Recent News

So last week was the inaugural meeting of Basildon Council’s new ‘Local Government Reorganisation and Transition Committee’, the presumptuously-named full-blown service committee that the Labour-led Administration have set up to ‘consider’ the issue of Local Government Reform (LGR). To be fair, the Government is preparing a White Paper on what some would argue is a…

Following on from yesterday’s widely-reported decision by Essex County Council to apply to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to pre-emptively place Essex under the Tier 2 (High alert) Covid-19 restrictions, the Health Secretary has this morning confirmed in the House of Commons that, on reviewing the case presented by the County…

As you will all be aware, the Prime Minister has announced a new three-tier system of local lockdown rules, to help slow the spread of Covid-19. Essex is, for the time being, at the ‘Medium’ (Tier 1) alert level, which means that we here in Billericay and the rest of the Borough of Basildon will…

Update on the Basildon Local Plan Examination As many of you will recall, the Basildon Borough Local Plan 2014 –2034 was submitted by the then Conservative Administration to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 28th March 2019 for its ‘Examination in Public’ (EIP), which is the next legal phase in…

This evening I attended a meeting over Zoom between officers of Basildon Borough Council and local retailers and business owners in Billericay High Street to discuss the safe re-opening of the High Street, as we move into the next phase of the easing of the lockdown from Monday. The High Street falls within my Billericay…

I and my colleagues are aware of the terrible littering situation at Lake Meadows and I am absolutely appalled by the way some people are treating our beautiful park.   People come from far and wide to use Lake Meadows. It is a wonderful, award-winning public facility and it is outrageous that some people apparently…

Today is VE Day. But it should also have been ‘the morning after the night before’. Yesterday should have been Polling Day for Basildon Borough Council, which would normally have meant my annual ‘Runners and Riders’ blog, plus the months of pounding the pavements, designing, writing, printing and delivering leaflets, knocking on doors, speaking to…

Wednesday last, I wrote an update on my Facebook page – following on from a blog I had written on this website around a fortnight earlier – on the subject of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline NHS staff. In that blog, I had highlighted the NHS Essex appeal being run by Essex County Council…

  Whether you are a resident of mine in Billericay East or not, if you are reading this then I hope that you and your families are staying safe and well.   It is a very difficult time for many people and I am conscious that we all need to pull together and support our…

There has been much talk recently about PPE (personal protective equipment) for frontline NHS staff and I know that ensuring these guys have everything they need is a big concern for everyone. I cannot speak to every hospital in the country but, as you would expect, I have made enquiries regarding what, if any, help…