Political blogging in Southend

What makes a good blog? Intelligent content that is well-written is one determinant, another would be the frequency of output. A blog that goes months without being updated is of little use, especially I the fast moving world of politics.

I am not sure anyone would describe Southend-on-Sea as an exciting town politically, after all, the last time a non-Conservative was elected to Parliament by Southend’s voters was 1906. Still, the council chamber does at least show the occasional dissent from Tory orthodoxy, as the Tories struggle to muster decisive majorities.

I have listed below the local political bloggers that I am aware of, sorted by the date of the latest entry. Aside from me (and I admit to being less assiduous as regards to blogging than I used to be) only three at a push can claim to have done anything recently.

There are alternatives to blogs, yet nothing in my humble opinion is as good at delivering a good argument or discourse as the bloosphere.

John Haran		an-essex-man-of-letters.blogspot.com	12 Aug 2018
Mike Fieldhouse	Labour	www.mikefieldhouse.com/blog	9 Aug 2018
Nigel Holdcroft	Conservative	nigel-holdcroft.blogspot.com	28 Jul 2018
Daniel Nelson	Conservative	s655420503.initial-website.co.uk	30 May 2018
Ian Pope	Labour	southendvillagesocialist.blogspot.com	14 Apr 2018
Matthew Dent	Labour	matthewsdent.wordpress.com	9 Apr 2018
Tony Cox	Conservative	shoeburyblogger.blogspot.com	16 Mar 2018
James Courtenay	Conservative	jamescourtenay.wordpress.com	23 Jan 2018
Del Thomas	Conservative	southendfox.wordpress.com	28 Oct 2016
Mark Flewitt	Conservative	markflewitt.wordpress.com	20 Aug 2016
Ian Gilbert	Labour	iangilbertblog.wordpress.com	17 Jun 2016
Martin Terry	Independent	martin-terry.blogspot.com	4 Apr 2016
Helen McDonald	Labour	helenmcdonaldblog.wordpress.com	27 Mar 2016

Westcliff sans un post office - the unacceptable face of reorganisation / rationalisation / cuts

A no expense sign (ha ha ha)

Joyous news about where customers can now go

This is what the Post Office’s External Affairs Manager has to say about the continued closure of the post office in Hamlet Court Road :-

Thank you for you email. I can confirm that Westcliff on Sea Post Office, located at 150 Hamlet Court Road, SS0 7LN, is temporarily closed for operational reasons

I would also like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused by the temporary closure of this service, and to reassure you that we are investigating how services can be restored to the local community, including the possibility of the Post Office being run by Temporary Postmaster, if practical

In the meantime, should your receive any inquiries from local residents or businesses, the nearest alternative Post Office branches are:

Southend-on-Sea Post Office – 207 High Street, Southend-on-Sea SS1 1LN – 0.8 miles

Sutton Road Post Office – 88 Sutton Road, Southend-on-Sea SS2 5EW – 1.2 miles

Leigh Road Post Office – 82 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea SS9 1BZ – 1.9 miles

When I have any further information I will update you. However, in the meantime, if I can be of any further assistance then please do contact me.

This is a far from satisfactory. I cannot say for certain how long this post office has been closed, but it has to be over a month. There is no close convenient alternative. We currently have no post office for all of Westcliff-on-Sea. Quite how many people this affects I really do not know, but it surely runs into thousands, possibly tens of thousands.

I was never keen on the idea of post offices being moved into the like of W H Smith. Is this further evidence that this drive to economise comes at the cost of customer access?

This once housed a post office

Hate crime in Southend-on-Sea

This evening I attended a members’ development event on hate crime. Some interesting (and horrifying in many ways) statistics were presented.

Between 1^st January 2018 and 3^rd September 2018 there were 335 recorded hate crimes in Southend-on-Sea. Of these, 206 were racial in character.

The ward with the most hate crime is Milton. Victoria is second, Blenheim Park third.

Southend-on-Sea has the highest levels of hate crime in Essex.

Here is a handy link - essex.police.uk/advice/hate-crime

Nine councillors attended this event – 6 Conservative, 2 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat. Four were female.

Family fun event

Ten books from my teens

I have always enjoyed reading. My local library, Westcliff was a mere five minute walk from my home and I was a regular visitor there.

