The Civic Society and a range of other local groups have arranged a series of events under the title "Chelmsford in the Great War"

• Visit to Stow Maries airfield tomorrow (20 October)
• Great War Books: Meet the Authors 2nd November 7.00 pm in Anglia Ruskin University
• Concert in the Cathedral on 7th November, City of London Sinfonia

The Essex Health and Wellbeing Strategy is an important document that brings together many agencies across the county to agree a range of topics on which joint working is required - to improve health in the county. The strategy is on the Essex County Council website at this link.

There are supporting notes and action points from the 18 July meeting where it was adopted also on the ECC website.

Option C on the Lower Thames Crossing scheme was backed today at Essex County Council's Full Council meeting, though it was opposed by the official opposition Liberal Democrats.

Lib Dem Cllr David Kendall called for the Council to stand shoulder to shoulder with the thousands of residents in Thurrock. He said, "The Option C route will run a bulldozer through green belt land, destroy homes and ancient forests, increase air and noise pollution, and also have a major impact on many established communities.

Essex Liberal Democrats have today welcomed Cllr Andy Wood to their ranks. Andy has represented the Clacton North Division since 2013.

Andy said, ''I have spoken to lots of residents over the past weeks who are telling me they are unhappy with the way things are going in Clacton and the country as a whole, this is why today I have resigned from the Conservative Party. I no longer believe that they are listening to the ordinary person on the street, you only have to look at what is happening to Brexit to see this.''

Better investment in mental health care is essential to support our community from cradle to grave but, more importantly, investment must go to acting on findings to make positive changes.

Mental ill health remains the poor relation of physical illness because the symptoms are often swept under the carpet with patients not receiving suitable care. Worryingly, one in four people will become mentally unwell at some point in their lives with increasing numbers of young people affected.

The crime and disorder act 1998 defines anti-social behaviour (ASB) as one's behaviour which "caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household" as the perpetrator. Official examples of ASB, to name a few are: Littering or drugs paraphernalia; trespassing; street drinking; vhicle nuisance or inappropriate use; rowdy or inconsiderate behaviour.

A parent or guardian faces 18 years of decision making about a wide range of issues on behalf of their child. Many of those decisions can have broad ramifications and since accurate assessment of risk is challenging for the vast majority of people we need a framework to support our decision making. We rely on experts gathering, analysing and presenting the conclusions from vast amounts of data to provide guidance on topics ranging from education to nutrition. But, how do we decide who is an expert and how do we react to the variety of ways guidance is proposed or imposed? For example, why does the law in the UK mandate your child must wear a seatbelt but only recommends they must be vaccinated?

Dear Mr Hancock

Re: Beechwood Surgery, Pastoral Way, Brentwood, Essex CM14 5FW

The purpose of this letter is to highlight serious concerns we, as five elected councillors representing over 10,000 people in Brentwood, Essex, have regarding our borough's largest GP practice.

We have, at this point, exhausted accepted complaints processes. The GP surgery has refused to engage with us, even when a request was made by NHS England, and with NHS England and the Health Ombudsman unable to help we feel that it is our duty and responsibility to raise this matter at the highest level and trust in your department to take the appropriate steps to investigate. Our aim is to make the surgery aware of the issues and help them to resolve them and that is why we are sad they will not engage.