In an exclusive insider column, an anonymous Southend councillor lifts the lid on the fractures within the council and the administration’s effort to steer the town through the austerity cuts. It’s totally frustrating that we are getting well recognised as a council, shortlisted for Council of the Year and deferred to by other local...
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Last Thursday, the Council’s meeting was dominated by the recent cuts from central Government, which left Southend Borough Council with £1.4 million less funding than planned at the start of the financial year. Here, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group Cllr Graham Longley gives Councilbust.com his view of what might be this year’s most...
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Paul Collins, Liberal Democrat councillor for Westborough, gave his first report to the Residents Association of Westborough last week. Cllr Collins won the seat in Westborough from Independent Tania Painton in this year’s local election. Cllr Collins used his report to set out his views on Southend Airport, graffiti, council staffing methods and education....
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Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Graham Longley has hit out at Southend Council’s practice of using interim staff members for extended periods of time. Cllr Longley said that using “long term interims” is “unnacceptable, unwarranted and unsustainable.” Cllr Longley went on to say: “It is accepted that there is a role for interim appointments...
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The new Liberal-Conservative government this morning published a document that sets out the policies to be implemented by the coalition. Speculation over how the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats would work together has been heated, and after a week’s intense negotiation, the plans on how the coalition will tackle the deficit, defence, political reform...
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At today’s ceremony in which Cllr Ann Holland became Southend’s new mayor, councillors from all parties cracked jokes about the new coalition between Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberal Democrat deputy Nick Clegg. On Tuesday, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed a government together after all the major parties failed to win...
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Rochford and Southend East Conservative MP James Duddridge has spoken out on the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition formed on Tuesday. Mr Duddridge, who won his seat in Rochford and Southend East with a majority of 11,000, told the Echo today: “It’s an interesting time to be an MP, whatever happens. “People think we spend all...
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At tomorrow’s Council meeting, the first since the local and general election last week, councillors will elect a new mayor for Southend. Mayors remain in office for one year from the second Thursday in May. Currently, the councillor who has served the longest, regardless of which party they belong to, becomes the deputy mayor,...
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Peter Welch, who ran as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Southend West in last week’s General Election, has spoken to Councilbust.com about the power sharing coalition between his party and the Conservatives. The new Prime Minister David Cameron has given several Liberal Democrats cabinet positions, whilst Conservatives have been appointed as health secretary, foreign...
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OPINION: Is UKIP anti-Tory or just running scared?
Today’s Echo brings food for thought. Local UKIP chairman James Moyies announced the party will not put up any candidates where the Independents are standing. Is it some kind of arranged pact? It doesn’t look like it, if Independent leader Martin Terry’s comments are anything to go by. Apparently, it’s as much of a...
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Tags: Conservatives, Independents, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Southend
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