Five of Southend-on-Sea’s beaches will be proudly flying prestigious Blue Flags once again following the announcement made by Keep Britain Tidy.

The Blue Flag awards, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, is an international award for well-managed beaches with excellent water quality.

East Beach, Shoebury Common Beach, Thorpe Bay Beach, Westcliff Beach and Three Shells Beach have all retained their Blue Flag this summer, highlighting the quality of the beaches across the City.

In addition, all Southend beaches have once again been presented with a Seaside Award by Keep Britain Tidy. The Seaside Award recognises beaches that are well-managed and maintained. This includes Bell Wharf Beach, where bathing had previously been discouraged.

The news comes after the recent launch of the new, eco-friendly electric pier trains, with the council confident the summer will be a record-breaking one for the pier and for local businesses, as the country continues to recover from the pandemic.

Cllr Carole Mulroney, cabinet member for environment, culture, tourism and planning, said “Receiving these awards for our beaches means that our residents and visitors can be sure that they are clean and safe and meet the highest environmental standards.

“Southend-on-Sea welcomes over 7 million visitors per year, and with Blue Flag and Seaside Awards flying above our beaches, residents and visitors will know that they are the best in the country. The flags attract visitors, and with us now being a City, this combination will prove a huge boost for local businesses through the popular summer months.
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“We want everyone to enjoy our beaches and help keep them award winning. We are all aware of the damage rubbish causes to marine life and the quality of the water, so we can all personally make a difference by disposing of rubbish responsibly when visiting the seaside or taking it home if bins are full.”

Improvement works to East Beach, Shoeburyness, which will provide increased parking and easier access for residents and visitors, are progressing well following the start of the work in April.

The two-phase project will see the existing layout of East Beach improved, with the existing car park - which is currently unmarked, made up of loose gravel and heavily worn - resurfaced and have 224 spaces marked out, including 11 disabled spaces. The car park is also being wired to accommodate electric vehicle charging points as demand grows in the coming years.
 
Further improvements are also being made to the area, with a dedicated footpath and cycle access from Shoeburyness High Street to enable better access to the area, alongside additional solar powered lighting columns and increased CCTV coverage. Works started on phase one of the project last month, with the footpath and cycleway being constructed, and the wiring for the electric vehicle chargers installed. This phase is on schedule and will be completed in approximately two weeks.  

The construction of the car park will be carried out as part of phase two. The project is being undertaken by Marlborough Highways and council engineers, and the project is due to be completed by the end of August 2022. 

Cllr Steven Wakefield, cabinet member for transport, asset management and inward investment, said: “East Beach has needed these improvement works for some time now, so it is great to see it underway. The improved layout will benefit visitors to East Beach but also residents and those from the surrounding area.

“It’s important that we improve our visitor offering to the east of the City. East Beach is one of our many sought out attraction spots for residents and visitors alike, and so it is great that these works are due to be completed in August, making our open spaces and facilities more accessible, which will include the proposed new cafés, refurbished toilets and beach. 

“It’s great news that the proposed café developments for East Beach also now have planning permission and we expect those to be coming forward over the course of 2022. Any expressions of interest for these should be directed to local agent Ayers and Cruiks who are engaged by the Council to market these.

“The car park will also have the facilities for commuters to purchase a season ticket – available on our website for just £45 per month - so that they can use the car park hassle-free and get on the train for their commute, and perhaps even grab a coffee from one of the cafés beforehand.
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“As we continue to work towards creating a carbon-neutral City by 2030, it is important we intensify the roll-out of electric car charging points to keep up with expected future demand. As such, wiring is being installed for all spaces, so they would have the capacity to become E-charging points in the future.” 

London Southend Airport was delighted to welcome the return of holidaymakers as it reopened its terminal this week.
 
From the start of May, easyJet returned to flying to London Southend Airport from Malaga six times a week, Palma four times a week and Faro twice a week using an A320 aircraft.
 
The return of easyJet flights is likely to prove popular with locals. In a recent survey that included responses from over 7,000 people living in the East of England, 90% of people gave the airport 8-10 in terms of favourability. Respondents are expected to be delighted with easyJet’s plans, having named Spanish destinations Palma and Malaga top of the list wish of destinations.
 