My mind turned recently to the works of fiction I have tackled over the years, and particularly to those that I tackled in my formative years.

Here are ten books that I feel had this biggest influence on me as a teenager.

Robert Heinlein – Stranger In A Strange Land

Anatole France – Penguin Island

Mikhail Bulgakov – The Master And Margarita

John Wyndham – The Chrysalids

Charles Dickens – David Copperfield

George Orwell – Animal Farm

Lewis Carroll – Alice In Wonderland

Perseus and other Greek myths

William Golding – The Lord Of The Flies

John Steinbeck – The Grapes Of Wrath

These are in no particular order, and represent a fraction of what I read in my teenage years.

My recollection of some of these stories is fuzzy, for others they are still quite vivid.

I recall the hot summer of ‘76, and hours spent in Chalkwell Park tackling Stranger In A Strange Land. I remember stumbling across Animal Farm during the fag end of my school days; it was revelatory. In my bedsit days I tackled the likes of David Copperfield and The Grapes Of Wrath.

Greek myths was an early read, and I still remember the tales of Theseus and Jason.

Much of my reading was driven by the demands of my schooling, but I was also curious.

Homelessness – an issue that is not going away any time soon

National statistics issued in January showed a 268% increase in homelessness in England between 2010 and 2017.

This is a shocking rise, and is a damning indictment of where society is heading as regards to housing.

Homelessness is more than just those who rough sleep, but the rough sleepers are the obvious sign that housing needs are not being met. Walk down the High Street on any given day and you will be confronted by the sad sight of those seeking refuge in shop doorways and under the railway bridge.

Southend-on-Sea is ninth in the league of local authorities as regards to the number of rough sleepers. The stats show a 64% rise in rough sleeper numbers in a year. In some ways we are a victim of our success when it comes to giving succour to those without homes.

As austerity grinds on (over eight years now) we see cuts year on year to all sorts of agencies that were there to help. Now we often see skeleton services, and one wonders whether all will survive as austerity is promised for a few more years yet.

We do not have enough social housing, The number of council homes is at a new record low, with fewer properties to rent from local authorities than at any point in almost 50 years.

Social house building plummeted after the introduction of the right to buy for council tenants. Local authorities were not allowed to re-invest funds in new housing stock, and with the virtual giving away of new homes under the right to buy scheme there was almost no incentive for local authorities to build.

With high house price values, high rents, and a shortage of low-cost accommodation the homelessness issue is not going away soon. Add in the abundance of low-wage jobs with uncertain hours, and the rise in substance abuse, and the challenge is enormous. Unless government tackles the issue, and the causes, we will have to get used to seeing more and more sleeping rough.

Three more planning applications (yes, more flats)

APPLN. NO: 18/01333/FUL

Officer: Scott Davison

Date Valid. 23 August 2018

CHANGE OF USE OF GROUND FLOOR FROM RESTAURANT/CAFE (CLASS A3) TO

SHOP (CLASS A1) AND ONE SELF CONTAINED FLAT (CLASS C3), ALTER ELEVATIONS

128A HAMLET COURT ROAD WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA ESSEX

APPLN. NO: 18/01541/FUL

Officer: Abbie Greenwood

Date Valid. 10 August 2018

CONVERT FIRST FLOOR RESTAURANT (CLASS A3) TO 5 SELF CONTAINED FLATS

(CLASS C3) AND GYMNASIUM, ERECT ADDITIONAL FLOOR TO FORM THREE SELF-

CONTAINED FLATS WITH ASSOCIATED ROOF TERRACES, ERECT SECOND FLOOR

REAR EXTENSION, LAYOUT PARKING, REFUSE STORE TO REAR AND ALTER

ELEVATIONS

MAYAS RESTAURANT FIRST FLOOR 42 LONDON ROAD

APPLN. NO: 18/01548/FUL

Officer: Kara Elliott

Date Valid. 16 August 2018

ERECT ADDITIONAL FLOOR TO EXISTING FOUR STOREY BUILDING AND FORM TWO SELF CONTAINED FLATS

THE PLAZA ROYAL MEWS SOUTHEND-ON-SEA