On 7 May elections will be held in Essex. All county council seats, and all seats in Thurrock are up for election, and one third of councillors are being elected in Southend and six district councils (Basildon, Brentwood, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, and Rochford). In almost all cases there are five candidates standing (Conservative, Green, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Reform UK), and in some there are others as well.
To inform our readers, we invited the leaders of the five main parties in Essex to contribute a short piece outlining what their party would hope to do for Essex if elected. We stressed that, since this is a local election, we wanted to avoid national issues (for example Basildon Council has no responsibility for immigration), and there is no need to tell us that they will listen to constituents and use council money wisely (they will all claim that).
We set the end of last week as a deadline for them to respond, since postal ballots are going out now. As of Monday morning we have not had responses from Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Reform UK. So here we publish the responses from Labour and Greens. If the other parties respond later we will add their contributions.
Greens
Our priority is to deliver practical, local improvements that residents will feel in their daily lives.
Essex isn’t broken, but the county council could be run much better, provide better services and be kinder to the environment.
We will focus on fixing and maintaining roads and pavements, while expanding safe walking and cycling routes to reduce congestion and improve public health. We will push for more reliable and better-integrated public transport, particularly for rural communities.
To protect our environment we will oppose unnecessary large-scale developments, increase tree cover, support nature recovery and demand new housing is genuinely sustainable and supported by infrastructure such as increased sewage capacity to help clean up our rivers and coastline.
Tackling air pollution will also be a key priority.
We will prioritise social care by campaigning for fair funding, improving support for carers and ensuring dignity for older and vulnerable residents. In education, we will work to support schools and expand access to special educational needs provision. We will protect library services and cancel the charges introduced by the Conservatives.
Finally, we will bring transparency and accountability to the council – ensuring decisions are made openly, with proper community input and long-term value for money.
Labour
For decades residents have been let down by Essex County Council, which has been run by the Conservatives. From potholes everywhere, to a SEND process rated as one of the worst in the UK, we have seen things get gradually worse.
Going into these elections Labour is determined to make sure taxpayers money is spent wisely and fairly in the final two years of the council’s existence. Our priorities are:
- Having an inspector in place to inspect poor pothole repairs
- Making sure the millions of unspent infrastructure funding is spent where it was promised
- Investing in our SEND assessment team to make sure every child has the education they need
- Scrapping the fee being introduced for libraries to reserve books – we believe libraries and books should be free for all
- Making sure the council is ready for Local Government Reorganisation
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