.jpg)
Confelicity pledges transparent spending, freeze to council tax, review of Exec pay who must live locally, end to council workers WFH, and offer local referendums on issues such as the green belt
- James Miller
- May 7
- 6 min read
A new set of proposals from the Southend Confelicity Party aims to reshape how Southend-on-Sea City Council operates, placing transparency, accountability and cost-cutting at the centre of local debate.
Transparent Spending
At the heart of our plan is a push to make council spending far more visible to residents. Currently, expenditure below £500 is not published, leaving gaps in what residents can see. The information already exists, it is just a case of showing it. We believe residents should be able to trace how their taxes are used and what outcomes those decisions are meant to achieve. https://www.southend.gov.uk/council-budgets-spending/spending-500
We are making this pledge against a backdrop where we believe significant sums of public money have been wasted by Southend Labour.
We point to a £100m highways contract going to Marlborough without any other company submitting a bid (based on an FOI, see appendix 1); £10 million spent on the loss making Victoria Shopping Centre and then another £4 million on repairs, almost £15 million on consultancy fees on ‘Better Queensway’ without a single new property to show for it, and now the Queensway underpass is closed otherwise they would have had to pay a £15 million grant back; £10 million earmarked for the Seaway car park to building a bowling alley next to a bowling alley; £1 million on parks with barely an improvement; £1.3 million on a set of toilets; countless sunk into trying to fix the quicksand Lagoon bog; £100K on ‘City Day’ that, aside from the voluntary participants, was not much more than a party political broadcast; £350K to demolish Southchurch Library and move the service into Southend Adult College; and £3.5 million on new pier trains that are, as we speak, laying dormant in bubble wrap as they don’t work.
This is all just to name a few! The council pays far too much for too little and there needs to be a deep dive into the procurement process.
Marlborough Highways and Southchurch Library
It was announced in the Echo that Southend Council had awarded Marlborough a £100 million seven year contract, which covers the maintenance of streets and public areas across the city.
I’ve nothing against Marlborough, but I was curious as to whether such a lucrative contract was put out to tender.
I put in a FOI to Southend Council and it confirmed that “the tender went through the required tender evaluation process, and the contract was awarded to Marlborough Highways Ltd following approval in Cabinet on 10thNovember 2025.”
I do wonder what the “required tender process” is because the FOI also confirmed only “one company (Marlborough Highways Ltd) submitted a bid”.
Why? How is it one of the biggest contracts on the council’s books attracted no one else? Who else is out there? What put them off? What did Marlborough like that no one else didn’t?
The FOI I had received about the cost to repair Southchurch Library was outlandish. The £250K looked as though it would have been halved - at least.
And this is all because the public have no information available to see exactly what is happening with our money. By not revealing where every penny goes, we can never be sure if we are getting value for money. Asking for FOIs is an inefficient way to go about things. They already publish everything above £500 - why not below?
Council Tax Freeze
Linked to this is our call to freeze Council Tax increases until residents are given a full breakdown of spending priorities and expected results. We are often asked how will we pay for our manifesto? As much as it may sound like a cop-out, I genuinely believe there is so much waste like the examples I have given, that it will be fairly easy to find the money without making cuts to services.
Senior Executives’ Pay
We are calling for a review of senior executives’ pay with the possibility of freezing or cutting salaries. We disagree about the need to pay almost £250K to attract good people for the top jobs. We estimate that a 10 per cent reduction in executive remuneration could save around £200,000. At a time of sky rocketing bills, we believe we need leaders who lead by example.
Councillor role to be Voluntary
Extending this theme, we would like to return the councillor role to voluntary, and all Confelicity candidates if elected, will do so on this basis. We recognise this may prompt debate about who can afford to stand for office, but that did not seem to matter to Labour when a £5,000 minimum deposit was set for anyone wishing to run for Mayor of Essex!
Executive Team to Live Locally
We propose, going forward, the requirement that all council directors live locally, ensuring decision-makers have a direct stake in the community they serve.
End Working from Home for Council Workers
We would end working from home where it is not absolutely necessary, reflecting our preference for a more visible and accessible workforce. As a result, we would retain the Civic Centre as the central hub of council activity and not sell it for flats as has been proposed.
Re-evaluate Council’s Partners
We want to reassess the council’s external partners to ensure better value and accountability. For example, two partners for Better Queensway have either gone bust or pulled out, and somehow the partners involved in adult and child social care are taking around 70% of the council budget. While we recognise the statutory and moral duty to ensure people are taken care of, that does not mean to say we should be ripped off doing it. Something is wrong here and we need to know because we cannot carry on like this.
Council-Run Events
We plan to improve financial transparency around council-run events. For example, Southend Labour initially pocketed the money for the poppy event on the Pier after suggesting the money raised was needed for maintenance. They then backpedaled after pressure from Kursaal Confelicity candidate Lee Clark and other Southend residents changed their minds.
Elections
We will take a firm stance on local democracy. The reason Southend Labour went ahead with these elections is because they were pressured into it by strong party opposition.
Local Referendums
Where issues within the council’s remit have a significant impact on local people, we would hold local referendums.
There are cost implications, but certain issues cannot be left to just 51 councillors.
For instance, the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Cllr Martin Terry’s non-independent Independent Group administration were all in favour of cheerleading the green belt land by Bournes Green Chase to the New Towns Taskforce to concrete over 10,000 unaffordable houses not prioritised for local people.
I hardly know any local residents in favour and a local referendum would be worth its weight in gold were there indisputable evidence we didn’t want it.
How could the Labour, Lib Dem and Indie coalition sell us down the river in those circumstances?
Acting with Honesty and Integrity
In regard to transparency in general, Southend Labour struggle desperately and is something we’d look to change.
They want to demolish Southend Hospital under the false premise it is “at the end of its life” and the same with Southchurch Library, even though FOIs to the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust and Southend Council, respectively, categorically contradict this position.
They are also guilty of organising the Chief Operations Officer of the University of Essex to showcase the assets of the Southend Campus to an ‘invite only’ audience at their ‘Southend Investment Summit’, despite numerous public posts stating how much they’re doing to save it! Treachery, some would call it.
Changes
Taken together, we believe this package represents a broad attempt to reshape local governance around transparency, cost control and public involvement. We recognise that not everyone will agree with every proposal, but we are committed to starting an open and honest conversation about the future of our city.
We have much more in our manifesto, which has been developed over four years of monthly meetings and agreed unanimously by Southend residents at the meetings. We are proud to say we are the party for Southend residents: www.southendconfelicityparty.co.uk/localmanifesto2026
Appendices
Appendix 1
FOI
Please can you provide information regarding the highways maintenance contract awarded to Marlborough Highways (around £100 million):
A list of all companies that submitted bids for the contract.
Copies of any evaluation documents, scoring sheets, or reports showing the reasons why Marlborough Highways was awarded the contract, especially regarding pothole repair quality.
Details of the materials specified or proposed by each bidder for pothole repairs, and which materials Marlborough Highways will use.
I can confirm that the search for the information you requested has been completed and I can advise you of the following:
Only one company (Marlborough Highways Ltd) submitted a bid.
The tender went through the required tender evaluation process, and the contract was awarded to Marlborough Highways Ltd following approval in Cabinet on 10thNovember 2025.
The report is shown on our democracy website on the link below (item 7). https://democracy.southend.gov.uk/documents/g4879/Public%20reports%20pack%2010th-Nov-2025%2018.00%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10.
The proposed materials were specified by Southend City Council as part of the tender requirements. The Council specified (and therefore Marlborough Highways will be using) a 10mm close surface course bituminous material for carriageway patching.
Appendix 2
Comments