Kicking out the jams (or “go away, we don’t want you or your custom”)

The problem with being reliant on local media reporting is that there is always the danger that you do not get the full picture. Thus beholden to the Southend Echo for its reporting of Wardens scare off scooter rally mods I can only hope that it is accurate (whilst wishing that it is not). I have had a very sore back (thanks to Gary Pepper at Hadleigh Osteopathy for the treatment) and so did not witness scooters being driven away by zealous traffic enforcement.

It seems that the council are now not content with scooters rallies. They are already less than welcoming to cruise events, have scrapped the air show, and are shutting the pier for a number of days in the winter. Thank goodness there is full employment and no need for visitors and their cash!

I have had family work in traffic enforcement and know what an important, if under-valued, job they do. It is not easy and often they are assaulted. It is sad but true that there are members of the public who are unrestrained in demonstrating their displeasure. That being said, I have heard far too many stories of over-enthusiastic enforcement that allows little room for common sense.

The vast majority of those caught parking where they should not will be annoyed but will be realistic if they know they are in the wrong. What does irritate is where no allowance is made when dropping off old or infirm relatives, or the brief stop to unload shopping and kids. I have even heard someone being fined whilst they went in search of change for the ticket machines.

I hear stories of traffic wardens hiding behind bushes ready to pounce at the merest transgression, and of shoppers who are a minute or two late returning to vehicles only to see the dreaded ticket under the windscreen wiper (to the despair of local shopkeepers who wonder whether it is another customer lost to out of town shopping areas where parking is free).

How parking is enforced in Southend-on-Sea is a political decision. We should be proud that people want to visit our seafront. These scooter rallies in of themselves entertain the locals by virtue of their cherished and often exotic machines; that they will also unleash their wallets in search of cheap and tasty repasts in something that can only be good for traders.

How parking is enforced in Southend-on-Sea is a political decision. Politicians should be encouraging sensible enforcement, and should suggest that frightening away visitors, however it may strain and constrain traffic flow and the available parking spaces, is not a very good idea.

How parking is enforced in Southend-on-Sea is a political decision, and should be made using common sense.

Art without the bollocks

Here is the itinerary for the forthcoming Estuary Fringe 2013 (subtitled “art without the bollocks”). I am grateful to Mark Sharp for providing this information.

 

Fringe Galleries:

Fringe@ The Old Hat Merchandise Store Featuring Kaluki

Alexandra Street Southend-on-Sea

“Fringe Hub” – Festival Information centre and main gallery exhibiting works by many local artists

Open Sat 15^th June to Sat 22^nd June (am to 5pm

Fringe@ Yoga Dharma

Southchurch Road Southend-on-Sea

Exhibition “Vacant” – A whole load of nothing with extra stuff

Open Sat 15^th June to Sat 22^nd June (exc Sun) 10am to 5pm

Fringe@ Utopia Coffee Lounge

The Royals Shopping Centre Southend-on-Sea

Exhibition “Mitch” featuring works from visual artists Michele James

Open Sat 15^th June to Sat 22^nd June 9am to 6pm

Fringe in the loo

In the toilets of: The Fringe Hub, Yoga Dharma & Utopia

Exhibition of works by John Bulley

Open daily

Fringe Events:

 

Fringe@ The Railway Hotel

Clifftown Road Southend-on-Sea

“Live Music” Music is art the need practice

Sat 15^th June 1pm to 9pm

Railway acts:

Choco

Cheer Leaders

Vox Acoustic

Those Men

Gospel Choir

MastaKrisp

White Devils Cause

Mercanaries

Culan Luke

Rebecca Freeman

Fringe@ The Royal Hotel

High Street Southend-on-Sea

“No Problem” exhibition and performance art

Sun 16^th June 11am to 5pm

Fringe@ The Old Hat

Alexandra Street Southend-on-Sea

“Fringe Party” hosted by conceptual artist Rosa Banks

Sun 16^th June 7pm to 11pm

Fringe@ Utopia Coffee Lounge

The Royals Shopping Centre Southend-on-Sea

“Meet Mitch” – visual artist Michele James

Mon 17^th June 6:30pm to 9pm

Fringe@ Utopia Coffee Lounge

The Royals Shopping Centre Southend-on-Sea

“Dangerous Poetry” the word is more deadly than the sword

Tue 18^th June 6:30pm to 9pm

Fringe@ The Esplanade Pub

Western Esplanade Southend-on-Sea

“Art Barbneque” Art, grub and more…Mmm Tasty and we will give art away

Wed 19^th June 7:30pm to 11:30pm

Fringe@ Utopia Coffee Lounge

The Royals Shopping Centre Southend-on-Sea

“Meet Hiroshima Minidisk” International Artist Hiroshima Minidisk aka Isuzu Shimara

