At a Glance
- Local elections in Southend are going ahead on May 7
- A look at current leadership under Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent administration
- Key issues raised: parking costs, Queensway regeneration, infrastructure delays
- Highlights ongoing debates around spending, development and transport
- Encourages residents to make their voices heard
Why you might want to vote Labour, Lib Dem or Independent on May 7, or why you might want to vote for our current leadership at the Civic Centre.
We seem to be living in Backpedal Britain at the moment where U-turns barely count as news. Take local elections.
One minute they’re on, the next they’re off, and then they’re back on again.
Southend, by contrast, chose to face the voters and elections here are going ahead on May 7.
That makes this a good moment to look at how things are working in our city.
Southend Council is currently run by a Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent administration, so if you’re comfortable with what you see under that leadership, the choice may feel pretty straight-forward.
In recent weeks, though, a few things around our city have made me stop and think.
Let’s start at the seafront
Picture the scene: you find a parking space, ready for fish and chips, fun, donuts and sea air.
Then comes the moment of truth. You open the parking app. Three pounds an hour, or twenty-four pounds if you stay long enough to make a day of it.
You briefly wonder whether you’ve accidentally parked in central London before remembering you’re in the Sunshine City. If that feels about right to you, continuity at the Civic Centre may seem the sensible choice.
Then there’s Queensway
Happy with the way Queensway “regeneration” and all the roadworks to remove the underpass have unfolded?
We continue to hear about regeneration and a transformed gateway into the city centre and not a brick has been laid (despite years of endless talking).
More than £12 million has been spent on consultants, or what I call insultants, while the tower blocks still show little sign of transformation.
What has been done is work to get rid of the underpass (and yet many of us continue to shrug our shoulders and ask why it had to go).
As a result, roadworks have caused lengthy delays for motorists, and traders along Southchurch Road are suffering as more people simply avoid the area.
If you consider Queensway a success and feel public money has been well spent, keeping things as they are may again feel the logical option.
A touch of nostalgia, perhaps?
Labour’s recently published vision for Southend includes proposals for a hospital at Bournes Green and a new link road connecting Shoebury with the A130. Both ideas sound ambitious. Are they anything new?
Back in the early 1990s, the late Sir Teddy Taylor championed the Shoebury link road. A Bournes Green hospital has resurfaced more than once over the past decade. Neither materialised then, and neither appears dramatically closer today.
Projects on this scale require enormous investment at a time when public finances are tight.
Perhaps developer contributions linked to thousands of new homes in Southend, including those proposed around Bournes Green, will bridge the gap?
If familiar promises returning every few years feel reassuring rather than frustrating, continuity may again feel appealing.
Trying to get across town offers another test
We’ve all dodged pothole peril and sat in endless traffic around Southend…
As an example, anyone who regularly drives through Cuckoo Corner already knows the daily reality: snarl-ups and delays.
Drive along the A127 from The Bell on a weekday morning and you’ll see vehicles trying to enter Priory Crescent blocking traffic coming out of Manners Way. The council recognised the issue in 2024 and promised action. Eighteen months later, the queues remain and the solution still appears somewhere on the horizon.
If that feels like satisfactory progress, keeping things exactly as they are at the Civic Centre may seem the obvious decision.
Make sure you vote!
On May 7, the question really is quite simple. Are we happy with how things are working?
If the answer is yes, continuity makes perfect sense. If not, voters have the opportunity to say so.
It isn’t for me to tell anyone how to vote. But whatever your view, make sure you do!
By Philip Miller MBE
Executive Chairman, Stockvale Group – owners of Adventure Island and Sealife Adventure