A Loss to West Shoebury

I was saddened to hear earlier this week that Cllr Liz Day has decided to resign as a West Shoebury councillor with immediate effect. Liz has been figting a gutsy, brave and determined battle against breast cancer. Unfortunately, Liz's health has detoriated and feels that it is time to hand over her duties.

Liz was more than just a ward colleague over the past 10 years, she became a personal friend. I believe that Liz's departure from civic life will be a loss to West Shoebury and the Council chamber - especially her work on fostering and adoption.

This means that when residents go to the polls on the 7th May, they will be electing two councillors as well as a member of Parliament. A selection process is currently underway to find a candidate to replace Liz.

Woodley's Musings

Another of the Independent Party leaflets that warrants further scrutiny is that of Leader of the Council Ron Woodley.



Again, another common feature of all the Rainbow Coalition leaflets is the collective amnesia of Council Tax rising by 1.95%, car parking charges hiked on average by 11%, 55 litter bins being removed across the town, public toilets on borrowed time and 5 officers who deal with fly tipping and issuing on the spot fines for dog fouling finding their way to the labour exchange.

There is a candid admission that under any Independent Party led administration in Southend there will be further services lost although there are no precice details on what these will be. There is also the usual Woodley Council fianances maths lesson. I would love to be a fly on the wall in 'Tyrone Road Towers' to see if he actually believes the nonsense he espouses.

Another service which will be abolished on the 1st April will be the textile recycling service. Again, this does not feature in the leaflet but the little nugget is that Ron is offering to deliver top up white textile recycling sacks to Thorpe residents doors. So, if Thorpe residents are running low on white textile recycling sacks, remember, you only have 16 days to use Ron's generous offer.

Chalky's Porkies

I do not usually make a habbit of commenting on opponents literature but the latest leaflet delivered from Comrade Chalk, the former Labour now Independent Party councillor for Shoeburyness ward needs further analysis.

I am usually kind and describe Cllr Chalk's missives as mistruths, however, on this occasion I have to make an exception and call them downright lies. Strong, I know, but no other words seem applicable. I have a feeling it will be a lonely election campaign for Anne if the whispers from inside the Indies camp are to be believed.

Rumour has it that her fellow ward party colleagues Mike Assenheim and Nick Ward despise her and are refusing to endorse her campaign. I would suspect this is not to far from the truth as I am mentioned in her leaflet more than her ward colleagues.

The first big fat porky is regarding the saving of the two care homes. Under previous Conservative plans Delaware House was to remain open and yes, Priory House was to close to provide a new care facility on the Delaware House site.

Following the Rainbow Coalition review, Delaware House is to close, Priory House will close in three years and a new care centre will be built on the Priory House site.

The second porkie is that I am still continuing to openly support the previous flood defence plans for Shoebury Common. Had Cllr Chalk had a half a brain she would have been aware that I had said in a previous post on the 28th January that if a better scheme is proposed from the review then it will get my full support.

The third porkie is that the death nail for the previous plans at Shoebury Common will come at a special scrutiny meeting on the 23rd March. Unless I need emergency treatment, I can not see Shoebury Common as an agenda item on the agenda below:



Porkie number four is that Friars Library is to remain open. Following yet another Rainbow Coalition review, they endorsed the Conservatives plan for a new Library to be based at the Shoebury Youth Centre complex. Friars Libary will remain open until the new Library is operational. It should be noted that Cllr Chalk voted to endores these proposals.

If anyone wishes to doubt me, the cabinet paper can be found below:



The fifth and final porkie is that the proposals to close the toilets at East Beach and Campfield Road have been overturned. Yes, the proposals have been put on ice - for now. A recent Oracle article from the Leader of the Council makes it clear that he may revisit their closure in the near future.



It is what's missing in Comrade Chalk's leaflet that is worth noting. It would seem that she does not have the balls to tell Shoeburyness residents that she voted for 11 litter bins to be removed, council tax to rise by 1.95%, car parking charges to be raised on average by 11%, textile recycling abolished and the firing of 5 officers who deal with fly tipping and issue on the spot fines for dog fouling.

Hypocrite Number 2

This little nugget appeared in last weeks Echo which has seemed to gone un-noticed on Southend's political blogsphere.

In her first year we have heard very little of the dulcet tones of Cllr Mulroney yet in true Rainbow Coalition fashion her first words of note are blatent hypocrisy.

In a previous post, I exposed the hypocrisy of Cllr Assenheim in criticising the removal of the litter bins in Shoebury but later that evening voting for their removal.

In the latest case of this illness spreading through the Rainbow Coalition, we now have Cllr Mulroney claiming that parking charges in Belton Way are harming local shops.

This would have been a noble cause hadn't Cllr Mulroney voted to increase car parking charges on average by 11% and parking charges in the High Street by 20% two weeks ago which are surely going to impact local business.

James Duddridge - Working For Rochford & Southend East

Shoeburyness Record - Council Budget Special