Southend and Rochford, who lived and served their country in its time of need a century ago. It is particularly poignant the garden is located here, as it was actually the First World War which saw the creation of the site as a base for flying.

Glyn Jones, CEO of Southend Airport, says “The Poppy Garden is a wonderful project that has involved people of all ages from our local community coming together to pay a very special tribute to the memory of those from Southend and Rochford who gave their lives in the service of their country. It is hugely important to us that the airport is at the heart of the community and engaging with everything that is going on locally, that is why we are very honoured to host the Poppy Garden.”

The Poppy Garden is extended inside the terminal with a huge tapestry created by Ali Ward, a former costume designer for Merchant Ivory films (including Room with a View) who is now artist-in-residence at Kingsdown Special School. She and her pupils created the monumental artwork by recycling discarded red T-shirts and weaving them into a piece that gives thanks to the hundreds of service personnel from the Royal Flying Corps who were stationed at LSA during the Great War when it was called Rochford Aerodrome.

Ali says “This has been such a lovely project as so many people have wanted to be involved. The children have loved choosing their fabrics and weaving the poppies, and all of them have got involved, from ages 3 to 14. Our parents have donated loads of fabric and given their time to cut it and to weave too. I think it is important that 100 years on our children are still learning about the sacrifices that have been made and are still being made to keep them safe, especially these children and their families, who fight many battles themselves.”

Local artist Esme Taylor has been working hard to make the garden a fitting tribute to the local people who fought in the Great War. She said: “Having recently experienced my son’s radiant face as I gave him his great, great grandfather’s WW1 medals I realised the power they had on an 11-year-old who knows very little of the heroes who fought for the young of today. It is so important to educate the next generations about remembrance and real heroes of the past and present. Our aim is for the community to come together and enjoy the art work of local artists young and old in a place to reflect and to remember the war heroes and our own personal heroes we have loved and never forgotten.”

The Poppy Garden will remain in place until Thursday 22 November 2018.

Council set to call for huge infrastructure investment in Southend

30/10/2018

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).

Figures show tourism is booming in Southend

30/10/2018

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.”

Major new museum could be built in Southend High Street

18/10/2018

A major new museum could be built in Southend High Street after rising costs made the original seafront location unviable.

Revised designs for a state-of-the-art regional museum on the seafront - to be known as The Thames Estuary Experience - were due to conclude by the end of 2018.

However, an independent technical review of plans by a specialist architecture firm drafted in by the Council, Hawkins Brown, has since confirmed that the existing museum plans would not deliver what was required. Further, a building in that location suitable for housing the significant finds from the Prittlewell Prince and the London Shipwreck would likely cost in the region of £55 million, instead of the previous £40 million estimate.

Cllr Lesley Salter, cabinet member for culture, said. “A state-of-the-art visitor attraction of this nature would be an amazing opportunity for Southend. However, the council has been very clear from the outset that any funding would have to be raised by a board of trustees and would not be met by council tax-payers.

“The £40m was an ambitious task. For this figure to rise to £55m before a single brick has been laid is an unpleasant but necessary wake-up call. It demonstrated to us that we just cannot justify proceeding with this particular plan.

“Our aspiration to provide a world-class museum in the town, showcasing the Thames Estuary’s rich heritage and contribution to the history of Britain, remains unaltered. But not in this location and not with this price tag.

“I would like to thank Hawkins Brown for their work on this project, which is helping us to understand our requirements and the likely costs and income generation opportunities.”

Cllr James Courtenay, cabinet member for growth is also enthusiastic by the opportunities that could be showcased in a new museum but believes any future development should support the regeneration of the High Street.

He said: “The proposed site on the cliffs has been around for a while now, but times have changed and so have the town’s priorities.

“Personally, I would like to see the museum form part of the regeneration our High Street, which is going to have to become a lot more mixed-use in future, rather than being so strongly dominated by retail, which is increasingly becoming an online sector.”

“Diversifying the use of units on the High Street is a key feature of the Council’s Southend Central Area Action Plan, so we already have policy in place that would support increased cultural use of the High Street.

“We need to be realistic about our current situation and consider the best options for drawing in residents and visitors to parts of the town that are important to local people and to the economy.

