Cllr Tony Cox, leader of Southend-on-Sea City Council discusses the importance of protecting residents, and an exciting set of elephants stampeding across the city!
Our regulatory teams have had a busy week seizing illegal vapes and tobacco products, and successfully prosecuting landlords who were taking advantage of residents with overcrowding and unlicenced properties.
I want to say thank you to the trading standards team and the housing enforcement team who have acted on information provided to them, investigated and followed through, for the ongoing safety of residents in Southend-on-Sea. I also want to say thank you to the youth council, who helped trading standards by testing businesses for underage sales.
Everyone in Southend deserves to feel safe. We must do everything in our power to protect our young people by removing harmful, addictive smoking and vaping products from sale. And everyone deserves a safe and suitable place they can call home.
Everyone also deserves to be true to themselves without fear of criticism. It's an important month for our LGBTQIA+ community as Southend-on-Sea celebrates Pride. With a parade and town centre celebration tomorrow (Saturday) it is the perfect opportunity as a community to celebrate our choices, differences and preferences in an inclusive, fun and joyful way.
There is always a feeling of love and acceptance at such events and we as a council have also shown our support by raising the Pride flag at both the Civic Centre and at Porters. I'm sure the community will have a wonderful time celebrating this weekend and I urge residents to be allies and show their support too.
There is also more cause for celebration this weekend with the launch of Herd in the City. This innovative scheme is a follow-on from the Hares about Town scheme in 2021, with beautifully decorated elephants in a trail all over the City. You can purchase a map or download the app for a small fee, which goes directly to Havens Hospices, which is one of the Mayor's chosen charities this year.
I think it's a fantastic opportunities for families, residents and visitors to travel around the City to find the elephants, to visit areas of Southend they may not have visited before and to appreciate art, whilst raising money for a worthwhile local charity.
Please take advantage of the trail and this opportunity to be part of something special.
Enjoy your weekend.
Cllr Tony Cox, Leader of Southend-on-Sea City Council