Thu 20^th June 6:30pm to 9pm

Fringe@ The Alex Pub

Alexandra Street Southend-on-Sea

“Southend Skate Art Exhibition” all things skaty

Sat 22^nd June 11am onwards

Fringe@ The Old Hat Merchandise Store Featuring Kaluki

Alexandra Street Southend-on-Sea

“Booking it” local authors Noel Ryan and Marion Peace launch their latest books

Sat 22^nd June 9am to 5pm

Fishy: if it looks like a fish and smells like a fish it probably is a fish

To quote from their website:

NHS Southend CCG is a group of GPs and clinicians who will, from April 2013, buy health services for their local communities.

A look at the Governing Body Members and their Declarations of Interest one cannot but marvel as to how various conflicts are to be avoided.

I summarise the board members with their interests below.

Admiral Court Care Home	Dr Brian Houston
Atrium Clinic and Therapy Ltd	Dr Andrea Atherton Dr Brian Houston Dr Paul Husselbee
e3 intelligence Ltd	Dr Suparna Das
Eastwood Community Endoscopy Unit	Dr Sarah Zaidi
Fortis Healthcare	Dr Andrea Atherton Dr Paul Husselbee Dr Brian Houston
Highlands Surgery	Dr Paul Husselbee Dr Brian Houston
Pulse locum agency	Dr Tarek Alwan
Scott Park Surgery	Dr Hon Ng
SEPT	Dr Tarek Alwan
South Essex Medical Group	Dr Andrea Atherton Dr Paul Husselbee
Southend Medical Centre – LES for Community	Dr Bilquis Agha
TCA Doctors Ltd	Dr Tarek Alwan
Unity 168 Ltd	Dr Hon Ng
Verghese & Khan	Dr Fahim Khan

I cannot help but be somewhat concerned. It is clear that the NHS in Southend is becoming privatised, and that those who will be making decisions about healthcare in the town have fingers in a number of pies. To be fair, not all board members have business interests, but the majority do. I would rather that the board consist of people who could not possibly gain by the decisions they make. Whilst I stress that do not impugn anyone’s integrity, I am firmly of the opinion that temptation is better avoided than resisted.

Below are the businesses shown in the above table (I have add links to them all so you can look them up) and have quoted from their websites.

Admiral Court Care Home

Admiral Court care home in Leigh-on-Sea Essex is a care home providing dementia and nursing care.

Atrium Clinic and Therapy Ltd

From the time Atrium was formed in 1999, it has grown and developed into a niche provider of therapy services.

e3 intelligence Ltd

e3 intelligence is a new way for you to learn the essential business and management skills needed in today’s healthcare environment.

Eastwood Community Endoscopy Unit

The Eastwood Community Endoscopy Centre was opened in 2009, and provides our local population with access to gastroenterological and urological services.

Fortis Healthcare

Fortis’ vision is to ensure the process of GP referral to specialist right first time.

Highlands Surgery

They link to Fortis Health Care on their home page.

Pulse locum agency

Find the best temporary and permanent staff for your organisation.

Scott Park Surgery

SEPT

With an annual turnover of approximately £350m South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT) is one of the most successful Foundation Trusts in the country providing integrated care including mental health, learning disability, social care and community services.

South Essex Medical Group

Southend Medical Centre – LES for Community

TCA Doctors Ltd

Unity 168 Ltd

Verghese & Khan

Meeting the Poles on the pier

Myself and Cllr Anne Jones with some of the delegation from Sopot, Poland, at the Cultural Centre at the end of the pier yesterday morning.

A look back at last Thursday’s full council meeting

Perhaps the two most notable things that happened at Thursday full council meeting were the vote on the future of the residential care homes and the verbal attacks on Cllr Alex Kaye, but I will come to these shortly.

This blog could not record everything that goes on at the council, but I will attempt a brief summary as best as I can recollect. I took no notes and so apologise if something crucial is left out.

I wondered whether the meeting would have a moment’s reflection on the passing of Margaret Thatcher; I would not have minded this, but it did not. There were a number of questions to the council, including a pair from Cllr Marimuthu Velmurugan who wanted all chair and vice-chair positions to be filled by Conservative councillors. This was a not very subtle swipe at his former Independent colleagues, although there are also chairs and vice-chairs in the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups.

