At Last! Anna Waite Says Something I Can Agree With!

We all remember Anna from her previous appearances on this blog. Well, she’s excelled herself now:

Southend’s shops are dying because the High Street is surrounded by single mothers, alcoholics, drug addicts and benefit claimants who cannot afford to spend enough money.

Blimey! It’s like the ‘Echo’ is channelling….well, me!

That is the view of Anna Waite, a former leader of Southend Council and chairman of the Rochford and Southend East Conservatives Association.

She spoke out as she urged the current Tory council leadership to take action to stop Southend slipping even further behind Lakeside, Bluewater and other major shopping centres.

Good luck with that. Because people go to these out-of-town shopping centres because:

a) The shops they want are there,
b) The parking is usually free, and ample, and
c) There’s always security, and you never have to run a gauntlet of drunks, beggars and rowdy gangs of kids looking for trouble.

You can’t say the same about Southend High St, where the other morning I saw no less than four beggars on my way into work, settling down in the doorways of former, now abandoned, shops (Boots for one) or existing ones...

She said: “All around the town centre are runwdown properties, bedsits and hostels.

“Single mums in bedsits, drug and alcohol addicts, the homeless and those on multiple benefits do not have cash to spend in shops.Therefore, when a store looks at Southend, it does not come unless it is a pound shop or something similar.

“I am not saying these people should be moved on or taken away from the town centre, far from it. I am saying we need to do something to redress the balance.”

Unfortunately, once an area starts to ‘slide’ (and there’s no doubt whatsoever, this has been happening to Southend now for several years) it’s very, very difficult to get it back…

Mrs Waite said the High Street was hampered by the number of bedsits and cheap homes around the town centre, which attracted discount pound stores rather than big brand shops.

Building a brand spanking-new roof on the old Victoria mall, gutting it inside and then finding that none of the existing shops can afford the new – higher - rent didn’t help, did it? As a result, the place is still at less than 50% occupancy.

Especially not when several big stores like Next and Boots were persuaded to move in to fill those gaps, and so left highly-visible gaping holes in the High Street to be filled with the sort of tacky, fly-by-night shops selling tat that we’ve been plagued with lately.

She argued that building new apartments and houses on central sites, such as the northern side of Queen’s Road or the Queensway tower blocks, could change that.

Not really. It’ll still come down to the people you get to fill ‘em…

Update: It seems the traders themselves are in full agreement with Anna! But wait! Her fellow Tories aren't! Oh, the humanity...

Rejoice, Rejoice!

Senior Tory Anna Waite has been booted off Southend Council following a crushing defeat which saw her pushed into third place.

Independent Paul Van Looy stormed to victory in St Luke's ward with a whopping majority and the Labour candidate Anne Jones in second.

Mrs Waite, who was the councillor responsible for housing and social care and has been a controversial figure on the council, gained just 574 votes and left before the results were announced.

That's made my day!

The Perfect Person For The Job(bie)!

A senior councillor is calling on her Tory colleagues to do more to combat dogs’ mess on the streets of Southend.

Oh? Who is calling for that, then? I'm intrigued!

Anna Waite...

Ahahahahahahahahahaha! Yes, that Anna Waite!

Frankly, I cannot think of a better councillor to broach the subject of foul-smelling unwanted deposits than Anna Waite!

...who is battling to be re-elected in St Luke’s ward next month, has handed in a petition to the council on behalf of residents, signed by about 240 people.

As many commenters point out, why did she not do something about it before?

Mrs Waite insists she is not criticising the Tory administration, but wants the issue looked at more closely.

If she thinks this'll win her re-election, I think she's barking up the wrong tree; her traffic management schemes are making congestion worse and people who formerly voted for her are looking suspiciously at their carpets, sniffing the air, and wondering just what they've stepped in...

I Guess It's Not A 'H&S Issue' After All Then?

Southend Council is to spend £75,000 altering hundreds of seafront parking bays following a barrage of criticism from motorists.

Yup, that'll be these bays. The ones the council were insisting were for our protection.

The bays, originally at right angles to the road, were changed so they slanted away from oncoming traffic, forcing motorists to drive past them, then reverse in.

