Fruition already? – Easyjet comes to Southend Airport

Been quiet for the last week as I have been away on holiday. Having kept up to date with affairs whilst away I couldn’t go to bed without saying how wonderful it is that Easyjet have decided that Southend Airport is so up and coming that they want to start flying from here. I’ve nicked Nigel Holdcroft’s (Thanks Nigel!) blog post for news:

Amazing news today that Easyjet are poised to commit to Southend airport and
will start to operate as soon as the runway extension is completed and the new
environmental controls are in effect. Not only will this immediately create
150ish new jobs but it will also encourage others to invest in Southend and
offer a great facility for those in the area who travel abroad and would like to
avoid the journey to Gatwick or Stanstead. It will be interesting to see what
destinations are on offer….

Well since Nigel posted that it appears as though the destinations are to number ten including: Faro, Ibiza and Barcelona!

A truly regional airport bringing with it benefits to all local residents and not only those, ever increasing in number, that it directly employs.

And excellent news for Blenheim residents too – these flights won’t start until AFTER the new super-tight noise restrictions are in place.

St Christopher’s School

I was pleased to recently attend the Grand Opening of the new 1st Floor level of St Christopher’s School by David Amess MP. Also present was the Mayor David Norman.

 

 

I had the opportunity to discuss the newly expanded school with the Head Teacher, Governors and pupils as well as have a tour around the new facilities. It is a great achievement for the school and I feel it will enable St Christopher’s to build upon the work it has been doing for the community, both Blenheim and further afield, for many years.

 

Bollards are what residents want!

Letter published in today’s Evening Echo:

“M Hansford (June 2) wrote about more “bollards” from the Council. What a load of old tosh! This is ANOTHER example of the Council listening to the local residents and doing what they want. I attended the Mendip and Treecot Residents’ Association only a week ago where there was almost unanimous praise for these bollards – in fact residents want more. The bollards are there to serve a purpose, which is to prevent motorists parking their  vehicles on the verge. They will soon have signs on them indicating that you should not park on the verge.

How many more times are we going to have the lie that Southend Council – more specifically, the Conservative administration – are going around the town ripping up trees left, right and centre? For every tree that that the Council has removed, two replacement trees are planted – this target has always been exceeded by the Council since it was introduced. The Council even has a tree removal monitoring and reporting system to the relevant elected members of each ward.

For anyone living outside Southend, with so few complaints being made, they must wonder what all the fuss is about.

 

Councillor James Courtenay
Blenheim Park Ward.”

Surgery & Contact Details

I can now announce my regular in-ward surgery and contact details for Blenheim’s residents to let me know of their concerns.

The details are in the extract from the press release I did regarding it:

“James is holding a surgery for anyone who lives in Blenheim Park ward to come and see him on a monthly basis every first Saturday of the month between 10am and 12noon at the West Area Housing Office on Mendip Crescent. The first surgery is on Saturday 4^th June.
James is happy for residents to just pop in, but if they wish to make an appointment or discuss matters with him they should contact him on 01702 611669 or by email: cllrcourtenay@southend.gov.uk “

ACTION!!

I promised you action. You got it today!

The condition of the road on Elmsleigh Drive deteriorated to a
state that was frankly unacceptable. A fellow Councillor (for Belfairs) had
alerted me to the worsening condition and a resident contacted me about the state
of the road at 11:22 on Thursday morning (26th May).

I and my Conservative colleagues in Blefairs acted swiftly,
requesting that the Transport Department looked at the road as a matter of
urgency. Full credit must go to the Council, they inspected the road and as I
type the road is currently being dealt with (see the pictures below) all by 9:22pm. A first
class rapid response by Southend Council’s Transport department.

I promised active and proactive, I have delivered….

     

   

….Within 10 hours.

