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Join the second protest rally on August 9th at the top of Southend High Street to save Southend’s green belt. Cowan’s coalition cannot win against 179,972 Southend residents unified as one
- James Miller
- 14 minutes ago
- 7 min read
As I turned up to the protest on June 8th - running 15 minutes later than I’d planned as I had come from work - I could only see my three Confelicity friends and my friend from the Green Party, Tricia Cowdrey. It was 12.45pm and with kick-off at 1pm, embarrassment was creeping in.
Had I underestimated the level of interest of the Labour, Lib Dem and Independent Group’s decision to build 10,000 houses on green belt land by Bournes Green Chase?
I unloaded my banners, posters, speaker and trusty mega-phone from my car remaining outwardly cheerful as I approached our enthusiastic group.
“Five it is” (including myself!), I thought. And I felt bad because one of my Confelicity friends had even cancelled their holiday!
At the recent Cabinet meeting Cllr Dent, dutiful acolyte of the Cowan regime driving this anti-Southend scheme, made the somewhat petty point to say that the ramp in Chalkwell garnered more interest than this protest and for a moment his faulty observation might have been accurate. On this note, comparing the interest of issues by numbers in a crowd is not exactly the scientific method I would argue provides an accurate view of residents’ views and I would question whether this glib approach is the same they use to analyse and dissect information other issues, funnily enough, such as this one.
As it was I had a speech prepared, but I wasn’t sure how I’d deliver it to this, as yet, small but passionate group.
As we spoke between ourselves I was relieved to see us grow to around fifteen residents and by the time the Echo photographer turned up we had swelled to the grand number of around 50 - not a disaster, but we were still hoping for more.
It must be stressed that a significant argument against this is specifically about the number of residents who are against this. When the decision is finally taken, councillors of the administration will give weight to different material issues - one being residents’ feelings, and it will be taken as read support is there if very few people say anything.
For sure it was great that the Echo deemed the event important and we must praise it their efforts to put us front page.
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After the photoshoot was over it was time for the speeches
My speech was politically driven and the banners a touch direct.
“Why does Labour hate the countryside”? They read.
I know that one banner cannot claim to represent the whole of Labour and those who support them, but it does sum up Kier Starmer’s government.
And why was I targeting Labour? Because of all the actions residents can take to stop this such as writing to MPs; ward councillors; the New Towns Taskforce; objecting to the public consultation regarding the 300 plus pages of the Local Plan; joining in with the protests; and writing to the Secretary of State for Housing Angela Rayner MP, nothing has more impact than voting out the local Labour, Lib Dem and Independent coalition on May 2026.
Why is this so?
Because the person at the top of the tree said so (or at least her office).
In response to a letter I wrote to her they made it perfectly clear that the Local Authority HAS the authority over green belt land - regardless whether it is private land or not.
Our Local Authority is currently run by this coalition who are cheerleading our land to be concreted.
Want to stop them?
Then may I politely request you put any party loyalties aside for the 2026 election and vote them out.
Response from the office of the Secretary of State for Housing, Angela Rayner MP
Yes, removing them from office is the first directive and all paths must lead to this.
If you vote Confelicity then great, but vote anyone else but them and that is good enough for me - politics can take a backseat.
The Conservatives, Greens, Reform and non-aligned Independents are all against this so these are your options.
Can’t we change coalition’s mind?
If you think there might be a chance to change Cllr Cowan’s mind think again.
The leader of this rogue administration and chief architect of this vandalism, in the face of unanimous resident anger and dissatisfaction evidenced during the Thorpe Bay Resident Association and East Beach Resident Association meetings that followed the protest, continued to defy all logic and reasoning by stapling his feet into his shoddy foothold.
Evening Echo report on EBRA unanimous vote against building on green belt
The audience were very well informed and asked reasonable question after another with nothing much back than “infrastructure-led” and “farmland bad”.
No one was convinced.
When asked how much it would cost and what infrastructure is was he asking for, he pointed toward a new hospital, demolishing the current one and turning it into flats!
Debate at the EBRA green belt with Councillors Cowan, Cox, Moyies, Wakefield and Allen along with myself
I have written to Government Cabinet ministers asking how much the infrastructure Cllr Cowan is asking for will cost and whether there are plans to indeed spend near trillions of pounds in Southend’s new town fulfilling the “ask” as the caveat he so often repeats for developers.
I have also written to our MPs in Southend while inviting them to speak at the next protest.
