Southend
Town and unitary authority (pop., 2001: 160,256), geographic and historic county of Essex, southeastern England. It lies on the Thames estuary and the North Sea. The nearest seaside resort to London, it attracts millions of visitors, and there are many resident commuters. It is noted for its 1.3-mi (2.2-km) pier as well as its beaches and gardens; yachting is popular. A 12th-century priory houses a museum.
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Southend-on-Sea is a seaside resort and unitary authority area in the East of England. Southend-on-Sea, which has Borough status, is part of the ceremonial county of Essex and is located on the north side of the Thames estuary roughly 40 miles (65 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. Southend is twinned with the Polish seaside resort of Sopot.
History
Originally the south end of the village of Prittlewell, Southend became a popular seaside resort for people during the Georgian era. Owing to its proximity to London and easy access by train, the town's economy has largely been based on tourism ever since. Southend Pier is the world's longest pleasure pier at 1.34 miles (2158 m). Over the years the pier has suffered fires and ship collisions, most recently in October 2005, but it has been repaired each time.With the decline of traditional British sea-side resorts, from the 1960s onwards much of the centre of Southend was developed as a centre of commerce, and many of the original features of this once-attractive Victorian seaside town were destroyed through redevelopment or neglect. H.M. Revenue & Customs (HMRC), (formerly H.M. Customs and Excise), are major employers in the town, and the central offices for the collection of VAT are located there. Southend recently opened the new University of Essex, Southend, aimed at boosting the town's flagging economy.
There are nine railway stations within the Borough boundary serving the many Southend residents who commute to work in London.
Governance
Local government district
Southend-on-Sea was formed as a municipal borough in 1892 with the functions of local government shared with Essex County Council. In 1913 the borough was enlarged by gaining the former area of Leigh on Sea Urban District. In 1914 the enlarged Southend-on-Sea gained the status of county borough, exempt from county council control and a single-tier of local government. The county borough was enlarged in 1933 by gaining the former area of Shoeburyness Urban District and part of Rochford Rural District.In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Southend on Sea became a district of Essex with borough status, however in 1998 it again became the single tier of local government when it became a unitary authority.
Council
There are currently 17 wards each returning three councillors, making a total of 51. Councillors serve a four year term and are elected by thirds (i.e. one third of the council is elected each year, followed by one year without election). Following the 2007 local elections and a 2007 by-election, the composition is:
| Affiliation | Councillors | |
| Conservative Party | 29 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 10 | |
| Labour Party | 7 | |
| Independent | 5 | |
Alliance Southend was formed when two independent councillors from Westborough Ward were joined by Roger and Verina Weaver - two councillors who left the Conservative Party. The latter two are no longer members of the Council and two new Independents have been elected. The total of 4 Independents now have formed a group called Independents Alliance 4 Southend.
The town's coat-of-arms bears the motto 'Per Mare Per Ecclesiam' which translates into 'By the Sea and By the Church', reflecting Southend's historic position between the Church at Prittlewell and the sea as in the Thames estuary.
The town is twinned with the resort town of Sopot in Poland. Sopot is the location of the longest wooden pier in Europe, while Southend is the location of the longest iron pleasure pier in the world.
Southend Borough Council was strongly criticised in a damning report as being one of the worst financially managed local authorities in England by the independent Audit Commission annual report for the 2006/7 financial year, being only one of three councils to gain only one out of four stars, the others being Liverpool and the Isles of Scilly. Areas of criticism were the use of highly paid consultants and the spending of £3.5 million on taxis during the 2006/7 financial year.
Members of Parliament
Southend is represented by two MPs at Westminster.The MP for Southend West has been, since 1997, David Amess (Conservative) who replaced Paul Channon.
Since the 2005 General Election the MP for Southend East and nearby Rochford has been James Duddridge (Conservative), who replaced the long serving MP Sir Teddy Taylor. Despite its name the majority of the constituency is in Southend, Rochford makes up only a small part and the majority of Rochford District Council is actually represented by the MP for Rayleigh. Both seats are considered to be "safe seats" for the Conservative Party.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Southend-on-Sea at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.| Year | Regional Gross Value Added | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,373 | 2 | 305 | 1,066 |
| 2000 | 1,821 | 1 | 375 | 1,445 |
| 2003 | 2,083 | - | 418 | 1,665 |
Transport
Railways
Southend is served by two railway lines. Running from Southend Victoria northwards out of the town is the Liverpool Street line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line currently operated by National Express East Anglia. The service operates to London Liverpool Street via Prittlewell, Rochford, Hockley, Rayleigh, Wickford, Billericay, Shenfield and Stratford.The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, known as the Fenchurch Street line, is currently operated by c2c and runs from Shoeburyness in the east of the borough, west through Thorpe Bay, Southend East, Southend Central to Fenchurch Street in London via Benfleet and Basildon or Tilbury and Barking. Additionally, two services from Southend Central each weekday evening terminate at Liverpool Street.
