Ten-year parking strategy set for Cabinet discussion
A draft strategy which will shape the council’s approach to parking in the Borough for the next 10 years, is set to be discussed by the council’s Cabinet next week.
The draft Parking Strategy (agenda item 11, Tuesday 14 September) is the first of its kind in Southend-on-Sea and will look to provide an over-arching plan for how existing and future parking schemes across the town are implemented. This will include how schemes follow four new principles of parking; safety, fairness, consistency and a transparent approach.
In 2019, the council launched a comprehensive strategic parking review, with the aim of improving the existing parking across the Borough to benefit residents, businesses and visitors to the town. As part of this review, the council consulted with internal stakeholders on the draft parking strategy, with comments feeding into the draft document.
The council’s Cabinet are now recommended to approve the draft strategy so that it can go out to wider public consultation for residents and businesses to have their say and help shape the report before the strategy is finalised for approval in 2022.
Cllr Ron Woodley, cabinet member for transport, asset management and inward investment, said: “As an administration, one of our priorities has been to overhaul a variety of previous parking and highways policies for the Borough to ensure there is a consistent approach to make driving and parking in our town as easy and affordable as possible.
“This draft parking strategy will provide a clear direction for the policy over the next 10 years, so that all current and future parking projects are connected through our values of making parking fair, safe, consistent and transparent and help us ensure that parking in local streets is also truly accessible for local residents. For this to be a success, we need to ensure all stakeholders have their say, most importantly our residents and businesses.
“I look forward to discussing this report in full with my Cabinet colleagues, and hope that subject to approval, we will have a parking strategy that will benefit the town for years to come.”
Planned highways works announced for September
Photographs of August’s highway resurfacing can be view on Flickr. Eleven roads across the borough are planned for repairs and resurfacing throughout September as the council continues with its planned phase 1, comprehensive £5m programme of highways works programme. A full list of roads set for repairs between April 2021 and March 2022 was released in March 2021, as the council’s highways contractor, Marlborough, will be repairing and re-laying full roads and stretches of roads that require immediate attention. Works for the following roads are planned throughout September:
Stock Road
31/08/2021 – 02/09/2021(Nightwork)
No.7 to green area just past household waste recycling centre.
Olympus Keymead to Chandlers Way
Elmsleigh Drive
06/09/2021 – 09/09/2021
Eastwood Road North to 172 Elmsleigh Drive
Elmsleigh Drive
10/09/2021 – 10/09/2021
Manchester Drive to Blenheim Chase
Ness Road
13/09/2021 – 15/09/2021
No. 115 Ness Road to No. 9 Ness Road
East Street
16/09/2021 – 17/09/2021 (Nightwork)
Victoria Avenue to No. 94 East Street Including Left turn lane into Victoria Avenue
Southchurch Road
20/09/2021 – 20/09/2021 (Nightwork)
Tesco/Esso petrol station to No. 501 Southchurch Road (Honda Dealership)
Southchurch Road
21/09/2021 – 22/09/2021 (Nightwork)
Junction with Southchurch Avenue to Mr Clutch
Western Esplanade
23/09/2021 – 23/09/2021 (Nightwork)
Genting Casino to public toilets
Western Esplanade
24/09/2021 – 24/09/2021 (Nightwork)
Public Toilets to Yacht club
London Road
27/09/2021 – 29/09/2021 (Nightwork)
Chalkwell Park to Lindisfarne Avenue
Kenilworth Gardens
30/09/2021 – 01/10/2021 (Nightwork)
Mountdale Gardens to Arundel Gardens
A full list of the 30 roads and 31 pavements set to be resurfaced in 2021/22 can be found on the council’s website: https://www.southend.gov.uk/resurfacing
All road closures will be clearly signposted two weeks before work takes place. All work is dependent on the weather, as crews are not able to lay roads in adverse weather.
How to report a defect
If you are aware of any road defects or roads that need resurfacing or patch work, please report these online via MySouthend.
How we prioritise, repair and resurfacing works
The areas have gone through a strict quality check in line with the council’s procedure, which is based on various risks, and in accordance with the Highways Code of Practice.
This procedure considers various items including road condition, bus routes, key routes, claims made, incidents, and flood risk.
