Local news, what's on and the information you need for Southend-on-Sea and Leigh.
Southend Today

Southend council news

Southend council news, newest first: decisions, budgets, council tax, bins and services, each linked to the council's own papers.

Top story Cliffs Pavilion Revamp: Council Pays Builder £581,000 Late Southend council approved £581,041 owed to the Cliffs Pavilion builder after it took the late payment to adjudication. Certified work has reached £5.82m. · 5 min read

More stories

Council Greater Essex Growth Plan: Southend Asked to Start Work Cabinet is asked on 16 November to start a plan setting how many homes go where across Greater Essex. Southend may have to find up to £250,000 towards it. · 4 min read Elections Leigh Ward By-Election on 10 December: Key Dates to Vote Leigh ward votes for one city councillor on Thursday 10 December. Register by midnight on 24 November and apply for a postal vote by 5pm on 25 November. · 4 min read Seafront Three Shells Lagoon: Officers Recommend £800,000 Removal Officers want Three Shells Lagoon taken out and the beach restored, at about £800,000. Cabinet decides on 16 November, and work could start in spring 2027. · 5 min read Schools Leigh North Street School Pool: Council Cannot Step In Only the school's governors can reopen the pool, the council tells the 2,547-name petition, and it will not fund it. Cabinet notes the reply on 16 November. · 3 min read Council Southend Council Overspend Forecast Falls to £12m The council now expects to overspend by £11.96m this year, down from £13.29m in July. Children's and adult social care account for all of it. · 4 min read Council Southend Council Hits 19 of 31 Targets as Anti-Social Behaviour Complaints Jump Southend Council met 19 of its 31 performance targets from July to September and missed seven. Anti-social behaviour complaints rose to 252, from 174. · 6 min read Council Southend Council Reorganisation: No Change Before April 2029 Southend council cannot now be replaced before 1 April 2029, ministers say, with a decision on Greater Essex by early 2027. What the 29 October letter means. · 4 min read Planning Rochford Planning Call-Ins End: 21-Day Gateway Instead From 31 October Rochford councillors cannot call in planning applications. Instead they, or a parish council, get 21 days to ask for a gateway assessment. · 3 min read Housing Southend Landlord Licensing Ends 30 Nov: New Scheme Plan Southend's landlord licensing scheme ends on 30 November. A replacement covering 5,685 rented homes could start in April 2027; consultation closes 31 December. · 3 min read Housing Southend Tower Blocks: Regulator Refuses 7 Safety Cases The Building Safety Regulator refused safety cases for seven council tower blocks. Deadlines for the fire and structural work fall this month and next. · 5 min read Schools Southend Grammar Places: Six Offers Withdrawn Over Address Six grammar school offers for this September were withdrawn after the council found the families did not live locally. Most were at WHSB and SHSB. · 5 min read Trading Standards Southend Illegal Vapes: Report Online, All Vapes Now 18+ Since 29 October it is illegal to sell any vape or nicotine pouch to under-18s. Southend residents can report underage or illegal sales anonymously online. · 4 min read Council Southend Public Toilets: New Marine Parade Block Proposed A new large toilet block on Marine Parade and a smaller one near Thorpe Bay Corner are proposed, with seasonal hours. Cabinet decides on 16 November. · 5 min read Flooding Thorpe Hall Avenue Flood Tank Due by End of October The tank meant to stop sewage surging up through manholes on Thorpe Hall Avenue should arrive by the end of October. Digging up to 4m deep now runs into winter. · 4 min read Council Southend council this week: toilets, KFC, a £500k CCTV deal Cabinet approved a £500,000-plus CCTV deal with Castle Point, KFC won a nine-month 3am trial and the £805,608 minibus call-in failed. What each meeting decided. · 7 min read Planning Southend Planning: 7-Bed HMO Above London Road Offices All eight applications validated in Southend in the week of 5 October: a seven-bed HMO over offices on London Road and a bungalow replaced on Tankerville Drive. · 3 min read Planning Woodgrange Drive HMO Wins Appeal After Councillors Say No Councillors have reversed their stance on the 8-bed HMO at 43 Woodgrange Drive after an inspector allowed it on appeal: on 14 October they said they would have granted it. · 6 min read Food Hygiene Southend Food Inspectors 1.73 Posts Short as Complaints Rise Southend's food team has 4.75 officers for work needing 6.48, and complaints rose to 276 last year. Cabinet backed the plan on 12 October; full council adopts it. · 5 min read Council Southend Vape and Barber Shop Curbs Go to Cabinet, No Vote A motion to limit new vape shops, barbers and phone repair shops, and bar them from council-owned units, goes to Cabinet on Wednesday without a council vote. · 6 min read Council Southend Council Reorganisation Cost: £239,346 Before Pause Southend council's net bill for the abandoned council merger reached £239,346 by 31 August, a new