Not without its challenges but a year of progress
As we approach 2022, I wanted to say a few words about how things have gone during 2021.
Although we are ending the year not quite as bad off as we were last year, we still have Covid-related restrictions in place and anxieties around the Omicron variant. The future still looks uncertain and big challenges remain. We have all been affected by Covid-19 – not just in terms of our health, but also our communities, businesses, our families, how we have worked and how we spend our leisure time. No corner of our lives has remained untouched, and many have felt the strain.
Thank you, NHS!
I want to take this opportunity to thank the NHS, key workers across a range of services, industries, and sectors, and the innumerable volunteers in our community, who have helped during this crisis. I want, in particular, to pay tribute to the hardworking men and women at Basildon Borough Council, who I have seen first-hand working tirelessly to provide the essential services we all rely upon.
I started off the year still in Opposition on Basildon Council. I was the Opposition Chief Whip and served on the Housing and Communities Committee and the entirely pointless Local Government Reorganisation and Transition Committee (thankfully since abolished).
I’m not going to lie to you, people. Being in opposition sucks. But buoyed by the phenomenal success of the vaccine rollout and Rishi Sunak’s ‘Building Back Better’ budget – with optimistic forecasts for a return to growth, unemployment figures nowhere near as bad as expected, solid wage growth, frozen duties on fuel and alcohol, an increase in the National Living Wage and more money for schools, hospitals and tackling homelessness – the national picture was starting to look promising. Mr. Sunak’s budget was just the shot in the arm we needed.
Then, in March, I got my actual shot in the arm!
Get your jabs!
I received my first Covid vaccination at the Towngate Theatre in March. I have since had my second jab in July and just recently had my booster. I cannot praise all those involved with the vaccination rollout highly enough. It has been superb.
May brought a bumper set of local elections, last year’s elections having been cancelled. As well as the deferred Basildon Council elections, we were also electing nine county councillors to represent our five county divisions on Essex County Council. I, for my sins, stood in the Laindon Park & Fryerns Division. I was delighted to see my running mate, Jeff Henry, resoundingly re-elected but disappointed to have narrowly missed out on taking the second seat.
Nonetheless, I cannot tell you how good it felt to be back out on the campaign trail, delivering leaflets, speaking with residents. I love campaigning and the cancellation of the 2020 elections was a major deprivation, not least because it left the Labour/Independent Alliance in power in Basildon for another year. All that changed on May 6th, when the Conservatives took back power.
Out on the campaign trail
In addition to retaining our seats in Billericay and Wickford, we made substantive gains in Basildon, Laindon and Pitsea, with the Labour Mayor and other senior figures losing their seats. The Labour Leader, who only narrowly held on to his own seat, resigned from the Council a few months later, triggering a by-election, which we also won. In fact, be careful what you wish for because we also had by-elections in Billericay East for the Town Council (which we won) and in Lee Chapel North (where we came jolly close!).
Back in charge!
Upon taking back Administraton, the new Leader of the Council, Andrew Baggott, asked me to serve on his frontbench as Chairman of the Housing and Estate Renewal Committee. He also re-appointed me as Vice-Chairman of the Planning Committee, a position I held previously (2014-18). I was also appointed to the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee.
All told, it has been a very busy year indeed. As Basildon Council operates a Committee System of governance, my position as a Service Committee Chairman effectively makes me the portfolio holder. Nothing could have prepared me for Housing! It is an extremely busy and vitally important service area and I have been honoured to chair the Committee over the past eight months.
Taking on Housing has been quite an education and my initial briefings with the various service heads took several days, so wide was the remit of Housing and Property Services. Since taking office, I have sought to ensure that Basildon Council responds proactively to the Government’s new Social Housing White Paper and the Charter for Social Housing Residents. I have really enjoyed engaging with the Tenant and Leaseholder Reps’ and made enhancing our Tenant Engagement Strategy a top priority.
This Conservative Administration remains committed to providing Basildon homes for Basildon people, both through our HRA house-build programme (which we have increased by 200) and Sempra Homes, the Council’s wholly-owned company. We are also putting considerable investment into our existing stock to ensure they are of a good standard, fully meeting new Building Safety regs’, and sustainable to support the wider ‘Net Zero Carbon’ agenda, and we have secured Government funding for a ‘Safe Place to Stay’ hub to tackle homelessness.
But my main goal on taking office was to institute an ambitious programme of estate renewal and this we are doing through our Safe & Sound Programme, which I piloted through committee during this year. This £40 million programme will address some long outstanding issues on our estates and will be delivered in full consultation with residents, to ensure it meets their priorities and improves their quality of life.
On a personal level, it has been a huge challenge. My casework has exploded since I took on the Housing brief, and my caseload has more than doubled. It covers the gamut of housing applications and homelessness, to maintenance and repairs. But it has been extremely rewarding helping people with a range of sometimes quite complex issues, many of which I have not hitherto had to deal with as a councillor for Billericay East. It has been a challenge but a worthwhile one. I hope to able to continue next year and we also intend to restore the more efficient Cabinet System of governance.
Other achievements of the new Conservative Administration, thus far, have been extra funding for police, as well as expanding the remit of our park wardens, free parking in Billericay and Wickford high streets, investment in new play equipment around the borough, including facilities at Hannakins Farm, pushing ahead with investment in swimming pool facilities and new skate parks, increased funding for volunteering groups, a freeze in fees for hiring community halls, investment in school holiday meal programmes, and much more. It has been frantic but exciting.
We're ready for what comes next
There have been some sad interludes this year. We saw the passing of the inspirational Sir Tom Moore in February at the age 100 and the death of the Queen’s beloved husband, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, just two months shy of his own centenary, in April. Tragically, we also saw the horrific murder of Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West and formerly MP for Basildon, in October. It was a chilling and sobering moment for all of us in public office but, this year as in every year for the past eight, representing the people of Billericay East has been a joy and a great privilege for me.
This year, as last year, we have had to be resilient, flexible, determined and focussed in both our home and work lives and we know these challenges will not end with 2021. We will continue to face challenges in 2022. On the personal front, 2022 will be a big year for me. As well as being up for re-election in Billericay East in May, I am getting married in June! So, clearly, I am hoping both of those go well!
What I can say with certainty is that whatever 2022 holds, I will be here to serve all of you. The people of Billericay East and all over this borough have demonstrated their capacity for perseverance and fortitude and we will all continue to pull together, to innovate, and support one another. Whatever the New Year brings, we will be ready for it.
I wish everyone in Billericay East and beyond all the best for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
With some of my Housing officers
