A wide range of community improvements costing £10.2 million can now go ahead, following a vote of the Lib Dem led Chelmsford City Council's Cabinet on 8 September 2020.
The following projects will benefit from the funding:
Affordable housing initiatives, including the infrastructure at Chelmer Waterside to maximise housing delivery
28 projects for improvements and investments across the city's parks, green spaces and strategic sports facilities
Boats could get access to the centre of Chelmsford for the first time in many decades, following a decision of the Lib Dem led Chelmsford City Council's Cabinet on Tuesday 8 September. Councillors agreed to commission a detailed feasibility study into replacing flood gates to the east of the city centre and adding lock-gates. This would allow boats to pass further west, up the rivers Chelmer and Can.
If found to be feasible, replacing the automatic flood defence gates and adding a lock should allow the whole stretch of the River Chelmer from the Heybridge Basin through Chelmsford to be navigated. Currently boats cannot navigate any further than the weir gates, situated near the Essex Record Office.
The automatic gates were built during the 1960s and are mainly used to retain water in the river by the city centre. Without them, water levels would be very low and even non-existent in some parts each Summer. They are currently operated by the Environment Agency (EA) however, the EA has indicated that it can no longer justify the continued maintenance of the gates.
Cabinet Member for Greener and Safer Chelmsford, Councillor Rose Moore, said, "Improving our waterways is a key objective in the Council's new 'Our Chelmsford, Our Plan' and I am delighted that we are delivering on that objective. The City Council's Waterways Working Group is promoting this plan as one way to improve and encourage the varied use of the city's waterways and adjacent paths and open spaces, and we want to engage the wider waterway user community.
"One of the key aims of the Working Group has been finding ways to enable navigation to the upper Chelmer. I am pleased that Cabinet has now agreed to develop these studies further."
Lib Dem Leader of Chelmsford City Council, Cllr Stephen Robinson, said, "Enabling boats to access central Chelmsford's waterways has long been an aspiration for many of us. There are still a number of further steps to take before this becomes reality. However, this full feasibility survey will enable the Council to assess the viability, design solution and full costs, before deciding whether the scheme should be taken forward. This is a positive step forward and we look forward to seeing the detailed feasibility study
Today, Callum Robertson, the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner continued his listening tour of community organisations Essex with a virtual visit to the South Essex Citizens Advice Bureau.
Katherine, the CEO of the South Essex CAB branch, which covers Basildon, Brentwood, Thurrock, Rayleigh and Castle Point met with Callum Robertson to discuss how the Office of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex can best support the third sector in the delivery of frontline services.
Most readers will not have been following the upcoming police (fire) and crime commissioner elections which are due to occur in May 2021. Though given the lack of publicity around the elections and historical turnout levels, this isn't terribly surprising.
Police and crime commissioners first came into being in 2012. The first set of elections had a turnout of just 15.1 per cent, with the second elections in 2016 hitting the dizzy heights of a 26.6 per cent, although turnout was higher in areas with additional elections happening at the same time. With the next set of elections due in May 2021 alongside a bumper crop of other elections, the turnout should improve dramatically.
By Callum Robertson for Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in Liberal Democrat Voice
On May 25th, George Floyd was brutally murdered by American Police Officers, sparking protests in the USA that then spread across the world, including to here in the United Kingdom where protesters highlighted racial disparities in stop and search statistics and UK complicity in the slave trade.
In 2012, the first Police and Crime Commissioners were elected across England and Wales with responsibility for producing a crime plan, managing the police budget and most importantly, bringing a directly accountable figurehead to policing here in England and Wales. It is the latter point which makes the 2021 set of Police and Crime Commissioner elections that are being held in the shadow of the Black Lives Matter movement, so important.
Essex Liberal Democrat candidate for Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Callum Robertson set out his plan for an Essex-wide listening tour where he will be talking to local charities on the frontline of delivering criminal justice services ahead of setting out his manifesto for the May elections.
Robertson, who has worked with domestic violence victims both at the Ministry of Justice and a leading children's charity, has a track record helping victims seek legal recourse.
Casework was put on hold by Brentwood Council during the pandemic, but that did not stop councillors Karen Chilvers, Sarah Cloke, David Kendall & Dominic Naylor from working to keep their residents safe.
Over the spring and summer months, a footbridge that leads over the A12 from Spital Lane, a dangerous footpath in Honeypot Lane and the speed table in Crescent Road (at its junction with Junction Road & Milton Road) have all been made safe thanks to their actions.
THIS is probably the craziest, most frightening 6 months of all our lives, and brings with it huge social problems, for our health and wellbeing, disruption for our children and their futures, unemployment, business loss and economic meltdown. And also locally (and nationally), from a few, an explosion of anti-social behaviour, often linked to alcohol, unprecedented trashing of our environment and almost a demob happy attitude of being untouchable.
In an effort to encourage social distancing, kick start the local economy and try and make a more pleasant shopping experience, Essex County Council and B
rentwood Borough Council temporarily closed the High Street to all vehicles except buses and delivery vehicles. However, in the light of strong representations made by many businesses and residents against the closure, this decision has been reversed and the High Street reopened. Many businesses felt the closure was adversely affecting their trade, particularly drop offs and pick ups. Many residents had concerns about the buses still using the High Street and no access for disabled parking (see Cllr Karen Chilvers article here). Residents were also concerned about the significant increase in the volume of traffic and vehicle emissions in affected town centre roads together with concerns about large lorries using weight limited diversion routes.
THIS is probably the craziest, most frightening 6 months of all our lives, and brings with it huge social problems, for our health and wellbeing, disruption for our children and their futures, unemployment, business loss and economic meltdown. And also locally (and nationally), from a few, an explosion of anti-social behaviour, often linked to alcohol, unprecedented trashing of our environment and almost a demob happy attitude of being untouchable.