From 1910 to 1939, the London Underground's District Line's eastbound service ran as far as Southend and Shoeburyness.
Road
There are two main A-Roads connecting Southend with London and the rest of the country, the A127 (The Southend Arterial Road), via Basildon and Romford, and the A13, via Tilbury and London Docklands. Both are major routes. However, within the borough of Southend, the A13 is primarily a single carriageway local route, whereas the A127 is almost entirely a dual carriageway. Both roads lead to the M25.Buses
Local public transport is served by two main bus companies, Arriva Southend (formerly the council owned Southend Corporation Transport) and First Essex Buses (formerly known as Eastern National/Thamesway). Other minor bus companies serving the town include Stephensons of Essex, Stansted Transit and Regal Busways.Southend Transport (more recently Arriva) operated a coach service to Victoria Coach Station under the Greenline brand; this is now run by Stephensons of Essex, but was withdrawn on July 11, 2008. There is also a National Express coach service (route 305) to Liverpool, which operates daily.
Southend Airport
Education
Secondary schools
In 2004 Southend remained one of the areas of the UK that retain the grammar school system and has four schools of this type: Southend High School for Boys, Southend High School for Girls, Westcliff High School for Boys and Westcliff High School for Girls. Additionally there are two single sex schools assisted by the Roman Catholic church: St Bernard's High School for Girls and St Thomas More High School for Boys. Both of these, while not technically grammar schools, contain a grammar stream; entrance to these streams is gained by passing the same entrance exam as the grammar schools. The other 8 main-stream secondary schools in the area are all mixed sex comprehensive schools, including Cecil Jones College, The King John School, Deans, Chase High School (formerly Prittlewell High School), Thorpe Hall School, Futures Community College (formerly Thorpe Bay High School), Shoeburyness High School and The Eastwood School.Further and higher education
, located in a new building in the centre of town.Currently the College offers over thirty degree courses matriculated by the University of Essex. The university's centre in the town is currently a single building on the High Street The University, however, has built its own centre in Southend, located next to the new College building on the site of the old Odeon cinema. These buildings form the first two phases of the Southend Campus. The University notes that 'South Essex is probably the largest conurbation in the country without a significant higher education presence'. This development will change this.
Entertainment and culture
Seafront attractions
The Kursaal was one of the earliest theme parks, built at the start of the 20th century. It closed in the 1970s and much of the land was developed as housing. The entrance hall, a listed building, is now a bowling alley arcade (operated by Megabowl) and casino.
Another newer theme park, Adventure Island, developed on land formerly occupied by Peter Pan's Playground, straddles the pier entrance. It is a popular attraction for both adults and children, and despite a restriction on available land has continued to grow into a large amusement park with over 50 rides. The sea-front also houses a "Sea-Life Centre" aquarium.
The cliff gardens, which included Never Never Land, and Victorian bandstand were a popular attraction until slippage in 2003 made parts of the cliffs unstable, and the bandstand has been removed for safe keeping. The council has expressed its desire to re-erect the bandstand but a suitable location has yet to be found.
A modern cliff lift links the base of the High Street with the new pier entrance. The older cliff lift, a short funicular railway, is located a few hundred metres away, now closed because structural and mechanical work needs to be done in order to meet European Union Legislation which classes it as a cablecar.
In August the Southend Carnival is opened along the Golden Mile with the lighting of the Southend Illuminations which continue until November. (The Council authorities decided that due to the need for repair to meet Health & Safety requirements, and funding issues, the Illuminations would not be held in 2007 and 2008).
On the second and fourth Saturdays of the month, Southend hosts one of the busiest farmers markets in the county.
Theatres
There are three theatres in the town.The Cliffs Pavilion is a large building and is able to host different forms of show including musical concerts, and performances on ice.
The most recent theatre is the New Empire Theatre. It is, unlike the other two theatres, privately owned. It is used far more by amateur dramatic groups. The theatre was converted from the former ABC Cinema, which itself was originally a theatre, built in 1896. Therefore, as well as being Southend's newest theatre, it is arguably the oldest as well.
The Edwardian era Palace Theatre is a grade II listed building built in 1912. It shows plays from professional troupes and repertory groups, as well as some comedy acts. The theatre has two circles and is noted for having the steepest rake in Britain. Part of the theatre was a smaller venue called "The Dixon Studio". This was used for more intimate performances.
Sport
There are 2 rugby clubs in town with a nationwide profile, Southend R.F.C. and Westcliff R.F.C., with Southend having the superior men's first team (playing in National Division 2) but Westcliff having the more developed youth set up.
County Cricket is played at Southend by Essex County Cricket Club for one week during the season. Previously the festival was held at Southchurch Park, but it has now moved to a newer facility at Garon Park. That aside, the only cricket in Southend is local league Cricket.