At the time, the council claimed the new layout was safer, but the majority of drivers – forced to stop on the busy road and reverse against the flow of traffic – disagreed.

And there was a big hoo-ha and the council insisted that they were obeying Dept of Transport guidelines and sorry, guv, nuffink we can do, right?

Yesterday, the council confirmed it would be changing the layout so the bays faced the other way, allowing motorists to drive straight into a bay.

Mark Flewitt, Tory Southend councillor responsible for transport and planning, said work would start within days. A new zebra crossing, extra disabled parking bays and a taxi rank would be added at the same time.

Which is presumably going to account for most of that eye-watering 'Ooops, we goofed!' sum.

Which perhaps should come out of the pocket of the person responsible for ploughing ahead in the first place in the teeth of so much opposition, eh? Who was that, anyway?

Oh. Of Course. Southend Council's one-woman disaster area:

Senior Tory councillor Anna Waite was responsible for transport and planning when the slanted bays were first marked out.

A little mea culpa, Anna?

She said: “The layout was the Department For Transport recommendation for a road with a 30mph limit.

“It was also what our officers recommended to me, since we didn’t want to lower the speed limit on that bit of road.

“The council said at the time it would review the arrangement, after a season, which is what we are doing. I suspect the average speed along there is already below 30 mph, but I hope whatever decision is made considers all the safety aspects.”

I think the safest thing Southend Council could do in future is the opposite of whatever this woman thinks is a good idea....

Fancy Some Easy Money..?

Then sell a sculpture to your local council.

What’s that? No good at sculpture? What does that matter?

A controversial and much-derided £390,000 sculpture on Southend seafront is to be removed after just five years.

The clear plastic Life Lines piece, at the top of Pier Hill, outside Debenhams, is being moved to a more suitable location at a cost of £20,00 because of repeated vandalism.

Thank god. It's hideous.

The piece, designed by award-winning artist Vong Phaophanit, was bought in 2006 with money from the Arts Council as part of the £6million regeneration of the Pier Hill area.

Patterns and colours inside the plastic were meant to constantly change as the piece’s electronic brain responded to the environment around it.

Even before it was officially opened, the work was vandalised leaving residents and traders to complain it had never worked properly.

I’m getting this vague sense of déjà vu with regard to useless artworks, incompetent councils, and Southend…

Graham Longley, leader of the Lib Dem group on the borough council said: “We asked questions about this early on. We asked whether it was appropriate for the setting and the intention behind it. We will not be disappointed to see it go.“

Even senior Tories who were running the council at the time it was put up struggle to find a good word for Life Lines, or take responsibility for giving it the go-ahead.

Councillors and council leaders not wanting to take responsibility? Perish the thought!

Anna Waite (Gah!!!), now Tory councillor responsible for housing and social care and a leading member of the council at the time it was commissioned, said: “Personally, I’m not too keen on these modern pieces of art, but I know modern art is popular with some residents.

“At the time, I did think it wasn’t quite what we’d been sold. It was not as good as we hoped it would be. I’ve never actually seen it working properly – even on the day it went up.”

And we all remember how you raised holy hell then and refused to let the matter lie.

No?

Me neither...

Derek Jarvis, Tory councillor responsible for culture, said there was a small chance the council might get more Arts Council money to move the sculpture to a more suitable site.

They can put it next to the non-working Millenium Clock...

Your Local Councillor Needs YOU!

A senior councillor plans to set up a charity in an ambitious drive to improve health services in a deprived part of Southend.

Yes, it’s our old friend, walking calamity Anna Waite, who now wants to:

… transform a vacant shop in Cluny Square into a centre for health and community services.

And what sort of things does she want it to provide?

She said: “Areas like St Luke’s need drug, alcohol and smoking cessation clinics, advice centres for young girls around pregnancy issues, and help and early diagnosis of cancers and tumours.

“They need access to NHS dentists and podiatrists.

“These issues are life-threatening and life-changing and, unless we get to grips with them, many more will suffer and be condemned to a life on benefits and their last years in a care home.

“It’s just not good enough.”

You’re right, Anna. It sounds like areas like St Luke’s need carpet bombing, rather than the provision of yet more services designed mainly to:

a) keep adults from sorting out their own problems and,
b) keep public sector employees in a job…

But she can’t do this alone!

