Agenda item

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.

One question on notice has been submitted by a Member of the Council on this occasion.

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council could ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

One question on notice had been submitted by a Member on this occasion as set out below:-

Question

Councillor Chris Amos had asked Councillor Ivan Henderson, the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism:-

“After a recent tidy up of Dovercourt Town Centre, when do you anticipate other town centres in Tendring will receive funding and help to do the same?”

In the absence of Councillor Henderson, the Leader of the Council (Councillor Mark Stephenson) replied as follows:-

“Thank you, Councillor Amos, for your question, and for your comments on Dovercourt. I would like to commend the recent improvements in Dovercourt Town Centre, where newly wrapped shop fronts and hanging baskets have revitalised the area, and the derelict Starlings site has been transformed into the Orwell Street Carpark and events space.

We also have plans to refurbish the eyesore sites at the end of Victoria Street, revamp the Milton Road carpark, and with ECC to integrate adult community learning into the Library, and revitalise the street from Dovercourt Station to the Victoria Statue.

The Council is committed to improving our town centres across the district. We have introduced a district wide Public Space Protection Order for dog fouling, and with the summer season underway, we have more bins across the district too.

We have improved the cleanliness of Clacton with pavement washing and Frinton has had 156 hours of additional time from the Council to support the Anglia in Bloom Bid. Talking of blooms, the gardens in Clacton and Holland have been refreshed. And anyone who comes to Clacton Seafront is always stunned by our gardens, which are looking particularly beautiful at the moment.

We want to go further. We will announce the successful UK Share Prosperity Fund bids to put on events and promotions across our town centres shortly. Right now businesses and community groups can apply for a grant of £1000 from the Council to help fund events in towns and villages which could help bring people into shopping districts. And further funding for any shop across the district to apply for £5,000 to improve their shopfront to brighten up our high streets went live last Friday. Looking to the future now, the new waste contract from 2026 will further improve the cleanliness of town centres as the service will be measured by the cleanliness of the streets, not how often they are swept.

We have further Government funding we are targeting to our town centres. There is a substantial grant of £250,000 from the Government’s Long Term Plan for Towns. Part of this funding will enable us to tidy up Clacton starting in the early Autumn, in collaboration with our partners in the Town Board and Tourism Group.

This funding will complement the planned comprehensive development of the Clacton Library and the Carnarvon Terrace carpark, which will start on site next year. There will be improvements in parking, the introduction of EV charging points, and a better public realm. Additionally, there is potential for substantial further funding for Clacton and Jaywick which we wait to hear from the new Government on that.

As an Administration we are getting things done, so that our town centres not only survive but thrive in the coming years.”

Councillor Amos then asked a question of clarification to which Councillor Stephenson then responded.