Recent News

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…

I recently got rather overtaken by ‘events’ – like everyone, I suspect. But, now that we all find ourselves stuck at home, I find I have plenty of time to catch up on correspondence. Many of you were contacting me about potholes and I had intended to write this article about a fortnight ago (seems…

Dear residents, As many of you will be aware, myself and the other Billericay borough and county councillors usually hold a monthly surgery on the last Saturday of each month at Billericay Library. It will not surprise any of you, I am sure, to hear that we have been advised to cancel these for the…

I have not written a blog in some time, but I wanted to talk about a topic that has been on my mind for a while. There was much talk in Billericay recently about the closure of our high street branch of Argos and today it has been announced that Kasbah, a women’s clothing shop…