Mrs Waite wants to rent out the shop, a former grocery store, to organisations that offer the services she believes the area needs.

But she faces several hurdles before she can achieve this and is urging anyone with the financial clout or expertise to help.

Oh?

Mrs Waite said: “To do this, I have to form a charity and register it so we won’t pay council tax.

“I also need to get planning permission and landlord consent. No doubt there will be legal fees.

“I have to find the funding for redecoration and then the time or someone to run the centre.

“Therefore, I make this request if there is anyone out there able to assist, either financially or with their time, their trade or professional expertise, to please contact me.”

Anyone with the time or money might be best advised to Google the name ‘Anna Waite’ first…

‘But They Are So Wonderfully Cheap!’

Ministers are introducing an annual cap on immigration which would result in a cut in work permits for workers from outside the EU.

Hurrah! Right?

Well, some aren't so happy:

But Sheila Watson, who runs two care homes in Essex, said the majority of her staff are from outside the EU and are professional, reliable, highly trained nurses with excellent English.

And cheap as chips! And why is that?

She said: “This is a widespread problem. If we could recruit locally we would. We advertise continually, but very seldom get anybody who wants to work the hours.

“It’s unsociable seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. It takes a special kind of person to do the job.”

In other words, one not receiving a decent living 'wage' to sit around doing nothing all day...

The Essex Independent Care Association said the review does not recognise the problems of social care recruitment.

David Holroyd, from the group, said: “We have shown time and again there is a recruitment crisis in social care. Recruitment from outside the EU of care staff has been a great success and compensated for the lack of willingness of the local population to work in the industry.”

There's an answer to that without importing more workers from abroad, though, surely?

However Anna Waite, Southend Council’s councillor responsible for adult social care…

Wait. What? You mean..?

Yup. That Anna Waite. Having ruined Southend’s road system, she’s now intent on bringing all her amazing skills to bear on adult social care. Be afraid. Be very afraid…

At least, though, on this subject, she’s actually managed to hit the nail on the head:

… questioned whether there was a problem with recruiting. She said: “I’m not aware of any issues with recruitment. We have to limit non EU immigration. We just can’t carry on when we have high unemployment levels ourselves.”

Want Some Graffiti Cleaned Up Quickly?

Well, slip the Chief Executive of your council (or a nearby council, it doesn't seem to matter) the money, and it shall be done!

Oh, wait. It might help to be a councillor:

Shortly before the elections on May 6, Conservative councillor Anna Waite (Ed: Yup, her again...) had “Vote Labour” sprayed across the wall at her home in Barling, which falls under Rochford District Council’s remit.

She admitted workers from Southend cleaned the paint off, but said she paid for the work.

Mrs Waite said: “Yes, Southend Council workers did clear the vandalism, but I did pay for the work to be done.

“I wanted it done quickly. I approached Rob Tinlin, I stressed I didn’t want any favours, he said he would deal with it. I paid about £150 to have the work done.”

You 'didn't want any favours', eh..? So I guess this is a service available to all council ratepayers and residents, so long as they pay?

Mr Tinlin backed up Mrs Waite’s account of the events.

He said: “What she said is correct. The issue was left with me and it was my decision to use council resources, for which she paid for, to help a Southend councillor.”

Well, then we know who should lose their job for misuse of council resources...

"...I feel the heat of your desert heart..."

Southend seafront now has a more exotic look after a dozen palm trees were planted.

Eventually, 100 trees will be planted as part of Southend Council’s City Beach scheme.

The majority of the trees will be placed to the west of the pier, while a small number will go to the east.

So far, so ho-hum, as a local council spends yet more public money on pointless street furniture.

But oh, look, what’s this picture caption?

Continental feel - Southend councillor Anna Waite admires the first of 12 palms to go up on Southend seafront.

Err, hang on. Is this the same Anna Waite who was in the Echo the other day extolling her enthusiasm for vital habitats for bees?

Just what use are UK bees to make of foreign palm trees, Anna?

You Vill OBEY ZE RULES!

Puzzled motorists are struggling to park along Westcliff seafront after the council put in confusing new markings.

