CIIP ‘Absolutely Delighted’ With Tory Cabinet Cuts

TUESDAY EVENING’S FULL COUNCIL MEETING in the Kiln Road Council Chambers was a somewhat surreal affair. Not a single member was absent, and the Canvey Island Independent Party was keen to promote its new image of ‘responsible politicians’ for the Web camera’s public consumption.

Having had its party leader, Dave Blackwell, christened as Pink Sack Man by none other than the Echo – and to have been admonished in that same newspaper for having all its members walk out of the Council meeting called to discuss the Borough’s dire financial situation resulting from £1.9 million of government cuts, the CIIP has apparently decided to abandon its standard strategy of grandstanding and fuelling local protests against the majority’s Cabinet - in favour of appearing even more Tory than the ruling Conservatives themselves.

CPBC Cabinet Rejects Skanska Waterside Farm Proposals

THE CASTLE POINT BOROUGH COUNCIL’S CABINET has unanimously rejected the Swedish firm Skanska’s proposals to build a new leisure complex at Canvey Island’s Waterside Farm. Instead, the Council’s original £1.5 million budget to renovate the existing facilities will be retrieved from ‘cold storage’ and a Special Policy Development Group (SPDG), to which all councillors will be able to have their say, will be set-up to consider the asset’s detailed survey and decide where the money should best be spent.

The Council had suspended its Waterside maintenance programme in May, last year, while Skanska’s proposals to build and run a new complex on the site, on behalf of CPBC, was evaluated.

Is Your Business Taking Advantage?

Rebecca’s Double Summer Time Moves A Step Closer To Becoming Reality

CASTLE POINT’S MP, Rebecca Harris, will be watching closely as the Coalition Government prepares to publish its Tourism Bill in the House later this week. It is reported that the Bill will contain proposals to meet the Tourism Industry’s demands for lighter summer evenings - by moving Britain’s clocks forward another hour during the summer months.

Mrs Harris has said: ‘The tourism industry has been crying out for extra daylight saving for years. It could extend the tourist season and boost the economy by up to £3.5billion a year.

‘And we would have longer, lighter evenings.’

If the controversial measure goes ahead, summer sunrise will be at its earliest around 5:50am; and sunset will occur latest around 10:18pm, locally.

Canvey Island Town Council Splashes Out On Its Own YouTube Video Stream…

CPBC Core Strategy: Final Hearing Sessions

FINAL HEARING SESSIONS into Castle Point Borough Council’s Core Strategy will be held in the Kiln Road Council Chamber from Tuesday 8th to Friday 11th March. They will commence at 10:00am each day and last until about 5:00pm if necessary.

The sessions will consider the proposed changes, which the Council has put forward to the Plan, and to complete those sessions which were postponed following the suspension of the Examination in July 2010.

ECC Library Hours Consultation

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL (ECC) needs to trim the amount it spends on the county’s Library Service as a result of central government funding cuts. The good news is that no libraries will be forced to close; but their opening times will be reduced to provide the necessary savings.

Castle Point residents are being asked to contribute to the County Council’s consultation exercise by choosing from among the two or three options proposed for their local library’s new opening times so that the best decision can be made.

The Big Society Comes To Castle Point

REBECCA HARRIS, our local MP, together with the Big Lottery Fund, is inviting all Castle Point not-for-profit organisations and community groups; schools; and Canvey Island’s Town Council to attend a free funding event on Friday 11th March between 10:00am and 3:00pm.

Representatives from the Big Lottery Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and Essex Community Foundation (an independent Grant-making Trust) will be speaking about the funding available from their individual organisations.

Castle Point Association of Voluntary Services will also outline the support they can give voluntary and community sector organisations.

London 2012 Olympic Tickets

APPLICATIONS TO PURCHASE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TICKETS will be processed between 15th March to 26th April. They will not be sold on a first-come, first-served basis; but, instead, can be applied for at any time during the 42 day period.

There is no advantage in applying on either the first or last day.

Automatic Business Fire Alarms To Be Ignored

FROM 28TH FEBRUARY, Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS) will no longer respond to automatic business fire alarms – nor will they respond to anonymous public telephone kiosk calls in which the person dials 999 and then abandons the call by hanging-up.

An analysis of incidents attended by the Service over a 15-month period, from April 2009 to June 2010. has identified that ECFRS responded to almost 25,000 incidents in total, of which AFAs accounted for 28 per cent.

Ninety-seven per cent of these were false alarms.

TC Battlegrounds: Canvey Island North Ward

ON 3RD MAY 2007, residents of Canvey Island’s North Ward elected Doreen Anderson and Nick Harvey, both of the Canvey Island Independent Party (CIIP), to represent them on the new Canvey Island Parish Council. Both achieved very respectable results.

Doreen Anderson achieved 901 votes, just narrowly ahead of her colleague, Nick Harvey, on 890. Together, their votes accounted for 61.02 per cent of those cast.

Lazy Assets

CANVEY ISLAND INDEPENDENT PARTY (CIIP) plans to fight this May’s local elections riding the wave of public resentment over the Coalition Government’s financial cuts suffered a major setback this week when the party’s contribution towards resident objections to Essex County Fire & Rescue Service’s plans, to remove the island’s full-time fire engine crew, was found to be just more political grand-standing.

What Was It You Wanted To Say, Dave?..

HAVING DOMINATED the local press for the last four years, bemoaning the state of Canvey Island and leading protests against the Borough’s majority, it is difficult to find any sympathy amongst Canvey Beat readers for Dave Blackwell’s complaints of having been purposely ignored during the public meeting, organised by Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS), to discuss their proposed changes to the way the island’s two fire engines are manned.

So 350 People, On A Saturday Afternoon, Is The Measure Of Islander Fire Cuts Protest

WHILE THE PROTESTERS have reportedly obtained some 3,000 petition signatures, it is difficult to square those reports with the fact that only 350 or so residents took the trouble to turn-up at the public meeting, organised by Essex County Fire & Rescue Service, to discuss their proposals for replacing full-time fire-fighter cover on Canvey with retained, part-time, crews

Three-hundred-and-fifty protesters represent less than one per cent of island residents – and three-thousand petitioners is an equally unimpressive figure given the petition’s circulation and the issue’s media coverage. Nevertheless, the Echo will apparently be providing a two-page spread to reporting the meeting in its traditional newspaper today.