Political Viewpoint

POLITICAL Viewpoint by Coun Richard Longstaff Green Party Councillor for Leigh Ward.

AS we approach the end of summer, our spirited Leigh community has been bustling with activity throughout and our local Green Party branch has been at the forefront of advocating for sustainable development, environmental preservation, and social justice.

 Since the General Election, we’ve seen both significant progress and challenges that remind us of the work still ahead. Here’s a round-up of the key events and initiatives that have shaped our town and city over the last few weeks.

 Our two new Labour MP’s in Southend West and Leigh and Southend East and Rochford, a first in Southend, are settling in.

 I have met and spoken with both Bayo and David and worked with both on topical issues locally and regionally, including the development of housing, a SEND Forest School, Trees for Leigh and Southend and our waste water issues.

 Myself and Stuart will be meeting David again soon to further discuss local issues affecting our area and how he may be able to help us in collaborative working.

 We also saw democracy in action at Leigh Town Council with the timely resignation of 4 Conservative councillors, who have, in my opinion, done the democratic thing and allowed residents to truly decide who represents them at local level.

 All the candidates for the first by-election were excellent and I’m sure Peter Wexham will bring some much needed balance to our Town Council. I also hope that Cate Willoughby and Keith Evens stand again for the next round of elections, they would also make excellent representatives for our town council.

 At city level we have seen the fallout from the elections take their toll on the Conservative Group with a new leader announced: Coun James Courtney. The struggling Conservative group have now dropped to 16 after the former leader and one other resigned to form a new independent group of 2.

 Locally I am pleased to see the Belton way Cliff Slip works completed to an excellent standard using sustainable gabion baskets for retaining the earth.

 I am now keen to see the Badgers set at Cliffs Parade safely relocated, so that contractors can get on with the retaining works at Leigh Cliffs. This is essential so that we can again have the road back and our friends of Leigh Cliffs can again work with our Parks Team next year to bring the area back up to the excellent standard we aspire to.

 Please do contact me if you’d be interested in being part of a community volunteer group to brighten up the Leigh Cliffs, or have any ideas you’d like to share.

 In policy and place I have been engaging in debate and can report the councils ambitions to kickstart the first phases of the long awaited Better Queensway project, with plans to begin infrastructure works and paving the way for the first tranche of accommodation at an estimated value of £130 million.

 I reminded council of our Social Value standards and asked how this will be implemented to increase Social Value for the residents of Southend – there was no clear answer, however, I’m keen to follow this up and make sure our residents are getting best value.

The council have also outlined how they are planning on building more council housing on vacant brownfield sites. Whilst much needed, I’m sceptical of some of the locations, old school fields and the former cattery beside the A127 are questionable.

 I’m concerned about the A127 site, it’s the last place to locate family housing, next to the airports flight path and busy trunk road? I would strongly suggest the council satisfy that air and noise quality is within legal limits before pressing ahead!

 Officers also pulled down £12million from capital reserves to build just 35 homes on the former Cattery.

 By anyone’s standards, this seems an excessive amount for council housing? On the upside, the council aim to build all new council housing to passive-house standard, which is very promising!

 I would also suggest they take a timber first approach and look to offsetting embodied carbon from the construction phase, something that passive-house doesn’t take into consideration.

 Housing at Fossets Farm is also pressing ahead after crunch talks with the Martin family over their gamble with Southend football club and an ill-fated stadium scheme that was never realised. This left left Southend Council in a very awkward position regarding risky rental guarantees that we thankfully refused to enter in to, instead forcing the Martin family to re-design their proposal from the ground up, rather than a hotch-botch scheme that was a legacy of the stadium project.

 SUFC hung on a knife-edge until the housing/planning deal was agreed. The stalled works by the Guinness Trust at Fossets is also now resolved and works will restart soon.

 Closer to home we have the risk of our sacrosanct Salvation Army Green Belt land being developed, continuing the urban sprawl and the risk of connecting Hadleigh and Leigh and losing our green-belt and beautiful Estuary glimpses from London Road.

Picture: Coun Richard Longstaff

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