Working for Shoeburyness.
Accountable to you.

East Beach Access & the Stairs

It is built so children of every ability can play together: a swing that takes a wheelchair, a wheelchair-friendly roundabout, sensory play and a wooden submarine with a periscope and a big metal slide, right on the seafront. Local families and the Southend SEND Independent Forum helped shape the design.

Next: the stairs and a ramp to the beach. Right now, the families using this playground cannot get down to the beach, because there is no access. As the Councillor for Shoeburyness, I will continue to campaign for the stairs and a ramp down to the beach. I would like the whole of East Beach to be accessible.

Local residents have asked me for a date of when the East Beach stairs will be installed and accessible. I've posed the question to officers at the council and will update this section once I receive a response.

Giving Every Councillor a Say

Around 90% of what the council does is an executive function. Under the current constitution, a motion on any of those matters goes straight to Cabinet. No debate, no vote. Two names on a motion carry the same weight as all 51 councillors, because nobody is ever asked.

When the chamber is allowed to speak, things change. On the Green Belt, seven political groups came together, the vote was 31 to 11, and the Local Plan was paused.

This motion takes no power away from Cabinet. It asks for a report to the Standards Committee so the whole council can debate, vote and recommend. We were all sent here to speak for our residents.

Green Belt Development

saveourgreenbelt.org

Save Our Green Belt — Southend

Green Belt policy belongs to the whole council. Southend councillors from every party have requisitioned an Extraordinary Full Council. See where your councillor stands.

Reform UK's position is clear: we are against the overdevelopment of our Green Belt. You can't build first and bolt on infrastructure as an afterthought, it has to be thought through up front. The proposed development would put an estimated 3,000 extra cars an hour on Bournes Green Chase, making it incredibly hard for Shoeburyness residents to get in and out of the town.

We must be smart and push for infrastructure before any development. Reform UK started the largest petition Southend Council has ever seen against the Green Belt proposals. I brought Gawain Towler, a member of the Reform UK party board, down to Shoeburyness to back the campaign in person. Nigel Farage also visited Southend separately in support of the campaign, and both have continued to publicly back us on this. We will be working in the council to remove this from the local plan.

Now Playing

With Nigel Farage

With Nigel Farage

With Gawain Towler

Queensway Underpass Closure

The closure of the Queensway underpass has real consequences for traffic flow and for residents who rely on that route. The portfolio holder promised a report on how he plans to manage the impact, and so far it hasn't materialised.

I've called this into Place Scrutiny. I want the full picture: the traffic modelling, the resident impact, and the mitigation plan.

In committee I asked a simple question: who actually commissioned this report? The administration would not give a straight answer. Watch the exchange and decide for yourself.

Better Parks & Playgrounds across Southend

Our parks and playgrounds are not safe, not maintained, and not getting the investment they deserve. Residents have raised it with me again and again, and Lee at Better Parks Southend has been doing brilliant grassroots work pushing for change.

As Chair of Place Scrutiny, I am calling the Parks team and the cabinet portfolio holder into scrutiny to answer the questions residents keep asking. Why are our parks not safe? Why is there no proper investment plan? And what is the council actually going to do about it? I will publish what they say.

Now Playing

My presentation: Better Parks for Southend

My presentation

Council response

Friars Park

Park KPIs

Cutting Council Waste

A DOGE-style look at how Southend spends your money

"Have one fewer child." That is the advice in the mandatory training every single employee of Southend Council is required to complete.

On Thursday I seconded our Reform UK motion on the Carbon Literacy course. This clip is part of what I told the chamber.

The course runs to 2 hours, 6 times longer than the course teaching officers about political neutrality. And what fills those 2 hours? Congestion charging presented as best practice. Plant-based school menus. And an invitation for staff to join Extinction Rebellion.

This is not about climate science. It is about whether a council should compel its staff to sit through political and lifestyle advocacy on work time, paid for by you, the council taxpayer.

Our motion asks for one thing: take it down and replace it with something short, practical and neutral, like every other course on the list.

The motion now sits with Cabinet. We will be watching what they do with it.