Southend-on-Sea Retains Purple Flag Status

January 31, 2017 by Southend Borough Council

Southend-on-Sea is celebrating after retaining its prestigious Purple Flag status for its evening and night-time economy.

Purple Flag is a town and city centre award – similar to the Blue Flag for beaches – which recognises safe and well-managed night-time economies. The town centre is assessed yearly on its standards, management and good practice to maintain a safe prosperous night time economy, with Purple Flag status awarded for two years following a full inspection.

The award aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of town and city centres between the hours of 5pm and 5am and recognises areas for providing a vibrant and diverse mix of dining, entertainment and culture while promoting the safety and wellbeing of visitors and local residents.

The Purple Flag working group, a multi-agency group of members from the public, private and voluntary sector works together to achieve the award. Those involved include Essex Police, the Southend BID and Southend Street Pastors.

Cllr Mark Flewitt, Executive Councillor for Public Protection, says: “The Council and all of the partners involved are delighted that we’ve retained our Purple Flag status.

“It is the gold standard for night-time destinations and entertainment areas and demonstrates how much work we’ve done and how much we’ve achieved since we were first accredited to raise standards of safety and cleanliness in the town for our visitors still further.”

Simon Ford, the Council’s Group Manager for Community Safety and Chair of the Purple Flag Working Group, says: “Achieving the award for our fourth consecutive year really demonstrates the strength, value and commitment of working together in partnership to ensure Southend-on-Sea remains a key night time destination for all. A lot of hard work goes into achieving this award, and everyone involved should feel rightly proud.”

Since 2007, the programme has awarded the Purple Flag status to over 70 towns and cities in the UK and Ireland. Purple Flag accredited areas have all reported a consistent increase in footfall and a decrease in crime within the area. The Purple Flag programme is managed by the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM) which works alongside a partnership of key stakeholder groups backed by Government, police and businesses, as well as the UK sponsors Diageo Great Britain.

Accreditation from the Association of Town Centre Management came after officials from the organisation carried out an inspection in November 2015.

Shanaaz Carroll, CEO of the ATCM said: "There are now over 70 towns and cities across the UK and Ireland who are proudly flying the Purple Flag after working hard to gain accreditation. The award is not just about safety, but also the vibrancy and diversity of the evening and night-time offer — this can only be achieved by people working together and across the country we are seeing some amazing examples of this type of partnership working.”

Southend-on-Sea will officially receive the Purple Flag new accreditation along with Dublin One, Leeds, Limerick, Maynooth, Paisley, Reading, Wexford and a further seven towns Dunfermline, Leicester Square, Newcastle under Lyme, Preston, Salisbury, Sheffield and Southend-on-Sea who have had their Full Renewal status renewed at an awards ceremony which will take place on 8th February 2017 in Carrick on Shannon, Ireland. A further 14 areas also received an Interim renewal accreditation.