Weekly West Shoebury Review

When I was first elected in 2006 I maintained that my first priority would always be to the residents of West Shoebury. This is the first of a weekly feature where each week, I will be giving an update on the work I am doing specifically in West Shoebury.

At the start of the week I was delighted to hear that Shoebury Common Beach had been awarded the Gold Award from the Good Beach Guide for its water quality. On Wednesday, councillors from both West Shoebury and Shoeburyness ward were given the opportunity to have a look at the refurbished Shoebury Leisure Centre and to ensure preparations are in place for the re-opening today.

I also released pictures of the poor state that the listed front facade on the former picture palace was in on Ness Road with a committment that if the developer renegades on a promise to rebuild the front facade back to its original design then I will not support it.

Thursday was a busy day where I attended the first full council of the year where Sally Carr was elected as Mayor and the new leader of the council was elected. Straight after, I attended the Saxon Gardens Community Circle meeting and shortly after attended the inaugural West Road Traders & Community Association. This was a very good meeting and there was much discussion on ways to attract people to West Road and how we engage residents and community groups to make this happen.

There was also a good discussion around getting residents to take Civic Pride in the area. A couple of issues were also raised regarding having lighting in the alleyway which runs behind the shops in West Road and a suggestion that the council should write to residents in West Road, Ness Road, Richmond Avenue and St Andrews Road to remind dog owners to clean up after their dogs to help prevent persistent dog fouling in the area. I am looking into both issues.

I have received some casework from residents week where I assisted a resident in Delaware Crescent with a housing query and a resident in Avon Way who is running a community event in Southchurch Park who needed assistance with rubbish being cleared from the event. I will update readers on the progress on some of the issues raised in future reviews and round ups.