Since those meetings, instead of showing a little bit of empathy, inexplicably, he insulted the whole of Southend using his unchallenged platform at the Cabinet meeting to knight 179,972 residents as “bananas”; an inflammatory and inciting acronym meaning "build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything". I can only speak for myself on this but I am not against building houses - I just don’t want it on green belt land, and I take the view that we are already overcrowded.
His arrogance and stubbornness on this issue engulfs him. Does he not realise developers are in business and they quite acceptably are looking for the biggest profit they can make? And therefore will want to pay as little possible.
Either he is being naive or something else is going on.
What does his role as board member of Thames Estuary have in his decision making?
Who is influencing him?
For clarification, I am not implying any level of corruption, just asking the question.
Cllr Cowan sits on the board of Thames Estuary Growth Board
Either way, we know this development is a sham. We already know our services are being cut due to the age old excuse of the statutory obligation of adult and child social care, but get ready for Labour’s fortnightly bin collections. And yet he seems to believe we can get a new hospital, GP surgeries, schools, etc.
Moreover, the 40% affordable housing quotas will be quashed as soon as the developer can prove it is financially inviable. His argument that he has to balance all residents’ needs which include those who need housing, would have much validity if the Local Plan prioritised local people, which it could be but is not (unless I have missed something).
It merely says to ‘Deliver a range of housing types and tenures, including affordable and Council housing, that are designed to be adaptable so local people can reside independently in their local community through all stages of their lives and seek to safeguard existing family housing.’
He has said that any social housing is automatically prioritised for local people, but the guidance outlined in the National Planning Policy framework is for affordable housing not social housing; a vital distinction as they have their own rules. One being that local people are not automatically prioritised and the houses will simply be sold only 20% off market value, which is still unaffordable. Social housing a can be 50% off market value with more of a priority to local people. So, which is it for this development? As far I have been informed, the term ‘affordable’ has been used.
For those who argue if the number of houses increase house prices will come down, in normal economics that may be true. However, there is an artificial element in play and that is the government allowing banks to lend freely. Unless this changes the number of houses makes no difference. However, it won’t because what sane government would purposely stop the banks from lending and crash the housing market?
We know the impact this development will have on the environment and wildlife as concrete and another 20,000 cars contribute to poor air quality even though Cllr Hyde continues to feed us her unabated love for the subject. Comedic as it is, Cllr Cowan at the Cabinet meeting said of Cllr Lydia Hyde when discussing the Local Plan: “A huge amount of effort has gone into air quality, something that she [Cllr Lydia Hyde] is passionate about”.
I’d like to see her measure air quality before and after and tell us all about her passion.
Thanks to the speakers at the protest
Cllr Martin Berry opened up and he made it clear why he couldn’t publicly declare his position. Still, his presence was appreciated.
Cllr James Moyies, shared with us his extensive knowledge of the A to Z as to how the coalition had reached its current position. He was key to starting the cross-party campaign between the Conservatives, Greens, Confelicity, Reform, the non-aligned Independents and the resident associations of East Beach and Shoeburyness. He was also crucial in driving the council petition which reached a record 2,000 signatures despite the difficulty of the website itself.
The next to speak was Tricia Cowdrey who spoke about the farmland and food situation in which we have lost across the country countless land to developments. She also spoke about the effect on Shoeburyness.
Cllr Stuart Allen, of the Greens, spoke about protecting the environment and wildlife, while Cllr Stephen Aylen, non-aligned Independent, highlighted the impact across the city.
Lee Clark and Simon Jones of Confelicity spoke passionately about the impact of the scheme on residents and I was proud to see just why they belong to a local independent party.
Shah Haider, co-founder of Southend Against Sewage, spoke about the impact of our sewage systems and how they just will not cope with a new town such as this.
Finally, James Hurst, who informed us of the processes and how we can actually win.
What was a real bonus for us was members of the People’s Independent Party from Castle Point attended. They, like us, are passionate about local representation without connections to national parties. We look forward to working with them in the future.
Thank you to the residents
My thanks go out to all who attended and who will now share the torch together as we ignite and awaken Southend residents into rising up against this.
As I say, the next protest will be held on August 9th from 11am to 1pm at the top of town by the Odeon, and we need to be in the thousands.
Spreading the word as far and wide as possible is the mission, all leading toward the ‘Green Belt’ election in May 2026.
The only way they can stop us is if they cancel the elections with the excuse of devolution.
Let’s hope they don’t panic and make their position even worse.
Below is what we’re fighting for…
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