Glyn Jones, CEO, said: “London Southend Airport is delighted to welcome back passengers for the first flights from the newly minted City of Southend. People living locally, in London and across the east of England can now get back to quickly and easily travelling through our award winning airport, breezing through one of the UK’s quickest security experiences then relaxing before jetting off on easyJet flights to hugely popular summer destinations, Malaga, Palma and Faro.
We’d like to thank our truly outstanding team for all their efforts in making sure we’re ready to welcome back passengers and we want to recognise the huge support we have received from our amazing local community throughout an incredibly challenging time brought about by the pandemic. We look forward to seeing you at London Southend Airport soon.”
 
 Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Country Manager said: "We are delighted to be flying once again from London Southend Airport this summer, providing customers with convenient direct connections to explore or relax in some of Europe’s most popular beach destinations. We are proud to be the largest airline in the UK and to serve our customers from London Southend once again with more choice and great value fares.”

From 31 August, Southend Airport will offer passengers twice weekly direct flights with Widerøe to Bergen, known as one of the happiest places in the world.

Bergen is Norway’s second largest city and offers an adventurous retreat with the feeling of a small town. It has much to offer, from hiking in the hillsides, stunning fjords and mountains to exploring the cobbled streets and colourful buildings, seafood markets, art exhibits, museums and more.
 
Passengers can fly to Bergen via the new Embraer 190-E2 jet, which is the market's most modern and environmentally friendly jet in this class and has a seat configuration of two + two allowing 144 passengers. The 1 hour 50-minute flight will offer passengers a fast connection to Norway.
 
Christian Skaug, Commercial Director Widerøe, said: “We are strengthening our focus on Bergen as a hub for traffic throughout the country. With this new route we continue to build on the network Widerøe has developed in and around Bergen and Western Norway in recent years. We start cautiously, but if we see that the offer is well received, we will consider adding more weekly departures.”
 
Glyn Jones, CEO of Stobart Aviation, “We are pleased to offer this new route to one of Europe’s most stunning cities. A further 8 connections also become available from this destination, allowing easy connectivity across Norway. London Southend Airport is extremely accessible, boasts excellent customer service and has been ranked London’s best airport by consumer group Which?”
 
www.wideroe.no  
 
https://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/fjord-norway/bergen/

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.”

​Record numbers of visitors are coming to Southend’s shores and they are staying here for longer, the town’s tourism leaders have heard.
 
Businesses, volunteers and council partners were told the welcome news at Southend’s fourth Annual Tourism Conference, where representatives of Visit Essex also stated that Southend was experiencing an increase in overnight stays – the only borough in the county to do so.
 
The conference, held on Southend Pier last week, saw attendees sharing ideas for the upcoming season and reviewing the town’s progress against its ambitious tourism strategy, Destination Southend-on-Sea, which aims to propel the town to being “England’s number one coastal destination.”
 
Delivering excellent customer service was a key theme of the conference, following on from the ‘Make Southend Sparkle’ campaign, which sees residents and businesses join forces to spruce up the borough’s streets with litter picks, beach cleans and planting.
 
Place branding and developing better communications were also key themes that delegates were keen to highlight.
 
Scott Dolling, Director of Culture, Tourism and Property, said: “News that more people are visiting Southend and that they are staying longer is a real boon for the town and shows that businesses, volunteers and the council are working well together to deliver against our ambitious tourism strategy.
 
“That this news comes before the Easter Holidays – which typically sees the year’s first large surge of visitors and will this year welcome the Southend Shakedown Resurrection – is especially welcome.
 
“This conference, now in its fourth year, helps bring like-minded, positive businesses and organisations together to see how we can work better together for the benefit of the town and its economy.
 
Jacqui Dallimore, chair of the Southend Tourism Partnership, said: “Southend welcomes 7.5 million visitors a year, with tourism supporting 9,500 people through direct employment and bringing £440m into the local economy. It’s vital that Southend’s visitor offer continues to grow and evolve and the Annual Tourism Conference is crucial in setting the tone and establishing the priorities for the visitor season ahead.”

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.”
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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.”​

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