“It is clear that we have a series of compelling stories to tell and anyone who has seen the current London Shipwreck exhibition in Central museum will appreciate the quality of offer that we are capable of delivering.

“We now need to review our options and come up with a solution that is right for the town, supports its economy and is financially sustainable.”

The London Shipwreck and the Prittlewell Prince finds are two stories of national significance which have the potential to attract visitors from across the country.

An exhibition on the London Shipwreck is currently open at the Central Museum, whilst a permanent display is also planned there in the spring to coincide with the completion of academic work on the Saxon burial site.

Displaying these in Central Southend, where we already have public transport and parking facilities, along with other activities nearby, such as the pier and seafront attractions and eateries, could mean that the museum and the High Street help support each other.

A report will go before Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Cabinet once the current technical assessments, including projected museum income, have been completed.

Southend Airport getting new route to Copenhagen

14/9/2018

The Danish capital Copenhagen will be among the first 14 destinations chosen by Ryanair for its new base at Southend Airport.

Ryanair will be basing three aircraft at Southend Airport, with flights from Southend-Copenhagen starting on April 2. This brand new route will be operated three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Besides Copenhagen, Southend becomes available to travellers to and from Alicante, Bilbao, Brest, Cluj, Corfu, Dublin, Faro, Kosice, Malaga, Milan, Palma, Reus and Venice.

Southend Airport named best in the capital for fifth year running

24/8/2018

London Southend Airport has beaten all the other London airports for the fifth year running to once again be named ‘Best Airport in London’ in the latest Which? airport passenger survey.

This year it boasted a customer satisfaction score of 84% - 14% points more than the next closest airport, London City (70%) – with the Which? press release stating “The airport’s efficient queues through bag drop, security and passport control earned high praises from passengers. With direct trains to Liverpool Street that take under an hour, Southend is the highest-rated London area airport, soaring past rivals Heathrow and Gatwick.”

The impressive customer satisfaction score also makes Southend the 2nd best ranked airport of any size in the whole of the UK (just three points behind Doncaster Sheffield airport with its chart topping 87% score).

Southend scored a maximum five-star rating in six of the ten categories assessed, with staff, queues at bag drop, security and baggage reclaim, toilets and prices in shops / food outlets all top scoring.

Rory Boland, Which? Travel Editor said: “Travellers want to start their trips in the smoothest way, but long queues through airports and a lack of facilities can cast a rain cloud over any getaway. With new routes launching all the time, passengers have an increasing choice over not just who they fly with but where they fly from. If you can pick a smaller airport, choose Southend over Luton to get your holiday off to a better start.”

Glyn Jones, CEO of London Southend Airport, said: “To be named ‘Best Airport in London’ for the fifth-year running is wonderful news and once again testament to all the hard work that the team here at London Southend has put in. Once again ‘Which?’ members have recognised that London Southend offers a substantially better way to travel with fast and frequent train services to the heart of London, at least every 15-minutes, a raft of new routes and exceptional customer service. They’re all key factors in our success and why more and more passengers are repeatedly choosing London Southend Airport over all the others.”

Leigh event to help us protect our seas

15/8/2018

Visitors to Old Leigh will be able to find out about how they can do their bit to reduce marine pollution this week.

Members of Make Southend Sparkle – a campaign that involves volunteers in activities that make Southend a greener, cleaner place – will be at Bell Wharf of Friday 17 August along with representatives of Anglian Water to highlight the impact on our seas of flushing cotton buds and wet wipes down the toilet and pouring fat down the drain.

They will also be explaining how even small items like discarded cigarette butts and small plastic items can damage our seas and the wildlife in them. The Council’s stop smoking team will also be on hand to give assistance and advice to anyone who wants to quit.

Cllr Mark Flewitt, cabinet member for public protection, said: “This event will be an eye-opener for many and will demonstrate how simple things you do in your home every day can have a knock-on effect for our waterways.

“We are inviting people along to have a chat - get some information. There will also be some free giveaways and the opportunity to sign up for volunteering around the Borough.”

New jobs created as Giraffe STOP and Costa touch down at Southend Airport

31/7/2018

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.”

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.”