Seniority

By my reckoning, with six years as a councillor under my belt, I now find myself senior to nineteen of the borough’s councillors (in terms of tenure).

There has been four sets of local elections in those six years, as well as a couple of by-elections.

I am not sure whether this level of turnover is a good thing or not or, indeed, whether it is unusual even. With fifty-one councillors in total (and factoring the other newbies elected in 2012 when I was successful) it is close to half who can count six years or less as members.

I shall be delighted to see a third term, and am in no doubt that I will never be the ‘father’ of the chamber. For starters, there are still quite a few with far more experience than me who will be around for a years yet. Also factor in the fickle nature of politics, which could mean that this second term that I am serving could be my last.

I am fifth in seniority in the Labour Group – halfway in a group of eleven.

Jotting

The Labour Group on Southend-on-Sea Borough Council now has a Press Officer. Cllr Matt Dent was elected into the role earlier this week.

Central Branch has had its annual general meeting. The following posts were filled:

Chair – Rachel Heemskerk

Secretary – Martin Berry

Treasurer Kursaal – Des Heemskerk

Treasurer Milton – Mac Felton

Treasurer St Luke’s – Des Heemskerk

Treasurer Victoria – Gary Farrer

These postholders are likely to have brief tenure as there is a putative re-organisation of branches in the east of the borough.

The Council organises many training events and briefings for members. I do not get to everyone, but I get to as many as I am able. At a guess I would say I attend about half, but I admit to maintaining no attendance register. My attendance could be a lot poorer than I imagine. This week there was a briefing on localities and health. Four council officers ran this event, and their audience was six councillors. (These were Cllrs Arscott, Buckley, Folkard, Salter, Walker and myself). Five Conservative councillors, and me from the Labour Group. I have no idea what these things cost, and I know that these are important events. I also know that there are many demands on our times – I can often attest to being double-booked (and sometimes I have three or four clashing meetings). However, I cannot help but wonder whether this delivers value for money for our council tax payers.

Shadow cabinet, and a peak at the future

Labour Group on Southend-on-Sea Borough Council had its shadow cabinet meeting last week, where the seven that have portfolios assembled.

Primarily our (the Labour Group’s) role is to hold the Conservative administration to account. However, thoughts do occasionally turn to the future and the very real possibility that the Conservatives could lose their grip on power next May, when the next set of local elections are due to take place.

The Conservatives have 29 councillors in Southend-on-Sea at the moment, giving them a majority of seven. Four gains will see them ousted (if the opposition groupings can agree to work together). A repeat of this year’s results will see the opposition (as it stands today) sitting in power with a majority of three.

The table below shows how vulnerable six Conservative seats are (and how safe the others probably are). This is a list of the seats that the Conservatives will be defending next may, ranked in order of the Conservative majority as seen this year. The electoral arithmetic shows that a changed of Administration in Southend-on-Sea is very possible, although conversely the Conservatives could make gains.

	Conservative Majority 2015	Conservative Majority 2018	2nd in 2018	Won in 2018
Kursaal	-416	-529		Labour
Milton	51	-473		Labour
Shoeburyness	208	-285		Independent
Leigh	495	-198		Liberal Democrat
Blenheim Park	787	-71		Labour
St Laurence	1163	76	Independent
Prittlewell	1349	257	Labour
West Shoebury	874	297	Independent
Chalkwell	1371	365	Independent
West Leigh	1807	488	Liberal Democrat
Southchurch	755	514	Independent
Eastwood Park	1910	544	Liberal Democrat
Belfairs	1038	884	Independent

• Those that are defending their seats in 2019 were last elected in 2015.
• The 2015 General Election boosted everyone’s figures, and especially those of the Conservatives locally. However, this years numbers did not have this coincidence, and 2019 is unlikely to see a General Election either.
• The first five wards could easily be lost by the Tories, and number six (St Laurence) looks vulnerable too.
• Kursaal was won by Labour in 2015, but the winner (Cllr McMahon) subsequently defected to the Conservatives
• If Labour make three gains they will have 14 councillors. The Independent Group and the Liberal Democrats need to have 12 councillors (combined) to see the Tories lose power; currently they have ten, meaning two gains are required by them, and the most likely places these could happen is in Shoeburyness and Leigh.
• If 2019 does continue recent trends, then 2020 does not offer a lot of solace to the Conservatives. Whilst they are only really vulnerable in a couple of wards, likely gains there are none.