What I am going to be doing on the Council

The committee posts have been decided and I am now on:

Economic & Environmental Scrutiny Committee

Children & Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee

General Purposes Committee

(Try saying this in one breath!) Children & Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee Programme Working Party

Cultural Advisory Working Party

Grants Strategy Working Party

The Honours and Holocaust Memorial Day Working party

As well as being a council representative to Active Southend.

In the ward I have met some residents when I went to the allotments onManchester Driveand learnt about the MDAS, LAS and others. This week I am looking forward to meeting residents at the Mendip and Treecot Residents Association, as well as having my new telephone number for everyone to contact me on installed on Wednesday.

At the end of this week I will also be announcing my regular surgery time.

“Mayor Making”

A very odd title for a meeting I thought when I first heard of it, but it is
exactly what it says on the tin.

First full council meeting (and the Annual Council) that I attended today
where David Norman (Lab, Victoria Ward) was made Mayor hence the title of the
proceedings!

I was formally introduced to the previous Mayor by the Leader of the
Conservative Group (Nigel Holdcroft), who was confirmed as the Leader of the
Council today too, and welcomed into the Chamber where I look forward to doing
some good work for the town and Blenheim Park ward in particular.

go here: http://www.southend.gov.uk/news/article/377/new_mayor_for_southend
for some pictures of the new Mayor, I really must get some more of my own to
not bore everyone with text all the time.

As an aside – got my council email address now: cllrcourtenay@southend.gov.uk
and am waiting to get my council telephone number, when I do they will be
published all over the ward so residents can start to get hold of me easily!

Contacts have been made with schools, police, residents associations and
block voices across the ward so I am getting up to speed 🙂 News soon re
monthly in ward surgeries (as pledged in my election campaign).

The formalities

I attended the civic centre today to complete the formalities of becoming a councillor and  for a briefing from the Chief
Exec & others. I must say I was very impressed with the fullness of the explanation
of how things work and the procedures. All of the Officers I have met so far at
the Council seem really keen to help ensure that things get done and make it as
easy as possible for me to help the residents of Blenheim.

Earlier in the day I began organising my future surgery for
residents to be able to come and see me to discuss their concerns, problems and
ideas for Blenheim Park – more details to follow soon.

The only real shame was that I had to go back to the “day job”
for the first time in two and a half weeks after being off for the election
campaign.

“Mayor Making” on Thursday where the current Mayor hands
over to the new Mayor. Next update after then.

1,017 Thankyous!

Well the dust has finally settled. The results are in and thanks to the residents of Blenheim Park I have been elected to serve as their Councillor for the next 4 years.

The residents of Blenheim have done their bit; it is now time for me to do mine. This blog will be updated to let everyone know what I am doing and how things are progressing both within Blenheim and what I am up to on the Council. It will not be a running commentary though.

I made some pledges in my election campaign and I will stick to them all. One of them was to do a monthly “E-newsletter”. Please comment on here or send an email to blenheim@jamescourtenay.co.uk and ask to be added to the email distribution list. I will aim to get the first one out on or around 1st June.

Candidate	Party	Votes
BORTON, Tony	Labour	553
CALLAGHAN, Tino	UK Independence Party	442
CLINKSCALES, James	Liberal Democrat	959
COURTENAY, James	Conservative	1017

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/elections_2011/ward/208/2885/ 

I officially become a Councillor on Monday when I sign my life away and receive 10 ton of paperwork to read through, something I think I’ll have to get used to. The first official meeting is on Thursday when “Mayor Making” takes place, where David Norman takes over from Ann Holland as the Mayor for the forthcoming year.

Thank you to all of my campaign team for all the effort they put in to getting me elected, but the biggest thanks must go to the residents of Blenheim Park for putting their trust in me. I will not let you down!

Councillor James!

News from the Front!

Well polls have been open for nearly 11hours and I have been up for 12, with only another possible 9hrs to go!

Turnout has been low today, which is disappointing, as it is good to see everyone getting involved and letting politicians know their opinion.

Time to start reminding the people who said they’d vote for me shortly… so come out and vote for me… right now!!