Cllr Velmurugan now sits very close to the Conservative councillors in the chamber and I wonder whether he is considering joining them at some point.

I asked two questions:

I am mindful that there is a review of the Victoria Gateway shared space about to start (or started). I know that the Portfolio holder for Public Protection, Waste and Transport is aware of the petition calling for this space to be made safe, and the recent accident involving a bus and a disabled pedestrian. I am unsure whether he has had the number of complaints against this shared space that I have, although he will be aware of my views. I also remind him of a number of reports in the local media. Can he assure me that pedestrian safety will be paramount when evaluating the outcome of the review and when considering what remedial action will be required?

The Centre For Cities recent publication, Cities Outlook 2013, shows Southend as being 61st out of 64 when comparing residents with high level qualifications. The percentage of the working age population with NVQ4 and above for 2011 was 19.6% – this compares to the national average of 32.9%. Less than a fifth of our working population holds a degree or more. If the Portfolio holder for Children and Learning still believes that education in our town is a “jewel in the crown” would he care to share what kind of jewel he believes it to be?

I was content with the response to my first question, and my follow-up was to ask that the bus companies be included in discussions. The reply I received for the second question smacked of complacency and gave me the impression that the portfolio holder was happy with the current situation vis-a-vis education in Southend. Interestingly, later on, in a debate on education, the deputy leader of the council, Cllr Lamb, appeared to contradict what his colleague had to say.

Council Leader, Cllr Nigel Holdcroft, at one point intent on writing a campaign plan for us, seemed predisposed to objecting to my colleagues holding his administration to account. I can only imagine that our effective and coherent campaigning is getting to him, and his whining is all the encouragement we will need to keep it up.

I had had conversations with Unison members in the run-up to this meeting and to be honest I was not looking forward to a vote on the future of the residential care homes. My position on the cuts is well-known, but I am determined not to be either opportunistic or unrealistic, and so am aware that I have to face some uncomfortable decisions. In the end the vote was about the forthcoming consultation. I have not sat in on any of the scrutiny meetings on this or been privy to information circulated to the working panel, and so I deferred to my colleague, Cllr David Norman, on this subject. Without pre-judging the consultation process, it does look likely that the Priory home will close, and that Delaware will be rebuilt.

Consistency is not Cllr Martin Terry’s strong suite. He, and a number of his colleagues, are complaining long and loud about Cllr Alex Kaye’s defection to the Conservative Party (she is in fact returning to the party), yet uttered not a word when Cllr Ric Morgan defected from the Liberal Democrats to joined their disparate band. Whilst Cllr Kaye’s somewhat monosyllabic answers at one point did her no favours, she at least did not descend to the sometime childish displays by her former Independent colleagues. I will happily take Cllr Kaye to task over her support for cuts, etc, and I hope I will manage to do this by tackling the issues, not by personal attacks. Since nine of the Independents voted for the Conservative budget I cannot really understand what they are complaining about.

Less of a gauntlet, more like a chicken-run

Yesterday’s Southend Echo carried a story about the Independent Group Leader, Cllr Martin Terry, who is suggesting that was-Independent-now-Conservative Cllr Alex Kaye should stand down, forcing a by-election. In this story Cllr Terry indicated “he was willing to give up his safe seat in Westborough to contest a by-election.”

I have privately wondered whether Cllr Terry, whose grip on Westborough is far from safe (fragile, even), would jump ship to Thorpe ward, the ward he actually lives in. He faces a difficult re-election in 2015, one that will be fought at the same time as the General Election.

If Cllr Kaye does not step down she will be up for re-election next year. Will Cllr Terry challenge her then? If so, there will be two vacancies that will need filling in Westborough (Cllr Paul Collins seeks re-election there in 2014).

Whenever Martin Terry fights his next election I hope his agent does better than the rather slipshod job that he did in Westborough last year.

South East Essex super-unitary

Cllr Nigel Holdcroft has floated the idea of a merger of sorts between Southend-on-Sea and its two immediate neighbours.

There is merit in this idea. I think we need local government reorganisation and favour a model that sees regional bodies and unitaries prevail, with counties, districts and boroughs scrapped.

However, it is far easier to describe the proposal than it is to implement it. Take a look at the following table.

district	Number of councillors	Basic councillor allowance	Population	Population / councillors
Rochford	39	£4250	83300	2136
Castle Point	41	£3195	89200	2176
Southend-on-Sea	51	£8400	174300	3418

I cannot imagine a scenario where a merger would see a grand chamber elected as each authority currently does; nor can I see a chamber where we do not have parity as regards to our allowances.

