Recent News

After a tumultuous five years, I am seeking re-election again in Billericay East, the ward I love and which it has been my profound honour to represent on Basildon Borough Council since 2013. My time on the Council has certainly not always been easy. It can often be a thankless task. The meetings are long,…

BASILDON LOCAL ELECTIONS 2018 It’s that time of the year again and local elections are upon us. We have fifteen seats on Basildon Borough Council up for grabs to determine who will take charge of the Council, which has been in No Overall Control since 2014. The Council is presently led by a coalition of…

Once again, we find our community blighted by illegal encampments. On Monday 29th January a group of caravans pitched up at the car park on Hannakins Farm Community Centre in West Billericay. Billericay West councillors were immediately in touch with Basildon Council officers and the Essex Countywide Traveller Unit (ECTU) and kicked off the whole…

Regular readers will recall that I was vehemently opposed to the 2014 application to build a solar farm covering over 26 hectares on Green Belt land off Outwood Farm Road in Billericay. This was granted permission by the Planning Committee, despite an officer recommendation to refuse and opposition from Billericay Town Council, Chelmsford City Council…

In light of the current political and media interest in Universal Credit, I thought it would be useful to set out my thoughts on this, and why I support the roll out of University Credit, both from my perspective as a local councillor and as a former civil servant in the Department for Work &…

The Planning Committee considered an application to build seven flats at the current site of Elizabeth Cottage in Billericay High Street. Unfortunately, some of my old blogs were lost when I upgraded my website but regular readers will doubtless recall that the plight of Elizabeth Cottage is something that has been vexing me almost the…

“Since becoming a councillor in 2008, I have attended scores, if not hundreds, of council and committee meetings. Last night’s meeting of Basildon Council’s Infrastructure, Growth & Development Committee must rank as the strangest. The big news out of Basildon Council is the removal of the minority Conservative administration back in May 2017 and its…

The day we knew was coming finally arrived last Thursday at the Policy & Resources Committee of Basildon Council. Having ousted the Conservative Administration in May, we knew it was only a matter of time before the new Labour-led coalition now running Basildon Council came after the people of Billericay. Billericay residents are guilty of…

Last night was the first meeting of the new Regeneration & Environment Committee – one of the four new service committees brought in by the Labour-led Coalition under their new Committee System, which replaced the Leader and Cabinet model. It is chaired by Cllr Alan Ball (WI, Wickford Castledon). The meeting was an embarrassing farce…

The Labour-led coalition are giving up on supporting Basildon residents when it comes to illegal encampments that pitch up in Basildon creating a trail of chaos, misery and devastation in their wake and leaving residents to foot the clean-up bill. On two separate occasions now the Coalition has turned its back on residents, deciding not…