No Drinking to Whale & Dolphin Watching

It has been a busy last few weeks as I begin my new portfolio position and have had to hit the ground running somewhat.

I have a few papers which were in the last cabinet cycle and are waiting for the challenge when they are debated by scrutiny and full council. These include a no drinking zone for the Four Rivers Estate and surrounding roads, the removal of an area designed to stop more drinking establishments in an area around the town centre and the new city beach area and climate change action plan.

Locally much has been done including cleaning the piece of beach owned by the MoD off Shoebury Common Beach, introduction of street cleaning in the Garrison for unadpted roads, pot holes repaired in Waterloo Road, Graffiti removed from Maplin Way bridge and Thorpedene Library and also the exciting introduction of some new play areas.

On top of this I have had a couple of family holidays to Tunisia a few weeks back and also a small cruise to Bilbao. It was an excellent experience seeeing the whales and dolphins in the Bay of Biscay and also an excellent trip to the Guggenheim Museum, a must do for anybody holidaying in the South of France or visiting Bilbao.

No Drining Zone - Update

You may have noticed that signs have been erected on the Four Rivers Estate advising people that they have 15 days to respond to tne consultation for the no drinking zone.

One of my first acts as portfolio holder for waste and public protection was to get the area extended from just the Four Rivers, West Road and Ness Road to also include a small part of St Andrews Road, Seaview Road, Trafalgar Road and Waterloo Road.

Discussions are currently underway as to the fine that will be imposed. Watch this space.

New Play Equipment for Shoebury Parks

Yesterday I spent the morning with the playbuilding team as they were out consulting with young people at four different Shoebury play areas to see what they want.

It was a very positive event and it is good subsidary play areas in Jena Close, Delaware Road and Wicklow Walk receiving attention.

There were also impressive plans for a revamped skate park in Shoeburyness Park which was particularly well received. It is intresting that just a month after the local elections Conservatives are already delivering major schemes in Shoeburyness.

A change is as good as the rest

After having a well deserved holiday in Tunisia with Mrs and Miss Cox it was interesting to see upon my return that a number of changes are to happen immediately in local government following an announcement by the new government this week.

Gone is Comprehensive Area Assessment the scoring system used to rak how good Local Authorities are performing. This is a shame in some ways as Southend was on the verge of a 4* rating but on the whole it needed to go.

Having a plan with local targets is clearly part of good governance and Southend can now look to local needs and aspirations to set its own sensible targets and objectives.

The Conservative Party promised a raft of changes and we are beginning to get them, along with the demise of the Audit Commission, out will go:

- The removal of The Regional Planning System along with its requirements to provide gypsy and traveller pitches in Southend,

- A specified number of new dwellings, which can now be determined locally to meet local needs,

- The removal of imposed affordable housing targets, again now to be determined locally.

It’s early days yet and clearly the Council will have to consider carefully how it can amend its policies to reflect local need rather than imposed targets across all the services it offers. It is intresting times for local government.

Happy Birthday's All Round!

It seems that the months of April and May are a time of celebration. In April it was the birthday's of my mother and mother in law and also that of Miss Cox who turned one, oh and by the way, Mrs Cox in the end made the most fantastic birthday cake after much ribbing from me.

It was my own birthday on 5th May which now makes me the ripe ald age of 32, and my father in law also clebrated his birthday on the 13th May. It is not the end of the celebrations as my sister in law to be also celebrates her birthday at the end of the month - we are just waiting for Sam to set the date and make an honest woman of her.

It is also interesting to note that there are a couple of important birthdays around Shoebury. Firstly, the Shoebury residents asociation has just celebrated it's 60th birhday but what you may not be aware of is that the Shoeburyness & Thorpe Bay Baptist Church celebrate their Centenary Year. Based in Caulfield Road the church does a huge amount work within the community and Shoeburyness High School which shouldn't be forgotten. I look forward to their next hundred years.

So happy birthday's all round! Cheers

Thank You West Shoebury

My apologies to all the followers of this blog on the light content over the past couple of weeks. It has been a hectic time and would like to thank all the residents of West Shoebury who voted for me and gave me a overwhelming mandate to contine my work in making sure that West Shoebury remain a fantasic place to live. The full result for West Shoebury can be found here.

There are a few personal thank you's that I would like to mention as without their help and support wouldn't have made the result possible. Firstly, Mrs Cox who has been a rock throughout my entire campaign and worked relentlessly on polling day. Secondly, Cllr Roger Hadley, my agent and now good friend who was there to keep me going throughout the hard and low points of the campaign.

I now at times it has been a nasty campaign and some candidates acroos the town have fought campaigns from the gutter but I want to say a few words about Independent Party candidate Evelyn Assenheim. At the count on the 7th May Mike here husband and Independent Party ward councillor in neighbouring Shoeburyness ward said that if Evelyn's dad had been alive he would have been so pround as se was always the quiet one of the family.

With that in mind I congratulate Evelyn on having the courage to stand. James Moyies the UKIP Party candidate also fought a hard campaign but had the dubious honour of loosing two elections in two days. In 2004 I had the misfortune of losing two elections in the same day. I lost Kursaal Ward by 4 votes and was also a list candidate for the London GLA elections and lost that too.

Things have also moved on since election day and I have been asked to join the cabinet to look after the portfolio for Public Protection and Waste which I have accepted and should be ratified on Thursday.

This now means that Shoeburyness has three councillors in the top jobs which can only be a good thing in helping attract funding and investment. I will keep you posted on all developments.

Mrs Assenheim Emails - The shocking Truth

Followers of this blog will remember a previous post which revealed that West Shoebury Independent Party Candidate Evely Assenheim believes that the resdents of West Shoebury are cranks and that no Indpendent can get anything done.

Today, I can reveal the full shocking email exchange here.