IN the current planting season Southend Council have organised the planting 338 trees, 4450 whips.
Workers have taken out 22 trees for various reasons of necessity and 44 were lost to the storms.
So the discredited Tory policy of 2:1 replacement of trees now stands at 5:1 and if not for the storms it would have been 15:1.
The planting season still has another month to go.
Major work to improve facilities at the Southend Crematorium is being proposed by the council.
Costing up to £2.7million, the proposed work would include rebuilding the chimney, replacing the three cremators, the creation of a viewing area that accommodates a range of faiths, and the replacement of other ageing equipment which will be more environmentally friendly.
I AM so proud of Leigh! It's a great community - it's special and we're determined to keep it that way. When the going gets tough, Leigh pulls together and we are going through one such time now. Like the time we stood firm on the community centre or library, now it's the airport.
Like many of you, even those who have voiced complaints in recent months, I am not anti-airport. It brings jobs and tourists (although we must learn how to keep them here and not hot-footing it to London after stepping off the plane). And it allows us to travel relatively cheaply and easily - but at a cost - noise and air pollution and, if it expands in the future, more traffic on our roads. And that is all part of the much bigger climate change debate.
Newly-published figures have revealed that over a third of EU nationals living in Bedford Borough who have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme have only been granted short-term pre-settled status. EU citizens and their families have to apply to the scheme to remain in the UK now that the UK is leaving the EU.
Ever since his election in May 2018, Cllr Dominic Naylor has been working on improving the foot and cycle path network throughout the town, and is celebrating the creation of a new path as a great start to 2020!
Dominic said:
"The path takes you through woodland between London Road and Wharf road / Rollason Way, and offers a safer foot and cycle route, avoiding dangerous trips along privately owned Hubert Road where footpaths are missing at critical points, pot holes are rife and visibility is poor. I am so pleased to see residents able to reduce their journey time and leave their cars behind in favour of a walk or cycle. This was a personal election pledge for me, and I am proud to have delivered it less than two years after taking my seat as your councillor".
The plans for the scheme to replace the Black Cat roundabout with a new arrangement which separates the main roads from the junction and to construct a new dual carriageway to fully dual the route between Bedford and Cambridge have received strong backing from members of the public responding to a recent consultation.
UK passport maker De La Rue left at risk and laying people off, as twice as many UK companies set up operations in the Netherlands in 2019 compared to a year earlier and the UK Brexit job and brain drain continues.
Past comments by our Prime Minister have underlined what he thinks about British business and we have highlighted on numerous occasions through this website the continuing post Brexit trend for UK firms to move their base or some operations away from the UK to Europe. The soon to arrive new UK Blue Passports from Poland underlines just how 'taking back control' is going to pan out in reality for British businesses.'
2020 marks the 15th LGBT History Month and since its inception in 2005, this has been a month of both reflection and action.
Over the last few years, we've made some amazing leaps for equality, including seeing same-sex marriage legalised in Northern Ireland just a few months ago. However, it is important to remember there is still a long way to go before we reach true equality.
Queen Street car park offers local residents, businesses and employers cheap parking all year round, and now Bedford Borough Council has made it even easier for people to use this town centre car park.
People can now pay for an annual season ticket monthly rather than having to find the money upfront, at Queen Street and a number of other town centre car parks.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust have just launched a public consultation on their proposal to build a new £44million Orthopaedic Centre at Colchester Hospital. The Centre will take all elective surgery for hip and knee replacements which are currently carried out at Ipswich. Today, Dr. Shane Gordon, Head of Strategy, gave details of the proposed development to County and Borough councillors and stressed that the crowded Ipswich hospital site meant a centre here would cost tens of millions of pounds more to build. Additionally, a Colchester Centre would free-up buldings that could be converted into a new day surgery suite. He also explained that the Trust continued to regard both sites as vital to the provision of health services in Suffolk and North East Essex for the future.