Southends 8 lane, floodlit, synthetic athletics track at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre is the home ground to Southend-on-Sea Athletic Club. The facilities include all track and field events. More information on Southend-on-Sea Athletic Club can be found below:
Music
The establishment of Southends most hyped club, Junk Club By The Horrors Rhys Webb and Oliver Abbott (Von Blitz) aided by Ciaran O'Shea, in the basement of the Royal Hotel on Southend seafront in 2002 heralded the creation of a 'Southend scene' and led to the club being in every national magazine including NME, Rolling Stone and Vogue.. Bands associated with the scene included The Horrors, These New Puritans, The Violets, Errorplains and Neils Children. Junk was terminated in 2006, with a subsequent night, the Experimental Circle Club, was set up by Thomas Silverman & Junk's Ciaran O'Shea, and now operates in both Southend and London. Rockit also sprang out of junk, which is run by Oliver Abbott (JUNK) playing more underground Black music such as Dancehall and rare soul. Chinnery's is the biggest venue of live music in Southend-on-Sea and has had a huge number of 'named' bands play there, especially over the past few years. Arctic Monkeys, Zebrahead, Lost Prophets to name but a few.Southend is also known for its varied and thriving electronic music scene. The town has well established nights and venues at both the commercial and underground ends of the spectrum. The biggest underground music venue in Southend is the 3 floor Royal Hotel which hosts nights such as PshFWD, Wobble, Mata Boo Boo and Telephasic featuring house, techno, dubstep, breaks and electro. Also the Sunrooms which champions all aspects of creative music.
Radio
In 1981, Southend-on-Sea became the home of the county's radio station, Essex Radio, which broadcast from studios below Clifftown Road. In 2004, the renamed Essex FM moved to studios located in Chelmsford.On the 31st of March 2008, a local radio station, Southend Radio started broadcasting on 105.1FM from studios adjacent to the Adventure Island theme park. The station won its licence to broadcast in April 2006, beating three competitors.
Charity
The Southend Branch of Leukaemia Research organises Bikeathons to raise money for the Charity. Southend BikeathonNotable people from Southend
- James Bourne, singer/guitarist in Son of Dork and previously in Busted.
- Gary Brooker, lead singer of Procol Harum
- Kevin Bowyer, concert organist
- Mike Bromfield, BBC's youngest radio presenter, with Ollie Winiberg
- Emma Chambers, actress
- Nathalie Emmanuel, actress Hollyoaks
- Brian Cleeve, author and broadcaster
- Jonathan Clements, author
- Phil Cornwell, actor and impressionist
- Tina Cousins, singer
- Gemma Craven, actress
- Danielle Dax, musician, actress and performance artist
- Sam Duckworth, better known as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, an alternative rock, folktronica artist
- Warren Ellis, graphic novelist
- Lee Evans, comedian
- Nick Fawcett, author
- Benjamin Grosvenor, BBC Young Musician of the Year Finalist
- John Hutton, politician
- Daniel Jones, musician, producer and former member of Savage Garden
- Oliver Jones, singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and audio engineer
- Phill Jupitus, comedian
- Alexander McNamara, film-maker
- Mickey Jupp, musician
- Dominic Littlewood, TV presenter of several programmes, most notably To Buy or Not to Buy
- John Lloyd, former British tennis number one
- Robert Lloyd, opera singer
- Lee Mead, musical theatre actor and winner of the BBC show Any Dream Will Do on 9
- Ben Thornton, Actor In film and on tv
- Helen Mirren, actress
- Dicky Moore, singer/songwriter, guitarist in Scritti Politti
- Annabel Port, broadcaster
- Spencer Prior, former Southend United and Derby County footballer
- Joy Sarney, singer and one-hit wonder
- Jake Shillingford, singer/songwriter, founder of My Life Story
- Peter Taylor, football manager
- Kara Tointon, actress (Currently plays the part of Dawn Swann in EastEnders)
- Ollie Winiberg, BBC's youngest radio Presenter with Mike Bromfield
- Al Vosper, Guitarist, singer, songwriter, Beverley Knight, Joe Cocker, Paul Young, Chris de Burgh, London Beat and many more.Bands
- Procol Harum, symphonic rock band
- Dr Feelgood, Seventies pub-rock band. Their 1978 album Stupidity, recorded live at the Kursaal, was a UK No.1.
- The Famous Potatoes, barn dance band
- The Horrors, rock band
- The Kursaal Flyers, Seventies rock band
- These New Puritans, rock band
- Ipso Facto, 2008 Band, featured heavily in NME.
- Scroobius Pip, Rap artist, signed 2008.
- Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
References
See also
Towns within the Borough of Southend
Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, Westcliff-on-SeaExternal links
- Southend Association of Voluntary Services
- University of Essex in Southend
- Southend Festival Home Page
- Southend on Sea The Music Venues
- Southend Borough Council
- Longpier: best blog about Southend & Southend United
- Essex Photos
- Culturebox, Southend Council's culture pages
- hub - music downloads - including Southend dj's and producers
- The Royal Hotel - Southend's no. 1 underground music venue
- Southend Kursaal Photos
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday October 01, 2008 at 12:07:07 PDT (GMT -0700)
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