Over 100 staff on duty as hot weather continues

August 6, 2020

As the hot weather continues, the Council and its partners are urging visitors to Visit Southend safely and bin their litter or take it home with them.

The plea comes following a very busy weekend, when waste and parks teams had to deal with an unprecedented amount of litter and rubbish across our seven miles of award-winning beaches and parks.

Over 100 staff will be on duty each day across the Borough, including:

• 47 Veolia staff working shifts that cover from 4.30am to 11pm. These staff will be working hard across the entire seafront raking the beach, emptying bins, litter picking, street sweeping and cleaning public toilets
• 20 civil enforcement officers, tackling problem parking and helping to keep traffic moving
• 16 community safety officers working across the Borough
• 6 parking marshalls across Seaway, Fairheads Green and Gasworks car parks helping people to purchase tickets and manage traffic flows in and out of these busy car parks
• 6 foreshore officers patrolling the seafront, from East Beach to Two Tree Island
• 5 parks staff who will be visiting parks and playgrounds across the Borough
• 3 CCTV staff who operate the council’s CCTV room, and link in with local police, BID and council officers and contractors on-call
• 2 BID street rangers who are focussed on the High Street and central seafront area
• 6 volunteer beach welfare officers will also be on duty from 10am to 4pm, operating out of the Jubilee Beach office

Cllr Kevin Robinson, cabinet member for business, culture and tourism, said: “It is more important that people can Visit Southend safely and respect the local area and environment. We have seven miles of wonderful blue flag and seaside award winning beaches, so please make use of that space and stay safe by staying apart.

“We are expecting lots of visitors again this week and into the weekend, so we have over 100 staff from a variety of teams in place who will be working hard to deal with all the challenges that we know we will face.

“We are also urging people to plan their trip at www.visitsouthend.co.uk, and familiarise themselves with some of the safety measures in place locally.

Cllr Carole Mulroney, cabinet member for environment and planning, says: “We know the benefit tourism has for our local traders, and the challenges they face dealing with the current restrictions, so please respect their guidance so that everyone stays safe and enjoys their time in the glorious sunshine.

“Our waste crews dealt with an unprecedented amount of rubbish last week, and many of the items having to be litter picked were only metres away from a bin. Litter has no rightful place on the ground/beach or in the water where it can harm others and wildlife.

“We want visitors to enjoy themselves, but please respect the town where we live and our local area, as we would respect your home town and environment. Please use the hundreds of bins provided, and if a bin is full, find another one, or take your rubbish home with you (bring a rubbish bag with you which will prevent it being spread about). Although leaving loose rubbish and bags next to a bin may seem like a good idea, it’s not, especially with food waste, which attracts the birds, creates smells and makes the area unpleasant for others. With your help we can keep our seafront a great place to be”.

Suzanne Gloyne, Southend BID Manager, says: “We’re pleased that we can welcome you back again to our shops, restaurants, bars and attractions in sunny Southend but we must all continue to respect safety measures in place. Our Street Rangers will be around all weekend to help businesses and advise visitors.

“Please remember your face covering, sanitise your hands regularly, keep your distance from others, and enjoy Southend safely in this warmer weather.”

Visitors are also being reminded to check the tide timetable before entering the water or walking out to the mudflats. The tide timetable for Southend-on-Sea is available on the Port of London Authority website.

For all the latest visitor information, go to www.visitsouthend.co.uk

Keeping safe

Southend’s Community Safety unit will be patrolling the town centre and seafront throughout the weekend. Community safety officers will provide a welcome and reassuring presence to visitors and residents alike and deal with reports of antisocial behaviour and work with the police.

Missing children and vulnerable adults

Southend Business Improvement District (BID) will be continuing to promote its “Keeping Together” wristband scheme, which aims to reunite lost children and vulnerable adults with their families.

Southend BID has produced the wristbands for children and vulnerable adults to wear, on which parents or carers can write their name and contact number. In the event they get separated or become lost, a phone call to the number can help reunite them with family.

Further information about the scheme – and where to get a wrist band – can be found here

Parking

You can find a list of council car parks on our car parks webpage.

We have staff deployed at our busy seafront car parks, to help visitors find parking spaces and assist them with paying for parking.

Visitors can avoid queuing at parking meters by downloading the Mobon parking app before they depart and paying on their phone when they arrive. This also offers the added benefit of enabling you to top up your parking from your phone if you end up staying longer than you thought you would.

Remember that parking is free from 4pm in all council owned car parks. Visit our parking offer webpage for more information on this and our pay for one hour, get an hour free offer.

Beach safety

The Council offers the following advice to help ensure a visit to the beach is remembered for all the right reasons.

• Supervise children and vulnerable adults at all times. There is safety in numbers.
• Wear jelly shoes or other sensible footwear on the beach and in the sea. Like with all seafronts, hidden dangers such as sharp shells and rocks may be hidden under the sand or water.
• Don’t climb the rocks: Several areas of our seafront have rocks, including our seafront lagoon at Three Shells Beach. Please do not climb them. Not only could you become injured, but you also risk falling injured into the sea, impeding your chances of swimming to safety.
• Slip, slap, slop, seek, slide: Sunburn is a leading cause of skin cancer. Sunstroke and dehydration are also extremely dangerous. Slip on a T-shirt, slop on some sun cream slap on a hat. Seek out some shade and slide on some sun glasses to protect your eyes too!
• Observe signs and flags: Heed warning signs and flags: they could save your life!

Please always make sure to check the tide timetable before you enter the water and before walking out to the mudflats. Visit our website for more information.

Litter

Don’t be a mug, don’t litter! There are hundreds of bins along the seafront. Please use these. If a bin is full, please take your rubbish home with you.

The Council’s waste contractor, Veolia has extra staff on duty to quickly respond to any issues of beach littering. Their beach-combing machines will be combing the beaches during the mornings to prepare for visitors while litter pickers will patrol the beaches in the evening. Staff from the council’s waste team will also be part of a high-visibility presence over the weekend.

Extra beach bins are available across the central seafront.

Full bins should be reported via MySouthend: https://www.southend.gov.uk/MySouthend