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).
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).
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