Southend - a great place for restaurants

One of the many great reasons for living in this area must be the wide range of excellent restaurants which are on our doorstep. It doesn't matter what your fancy there is plenty of choice. My current favourites remain Alvaros for that special treat (the strawberry flambé is to die for), the Pipe of Port (great for business and social occasions), The Sandbank (for something special) and the Mughal Dynasty for a great beer and curry night out. There are many other great options out there waiting to be tried. It was very sad to note the closure of Simply Seafood. Whilst I tend to be more of a meat person the food, staff and ambience were great and it will be a loss to the Old Town.

Council Leader of the Year?

It was a pleasant but wholly unexpected surprise to receive a call from an Echo reporter earlier in the week to tell me that I had been shortlisted in the last seven for the prestigious Council Leader of the Year award. I did not know that I had been nominated never mind shortlisted. It is always good to receive external recognition as it does help validate the progress that we believe we are making taking the town forward. This follows our award for Council of the Year and the plethora of other awards we are constantly winning across the organisation. These awards also help raise the profile of Southend. We are a small unitary authority and the town has a certain historical image. We need to communicate the message that we are building on our roots to drive forward investment and regeneration, and publicity of this kind can only help in our ongoing efforts to stimulate further public and private investment. The nomination is further recognition for the efforts of my councillor colleagues and our strong team of officers. It is impossible to succeed as a leader without a strong and focussed team and that is something we certainly enjoy in Southend.

High Street Bridge Works

I popped down to the High Street this morning to see how progress was going on the removal and replacement of the railway bridge over the weekend. It is an eye catching site and certainly appears very well organised. Let us hope that it does not have a negative effect on retail sales. The diversion is well signposted and a very minor inconvenience and if anything the work seemed to be attracting onlookers. I suspect that when the existing bridge is craned off and the new one manoeuvred into location it will be a remarkable sight.

A political party in all but name

I have commented previously on the con trick which the Southend "Independent "Group continues to play on the residents of the Town. Their constant refrain is that they are distant from the party political process being a group of true independents who only cooperate at council level to ensure a fair distribution of committee seats. As I have said I do not how this can be true when they campaign together, share election material, usually vote together. This is not to mention their angst when any true Independent Candidate stands and risks deflecting votes from their allegedly official independent candidate! In addition their "leader" happily accepts the allowance paid to the leaders of all opposition groups in recognition of the additional duties relating to the leadership of a party team. Well the farce reached a new level last night at scrutiny with their Leader Martin Terry, introducing his comments on the proposal to remove black sacks, confirmed that whilst he was personally a strong supporter of recycling and could see the logic behind the proposal he was reflecting the decision of his group to speak against. So now we have the Leader of a formal group speaking against his own views in compliance with a group decision but still avoiding the apparent perils of party politics. Ironically I would never expect a member of my Group to speak against their beliefs and as leader of the group I would certainly not do so. Indeed I have never applied a party instruction or whip in my six years as Leader as I prefer to win hearts and minds by logical argument - something which perhaps Martin finds too challenging! it seems to me that our Independent Party now offer the worst of all worlds. They seek to impose a party line but because of their diverse slate of members ranging from right wing economists through rejected Tories, unwanted Lib Dems and unsuccessful Labour candidates it is impossible to predict where they will end up on any issue and obviously for the same reason they fail to give any clear pledges in their election campaigns.I am not suggesting that a number of their candidates are not well intentioned but the organisation they have joined is little more than a Trojan Horse!

Southend Adult College

One of the jewels in Southend's rich education crown is our Adult College. This beacon organisation continues to make a real difference to it's many users helping drive up skill levels, increase opportunities for all and providing a range of courses to tempt residents to increase their knowledge and experience. It was a great pleasure to attend their annual award event yesterday which recognised some remarkable students and tutors and looked at the contribution the college continues to make to the town. Well done to all concerned.

Scrutiny update

As I have previously mentioned we have just been through the week when the administration's budget proposals are subjected to the council's three scrutiny meetings. This has meant quite an arduous week for me with the menu of meetings completed on the spare wednesday evening with the Business Ratepayers Consultative Forum which is an opportunity for business groups, Leigh Town Council and residents associations to question the budget plans. Generally constructive debate by all concerned and whilst there were a few predictable complaints - black sack removal etc - there appeared to be general support to the thrust of the proposals and certainly no significant alternative savings. We now move on to full council at the end of February and it will be interesting to see if there are any formal amendments and if not whether the speeches by the opposition group leaders are rather more realistic and magnanimous than in previous years!

Budget scrutiny?

This week sees the formal scrutiny of our draft budget reach it's busiest time. Whilst I encourage members of all groups to raise their suggestions or queries at any point in the process this is the week when the budget is formally considered by the Council's three scrutiny committees (Children & Lifelong Learning, Adult Social Care & Culture and Economic & Enviromental) on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings with the opportunity for business to raise queries on Thursday evening at the Business Ratepayers Consultative Forum. It make it a busy week for me with this run of evening meetings but I wait with anticipation as to the areas which are giving members most concern and whether they raise any alternative proposals. Watch this space!