This then leaves us with the tricky debate over how many councillors we have, and how much we pay them.

Since we would likely want equal size wards this can either be achieved by adding two members to each ward in Southend, reducing the number of councillors in Rochford and Castle Point, or by having an exercise in re-drawing the boundaries.

Here is where self-interest kicks in. I find it hard to imagine councillors voting themselves out of existence, and thus would see the lowest multiplier being used to calculate the number of councillors required; thus, one for every 2136 persons across the three authorities. This gives us 162 councillors.

As for allowances, again you can imagine no-one wanting less than they currently get.  This means £8400 per councillor – amounting to £1,360,800 per annum in basic allowances. To this would have to be added any special responsibility allowances.

There will be savings – Rochford and Castle Point will not need county councillors.

Doubtless Cllr Holdcroft will have thought of this already, and will have his ideas. As it stands I think despite the attractions it will be a difficult thing to achieve. I cannot imagine what it would cost to have a boundary review, but that seems unavoidable. As for the number of councillors and how they receive – I am sure Cllr Holdcroft will be eyeing some savings here, and all I can say to that is “good luck”.

studio eleven

On Friday I paid a visit to studio eleven, an art gallery next the Beecroft Art Gallery, and opposite the Cliffs Pavilion. I had been invited by one of the artists and spent an enjoyable time looking at the art on display and chatting to some of the artists whose work was on display (Andrew Hall, Brian Parker and Les Shaw).

It looks like there will be no Westcliff Art Trail this year. I expressed a wish for its return next year. I am not entirely sure why it is not going ahead this year but you can be sure that funding played a large part.

Much like those seeking to see the Air Show return in 2014, private funding is going to have to be found. For a town that aspires to be a City of Culture it looks like we are engaging reverse gear at present. I will be pushing for arts, of all type, to be properly supported.

Cllr Velmurugan: Politics is a joke in this council. Public have a right to Know,

Cllr Dr Marimuthu Velmurugan has given his blessing to my reproducing a recent email from him. This one is dated March 11th , 2013.

There is no real opposition in south end council.
The so called independent group tried to contest the leadership, they miserably failed even with the full support of the minority party Labour ,
Thanks a million for the harmless but teasing tactics adopted by the veteran councillor Cllr Graham Longley before the voting in the council chamber in May 201 .,cllr holdcroft did not need my support as I knew for sure 9 plus1 will abstain, .So 25 to 16 , With ,9 vote majority leadership battle ended before it was even started. . it was a humiliation to the independent group.
What? A somersault surrender to the Victor Cllr Hold Croft ,by Three Tbay councillors with their leader’s blessing , all of them got the jobs they were so desperate to put their hands on, and bargained for POWER!!!. And They are all really now enjoying the benefits. Is it not too much to ask for a berth in cabinet decisions also , in spite of being only a side kick party, being a part of the ruling administration ,having signed for 2 full years and also sitting as the REAL opposition, It is a mockery of the democracy these inside dealings.
Independents did not have a mandate to join any party when they were elected, If they were honest they should have declared it in their manifesto saying, if we can not muster enough councillors to topple the conservatives, and get power, we will get power by signing with conservatives anyway!!!! . And also we will demand equal power even to the SHADOW portfolio holders too!!! That would have been nice,

Then is it right to moan saying I am the shadow, I am not being consulted, Is it not right to be happy with what the independents got, Chairman of Chairmen’s scrutiny committee, Chairman of economic and environmental scrutiny committee, Chairman of Community scrutiny committee, Vice chairman of children’s scrutiny committee and I can go on and on, No end to it until 2014 MAY.
Cllr Lamb is the real tory who can deal with this sort of affairs , Fair and Squire, I wish him well, I do not support Tories normally, I support conservatives they are reasonable most of the times!!! These type of arguments makes one to Rethink, I do not recognise the Shadow posts, It is not White Hall BIG BEN Chiming, It is only a small council with big names and Shadow portfolios, It does not mean anything to me. Cllr Longley should be the opposition, leader as he has 9 councillors totally supporting him,, The so called Independents T bay three are really supporting conservatives, only seven left. How can it be the opposition, I can not understand,
Councillors can not support two groups,
In that case, I would like to support the biggest!!! group in the council with one independent alone That is my group! and also I want to support the LIB Dem Leader Cllr Longley, so that he can show 10 councillors and claim the opposition leadership?
Cllr Velmurugan.

Milton Community First Panel

http://miltoncommunityfirstpanel.weebly.com/