No to AV Voting System

It is unlike me to wait and consider the facts but after giving the matter serious consideration I will be campaigning for a no vote in a referendum on using the Alternative Vote for future General Elections.

The reason why I gave this a lot of thought is that I think there is a lot of scope in both electoral reform. For instance, I believe that the West Lothian question needs addressing, the House of Lords should be an elected Upper Chamber, voting age should be lowered to 16 and there is argument to expriement holding elections on weekends - but the AV voting system is a retrograde step as it is not full PR and a miss mash to appease 'reformers'. I whilst I accept the First Past the Post System isn't perfect it is the best of a bad bunch.

I have received this amusing picture from a friend of mine who is staunchly opposed to AV which I thought I would share:

The Beautiful Game

Most footballers complain that the close season seems to get shorter and shorter for most football fans the weekends between May and August can get rather depressing without their weekly fix of their favourite football team.

This year the close season was only effectively four days as the World Cup kept us occupied until the 11th July and then on the 15th July Motherwell kicked off their season with a Europa League qualifying game against Breidablik (It finished 1-0 to Motherwell for those of you that are interested).

This edition of the World Cup was a disappointment on the whole and certainly not up to the standards of Italy 1990 and France 1998. This could possibly be down to the beach ball used in the competition or perhaps England’s poor performance when optimism was genuinely high following the excellent qualifying campaign. For me, Spain, the best team won but the most exciting team, Germany, finished third.

What the World Cup really showed was how poor, technically, the Premier League is. Even the foreign players who represented nations in the latter stages of the competition were very disappointing. Technically poor the Premier League may be but exciting it certainly is.

As the fallout continues following England’s disastrous performances and limp exit, one body I wouldn’t have expected to jump on the bandwagon is parliament.

In the week following England’s exit no less than six Early Day Motion’s (EDM’s) were tabled. For those who do not know what an EDM is, it is a daily petition which MP’s can register their support to a particular cause. In most cases EDM’s are never debated and are nothing more than Parliamentary graffiti. In 2005, it was estimated that each EDM actually costs the taxpayer £250.00 – at least £1,500.00 wasted!

Upon looking at the EDM’s it more detail it is surprising that signatories to most of these EDM’s come from Southend West MP David Amess and Mike Hancock, Liberal Democrat member for Portsmouth South.

I say I am surprised because they have never once criticized the poor financial state Southend United and Portsmouth are in – clubs in or near their constituencies through an EDM.

Surely for them this has to be more important than the state of the Football Association, English Football and urging FIFA to introduce goal-line technology

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