West Leigh Residents Association

News Release – January 2007

The West Leigh Residents Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday 7th March 2007 at the Highlands Methodist Church Hall, Olive Avenue, Leigh-on-Sea Boulevard. In addition to the annual reports and elections, a Southend Borough Councillor has been invited to address the meeting. This will be followed by a question and answer session and then a discussion on the issues to be pursued by the Association over the next year.

The Association has a long history of campaigning about issues affecting the quality of life of the residents of West Leigh. For over seventy years it has been a leading community group committed to representing the views of local residents and to working with the Council, local councillors and other groups to ensure that Leigh remains an attractive place to live.

During the previous twelve months the Association has, in addition to pursuing issues on behalf of individual residents, successfully fought several applications to build large blocks of flats in Leigh, has sought Council commitment to protecting and enhancing local open spaces, and has provided members with information on security and crime prevention. Owing to its reputation as an active community group, the Association has also been invited to participate in many of the consultation exercises carried out by the Council. One major consultation exercise that has been running for many months is that on the Local Development Framework which, when complete, will form the guiding principles for all future development in Southend. The Association believes it is vitally important that the views of residents are taken into account when these guidelines are being drawn up. The Association has also contributed to discussions on the proposed Belfairs Woodland Resource Centre, the Prittle Brook Greenway, the Seafront Survey, Licensing Policy and Local Transport Plan.

It is anticipated that during the next twelve months the Association will be involved with the London Road improvement scheme as it reaches Leigh, with the continuing battle to protect the character of Leigh from the onslaught of the housing developers and with the car parking problems which beset the neighbourhood.

As well as pursuing issues independently, West Leigh Residents' Association also works with other groups to address matters which affect the Borough as a whole - for example, the Association has seats on the Leigh Crime Prevention Panel, the Biodiversity and Environmental Awareness Working Party, the Business and Ratepayers Consultative Forum and on the Southend Airport Consultative Committee. It is also a member of COBRA, the Coalition of Borough Residents Association.

During the year the Association holds quarterly open meetings at which members get together to socialise and to discuss matters of common interest; these normally take place on the first Wednesday of March, June, September and December. Each open meeting has a theme with a guest speaker and a follow-up question and answer session. The Association welcomes new members to all its open meetings which are publicised on our website, www.westleighresidents.co.uk. Annual membership costs £2 per person or £3 per household and can be arranged through the Chairman, Eddie Cornish on 01702-558582.