Portfolios and shadow portfolios

For the coming civic year in Southend-on-Sea the following portfolio and shadow portfolio holders are in place:

	Portfolio holder (Conservative)	Shadow portfolio holder (Labour)
Leader	John Lamb	Ian Gilbert
Growth	James Courtenay	Anne Jones
Infrastructure	Andrew Moring	Kevin Robinson
Adults and Housing	Tony Cox	Helen McDonald
Children and Learning	Helen Boyd	Julian Ware-Lane
Healthy Communities and Wellbeing	Lesley Salter	Charles Willis
Public Protection	Mark Flewitt	Matt Dent

Kursaal Voice Winter 2017

Councillor attendances for 2017

Here are the figures for councilor attendances at all eligible meetings for last year, showing the best attendee first, and the worst last.

There are, of course, all sorts of stories behind the numbers, but in some cases some councillors are more attached to the duty that is meeting attendance than others.

I am eleventh overall, amazing given how tough a year I had, I am second amongst Labour councilllors, and first amongst the Milton triumvirate.

	expected	present	In attendance	Total attended
Councillor Carole Mulroney	43	40	15	55
Councillor David McGlone	52	51	1	52
Councillor Bernard Arscott	46	43	6	49
Councillor Nigel Folkard	52	48	1	49
Councillor Maureen Butler	51	42	5	47
Councillor Margaret Borton	47	39	5	44
Councillor Chris Walker	42	39	4	43
Councillor Tino Callaghan	42	36	5	41
Councillor Jonathan Garston	39	35	6	41
Councillor Roger Hadley	44	39	2	41
Councillor Julian Ware-Lane	36	32	8	40
Councillor Lesley Salter	29	29	10	39
Councillor Brian Ayling	42	35	3	38
Councillor John Lamb	31	27	11	38
Councillor Steve Buckley	43	35	2	37
Councillor David Garston	42	32	2	34
Councillor Tony Cox	31	27	5	32
Councillor Derek Kenyon	38	30	2	32
Councillor Georgina Phillips	36	32	0	32
Councillor Mark Flewitt	30	22	9	31
Councillor Helen McDonald	29	27	4	31
Councillor Helen Boyd	35	30	0	30
Councillor Anne Jones	30	28	2	30
Councillor Trevor Byford	30	27	2	29
Councillor Stephen Habermel	32	27	2	29
Councillor Ann Holland	25	21	8	29
Councillor James Moyies	27	26	3	29
Councillor Floyd Waterworth	24	21	1	28
Councillor Alex Bright	27	27	0	27
Councillor David Norman MBE	28	27	0	27
Councillor Martin Terry	25	22	5	27
Councillor David Burzotta	23	23	3	26
Councillor James Courtenay	24	19	7	26
Councillor Andrew Moring	23	21	5	26
Councillor Meg Davidson	25	23	2	25
Councillor Ian Gilbert	22	21	4	25
Councillor Derek Jarvis	26	23	2	25
Councillor Ron Woodley	19	19	6	25
Councillor Fay Evans	25	24	0	24
Councillor Nick Ward	22	19	4	23
Councillor Cheryl Nevin	22	18	3	21
Councillor Mike Stafford	26	18	3	21
Councillor Caroline Endersby	22	20	0	20
Councillor Peter Wexham	24	15	5	20
Councillor Charles Willis	25	19	1	20
Councillor Mike Assenheim	13	13	6	19
Councillor Stephen Aylen	13	10	7	17
Councillor Kevin Robinson	19	17	0	17
Councillor Judith McMahon	14	14	2	16
Councillor Paul Van Looy	23	14	2	16
Councillor Lawrence Davies	19	13	2	15
Councillor Anne Chalk	9	6	1	7

NOTES

·        Cllr Assenheim passed away in early 2017, and he was replaced by Cllr Chalk.

·        Cllrs Evans and McMahon served as mayor, and the mayor attends few meetings other than Full Council.