Castle Point sits on the South Coast of Essex, nestled between Southend and Basildon. It was formed when the urban district Councils of Benfleet and Canvey Island were abolished in the 1970s. Its name comes from two local landmarks, Hadleigh Castle, and Canvey Point.
Canvey is a unique location. Whilst Hadleigh and the surrounding towns of Benfleet and Thundersley can be considered ancient parishes, dating back to before the Norman conquest, Canvey as it is today was reclaimed from marshland during the Tudor period, becoming its own parish in the 1880s. It is this separation between the island and the mainland that drives local politics.
A Conservative stronghold?
Traditionally, this is a strongly Conservative area. In 2019, the local MP, Rebecca Harris achieved 76.7% of the vote: the highest Conservative vote share of the General Election. Despite this strong endorsement, the Conservatives have not been without their problems. Rebecca Harris’s predecessor, Bob Spink, fell out with the local party and joined UKIP. He was later found guilty of Election Fraud.
It would be easy to assume that Castle Point would also have a Conservative council with a strong majority, and a local party with a firm hand on organisation and loyalty. This is not the case. Uniquely in this region, the council is currently dominated by three independent parties.
A land of independents
The Peoples Independent Party formed in 2021 to oppose a local plan to build 5,000 homes in the borough, mostly on greenbelt land. Their aim was to take the council out of Conservative control and re-write the plan. They were successful with the former but are facing strong challenge from the Government in relation to the proposed development.
The Canvey Island Independent Party has a different aim. It wishes to see Canvey Island separate from Castle Point, reversing the 1974 merger. The party was formed in 2004 and has become the second largest party on the Council.
The Canvey Residents Alliance is a new party, registered with the Electoral Commission in January this year. Little is published online in terms of policy however the leader of the party, Sean Quartermaine, aside from having stood as an independent candidate unsuccessfully in 2022 and 2023, previously stood for the Conservative Party. He is hoping to do better on 2 May.
The current administration of the Council, which took control in 2022, has been a coalition of the Peoples Independent Party and the Canvey Independents Party. Prior to that – apart from a brief period in 2014 when it was in no overall control – it has been Conservative since the local authority was created.
This year’s election
Following boundary changes, Castle Point now has 39 Councillors in 13 wards. All of them are up for election on 2 May.
This year there are six different parties standing. The Conservatives are fielding 22 candidates, Labour, 25 and the Greens have two. But the landscape is dominated by the two established local independent parties.
The Peoples Independent Party has 24 candidates, all in wards on the mainland, while the Canvey Island Independent Party has 15, and the Canvey Residents Alliance have 13, all on Canvey Island.
There is also one fully independent, non-aligned candidate standing in Hadleigh St Georges Ward.
A chequered history
The Council itself has not been without criticism. In January 2024 the local Echo News reported that the council had paid over £140,000 to the estate of their late chief executive in unclaimed holiday pay. In April concerns were raised when independent accountants refused to sign off the Councils accounts due to ‘unusual payments’.
It should be noted that the unlawful payments span a period of over ten years ago, and were identified by the Tax Payers Alliance. That period of time also includes when fraud detection in Castle Point was the responsibility of a partnership with both Southend and Thurrock Councils, neither of which have been immune from their own financial troubles and concerns.
Given how diverse the local election results have been in the past, with reduced support for the Conservatives, it is difficult to know if a poor result would be an indication of trouble ahead for MP Rebecca Harris in a general election. That said, with the size of her 2019 majority, it seems unlikely she should be concerned. Equally though, a poor result will not help Conservative morale at a local level.