report shows. Consultants took £254,126 of the gross cost. · 4 min read Southend Pier Southend Pier Trains: Still No Return Date, Two Years On Southend Pier's electric trains will not run until an investigation into the October 2024 buffer stop crash is complete. The council has given no return date. · 3 min read Seafront Three Shells Lagoon Could Be Removed and the Beach Restored Removing Three Shells Lagoon and putting the beach back is one option, the council says. Cabinet is due to decide on 16 November; the lagoon stays shut. · 3 min read Schools Southend Early Years: Record 74.9% Reach a Good Level 74.9% of Southend's Reception children reached a good level of development in 2025/26, up from 68.4% a year earlier and 65.5% the year before. That is 0.2 points short of the council's 2028 target. · 3 min read Planning Southend Planning: 1,422 Solar Panels on the Short Street Depot All 19 applications registered in Southend in the fortnight to 25 September: 1,422 solar panels on the Short Street Post Office roof, fire-safety recladding at Hamlet Court Mews, a roof terrace on Eastern Esplanade. · 4 min read Remembrance Southend Remembrance Sunday 2027 Is 14 November This Wednesday, 11 November, the Mayor leads a two-minute silence at 11am on Southend High Street. Remembrance Sunday 2027 falls on 14 November. · 8 min read Leigh-on-Sea Leigh Port Rebuild: £21.8m Contract Goes Without a Tender Cabinet approved the £21.8m Leigh Port contract as a direct award, not a competition, and the Levelling Up grant runs out in March 2028, before the work ends. · 7 min read Housing Southend Council Housing: £100m Plan, 7% Spent So Far The council will spend £100m on housing over five years. Its own July figures show £549,000 of an £8.4m new build budget spent, and four schemes delayed. · 7 min read Council Southend Taxi Licensing Policy: Points In, Uber Not Banned Southend's first taxi policy brings a points system that can cost a driver their licence, and the council says it never banned Uber. Start date still blank. · 6 min read Council Southend City Status: Cannot Be Regained If It Lapses The council's report says city status would fall away and could never be won back. The fix is Charter Trustees, paid for through council tax bills. · 5 min read Planning Southend Planning: Councillor Call-Ins End 31 October From 31 October no Southend councillor can force a planning application to a public committee. Two people will decide what gets heard. Council votes on Monday. · 4 min read Roads Southend Roads: 121 Named for Resurfacing by 2029 Nearly a quarter of Southend's residential roads are rated red in the council's own survey. Councillors debate a pothole emergency on Monday. Here is the list. · 6 min read Council Southend Council Merger Withdrawn: 2028 Abolition Is Off The government has withdrawn the decision to abolish Southend-on-Sea City Council in 2028 and merge it with Castle Point and Rochford. What happens now. · 7 min read Council Southend Council Faces £13.3m Overspend, 97% Social Care Southend Council now forecasts a £13.291m overspend for 2026/27, and 97% of it is children's and adult social care. Grants are paused and vacancies held. · 7 min read Council Southend Council Complaints Nearly Triple in Two Years Southend Council took 411 complaints between April and June, against 292 a year earlier and 148 in 2024. 85% were about environment and place services. · 5 min read Planning Southend Green Belt: Extraordinary Council Meets 24 August All 51 councillors sit at 6.30pm on Monday 24 August, two days before the planning committee and a week before the 2,000-home Bournes Green Chase outline is due a decision. What is on the table, and what is not. · 9 min read Bins & Recycling Southend Garden Waste: Check Your Direct Debit or Bins Stop Paid Veolia for Southend garden waste? That no longer counts. Check 12 months of statements for a council payment or SUEZ tags your bin. Cost and how to pay. · 6 min read Bins Southend Bins Out by 6am on Thursday and Friday This Week Put bins out by 6am on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August: SUEZ crews start early in the amber heat alert. The normal 7am deadline returns Monday 17 August. · 3 min read Recycling Southend Fridge Disposal: Only Stock Road Tip Takes Them Leigh Marshes tip has stopped taking fridges and freezers and bulky bookings are suspended. Stock Road still takes them, and retailers must take yours back. · 5 min read Transport Southend Buses: 17 and 17A Funded for Another 12 Months The 17 and 17A are funded to July 2027, but still run weekdays only, 09:36 to 17:42. The 24 gains six months of evening buses, and kids ride free all August. · 4 min read Bins Southend Christmas Bin Collections 2026/27: Not Out Yet Southend has not published its Christmas 2026 bin changes yet. Last year's details landed on 17 December: garden waste paused three weeks, trees by booking. 7 min read Recycling Southend and Leigh Tips Now Close at 4pm Until February Stock Road and Leigh Marshes tips open 9am to 4pm on weekdays and 8am at weekends; Stock Road shuts Thursdays, Leigh Wednesdays. Checked November 2026. 8 min read