They just ain’t listening

As is so often the case, the local ruling administration is yet again shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted. They applaud themselves for their lame response to issues affecting Southend’s town centre, yet it is again a story of too little, too late.

The town centre is approaching crisis. (Some will claim it hit crisis some time ago, a point I am not going to dispute.) High streets up and down the land are suffering, yet some buck the trend. Even within the borough there is example of a high street that remains buoyant – look at Leigh-on-Sea.

The Tory administration took a closed shop approach to the idea of a High Street summit; I, and my colleagues, decided this was entirely the wrong approach. If nothing else, how can the people who have overseen its decline be best placed to reverse this?

There are many reasons for the current state of our town centre. It is not all down to the rise of internet shopping, or indeed those current scapegoats – the homeless.

What struck me is that we need fresh ideas and must engage with and listen to our residents. The ‘we-know-best’ attitude of the Tories is not only arrogant, it clearly flies in defiance of reality.

The Tories do not listen. Their great solution is to cajole and bully the homeless to move from the relative safety of shop doors, which solves nothing, merely moving the problem. When will they understand that failure to properly address the failures of austerity and the paucity of social housing has left the fifth richest nation on Earth with increasing numbers sleeping rough.

Fortunately Labour did take a cross-party approach to its people’s summit, and the more than seventy residents have gave up a Wednesday evening to air their views about their community were listened to politely. Labour (and I am sure the Liberal Democrats and the Independent Group) will be looking at their notes from this meeting and will be trying to effect real and positive change.

In the meantime the Tories will be re-arranging the deck-chairs as their ship heads towards an ice-berg. Not listening is a very bad idea.

More concerns about the High Street Post Office in W H Smiths

Milton ward councillor Julian Ware-Lane had expressed concerns about the move of the High Street  Post  Office into the W H Smith store. It was something that concerned not least because he could foresee issues with access.

This move has happened in the last year, with mixed views as to its success. Some customers do not like having to traipse through the stationery store and bookshop to purchase stamps, etc; others are stoical.

Recent rains have seen the roof leak in the building that house WH Smith and now the Post Office. The leak cause all self service machines to fail. There was water all over the floor; this affected access to Post Office services.

Cllr Ware-Lane said: "Having the Post Office counters above the ground floor not only makes access a little more difficult, but it is also liable to these  sort of extreme weather incidents."

Deputy Leader of the Labour Group on Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Cllr Anne Jones, said: "Labour councillors and activists spoke to many members of the public, prior to the Post Office moving to their current premises. The most frequent concern was that it would be located on the first floor and could be inaccessible to wheelchair users, mobility scooter users and people with children in prams. It is appalling that not only did the post office dismiss these concerns, but the premises underwent only a cosmetic refurbishment and not a proper upgrade. The concern all along was that the building would  not be fit for purpose. Furthermore, it is not particularly safe for the public to use."