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About Southend-on-the-Sea

About Southend and its Council
Enterprise, Tourism & Environment
Public Protection
Enterprise, Tourism and Regeneration
Planning & Transport

About Southend and its Council

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is a big operation. It spends approx £360m a year and employs 2,370 staff, in addition to those employed in schools. The Council has high ambitions for the town and the community has high expectations of us. The local resident population is about 160,000 and the borough is the largest urban conurbation in Essex. We have a very mixed population, with some notably affluent areas and some areas of significant deprivation; we have an increasingly diverse population, with recent rises in our Eastern European and Southern African communities.

Southend is a popular coastal resort and has around 6 million visitors a year. In the 1960s and 1970's the town diversified to become a major financial services centre. More recently, a new campus quarter has been created, with a new iconic building for South East Essex College and the University of Essex. The town's award-winning pier is the longest pleasure pier in the world. The borough is edged by 7 miles of award winning beaches, a network of Green Flag parks and two theatres, creating an environment which promotes a good quality of life.

Enterprise, Tourism & Environment – our mission

The central role of our services is that of place shaping – shaping a strong economic future, reshaping the physical environment so that the street-scene is clean and well maintained and creating an environmentally sustainable community that mitigates the impact of climate change and dramatically reduces its carbon footprint.

To help achieve our ambitions, we have re-structured the department around three service divisions:

Public Protection (Waste and Regulatory Services) - Head of Service, Dipti Patel

Helped by bringing together enforcement and contract monitoring, the Waste Group will focus on improving the cleanliness of the borough – a move which will engage residents more in tackling enviro-crime and improving recycling rates. In addition to managing a new refuse collection and street cleaning contract the services will support delivery of interim waste treatment and a longer term waste solution through a proposed joint PFI with Essex County Council.

Priorities for Regulatory Services (licensing, business regulation and environmental protection) will include delivering healthier community priorities in partnership with the PCT; leading and co-ordinating the borough’s sustainability activity while meeting the challenge of delivering national enforcement priorities in the context of the ‘Hampton agenda’ to reduce the administrative burden on business.

Enterprise, Tourism and Regeneration (Enterprise & Innovation; Tourism & Promotions; Regeneration & Property) – Head of Service, Anita Thornberry

The Enterprise & Innovation Group will focus on delivery of the Economic Development strategy, levering in more external funding, providing a renewed emphasis on developing skills levels, securing greater business investment and sustainability and promoting community cohesion across the borough.

A new Tourism & Promotion Group will ensure the economic benefits of tourism are properly secured and that the borough is marketed effectively to wider audiences, demonstrating Southend’s attraction for potential businesses, visitors and residents. The Team also delivers the famous Southend Air Show among many other events and oversees the management of the Town Centre and the world famous Pier and Foreshore.

The Regeneration and Property Group has the exciting challenge of delivering the borough Regeneration Framework (working with Enterprise & Innovation and in partnership with our URC, Renaissance Southend Ltd) including major infrastructure schemes such as new swimming and diving facilities and culturally led regeneration projects – such as Metal arts. As part of owning and driving the Council’s capital programme, the team also deliver new school projects for the borough including the exciting Building Schools for the Future initiative.

Planning & Transport (Traffic & Highways Network; Strategic Planning & Transport; Development Control & Building Control) – Head of Service, Steve Kearney

The new division enables better joined up service delivery and clear lines of accountability that will help drive improved performance. The Traffic & Highways Group will ensure a quality parking service and that the statutory responsibilities of the borough Traffic Manager are carried out with a renewed focus on customer service. The Strategic Planning & Transport services will lead on the borough Local Development Framework, development of the Local Transport Plan ensuring strong partnerships are developed and maintained to attract the necessary agreements and funding.

Effective Development Control and Building Control services, brought together under the one manager will be critical in supporting borough regeneration and infrastructure initiatives, in maximising benefits of new developments and contributing to wider Council strategies, particularly in relation to the quality of the street scene, tourism and sustainability.

Structure charts:

Links to:

Southend Council Website