The diagonal parking spaces along the central reservation of Western Esplanade have been changed from facing the traffic to facing away from oncoming cars.

This means drivers are forced to drive past the space and reverse back into it.

Not something that’s going to be popular…

Thorpe Bay resident Barry Linton raised the issue with two councillors when the first few spaces were marked out as he thought it must have been a mistake.

Which was a reasonable assumption, given local councils. But no.

It seems this is a H&S issue:

But the council says the new layout actually makes it safer to leave a parking space, although bosses have admitted the new system will cause extra delays.

And who cares about delays, when there are lives at stake?

Mr Linton said: “I went along the seafront on Sunday to see what effect it was having and it was utter chaos.

“People can’t see when a space is free, so stop suddenly and have to reverse back into the traffic to get into the space.

“The correct way is when you can drive nose in to a space, as at Lakeside. As you leave the space you have a clear rear view of the road, but as it is now you have to pull forward and look right over your left shoulder to see if anything is coming. It’s dangerous.”

Now, councils, when tackled by residents over unpopular decisions, can fall back on two options (three, if you count simply ignoring the council tax payers altogether: Claim that the complaints are wrong, or whine that it's out of their hands, and they are obeying a higher order.

No prizes for guessing what they choose:

He first contacted the council on March 25 via former councillor David Garston, who passed it to his son, ward councillor Jonathan Garston and also to councillor responsible for transport and planning Anna Waite.

Oh. Her again.

But Mrs Waite said yesterday the altered spaces now conform to Department for Transport guidelines and that drivers should reverse into the spaces.

Or else?

She said: “The new layout is what the department recommends. The previous layout contributed to a number of accidents, so officers tell me, and was clearly dangerous as people were reversing out into oncoming traffic.


“I understand some people will not be happy. It may slow up traffic marginally, but with every car backing in to the space it will not make a great deal of difference to motorists.”

And if it does, well, so what? It’s not like they pay to use the roads, is i…

Oh.

Predictably, war is breaking out in the comments between those who think this is a great idea and everyone should just shut up and accept the will of their masters in the Town Hall, and those who think it a little unreasonable for the people who we pay to tidy the flower beds and take away the rubbish to think they can alter things for the worse without there being some sort of consultation about it....

And iDave Wants More Women In Politics?

It seems that her recent effort to garner sympathy for her dangerous plight has failed, and people weren't too impressed with her sudden new-found interest in green things either, so Anna 'Bulldozer' Waite has managed to get this astonishingly hagiographic piece written in the 'Echo', in which she blames...well, just about anything but herself:

...Mrs Waite firmly believes all she does is in the public interest, sticking up for the silent majority and doing what is best for the town where she was born and bred.

The silent majority are the voters. I think we'll leave it up to them, eh?

She said: “I only became a councillor because I was so fed up with what was happening.

“I actually care about Southend and when people start to shout at me and tell me I’m doing it wrong it is upsetting.

“I want to speak for the silent majority that so often get forgotten when these pressure groups grow up.”

Which seems to imply that those pressure groups aren't also people who care about Southend and are fed up with what is happening. You can't have meant to imply that, Anna, surely?

And as for finding people telling you that you are wrong 'upsetting', well, perhaps politics isn't for you?

Still, why not bring in a human shield when the going gets tough:

Mrs Waite, 57, who lives in Barling and was born into the famous Southend Tomassi family, has a son and a daughter in their twenties, and elderly parents, and it is them Anna worries about the most when she gets negative press.

She said: “It’s quite distressing for them.”

Oh, dear. Well, you could always stand down. Or do you put your own personal ambitions before your family, like almost ever other politician?

Yeah. Rhetorical question.

Her critics say she doesn’t listen to her opponents’ point of view.

But Mrs Waite, who describes herself as a Southend resident first and Conservative second, insists she will listen to anyone who has something constructive to say and approaches her with respect.

I was always taught respect had to be earned. And as a councillor sucking up public money, you'll do your job regardless of whether your constituents are proposing something 'constructive' or not, you cheeky madam!

Now, how is Anna going to try to sidestep the possibility that perhaps people are 'disrespectful' (in her words) because of her decisions?

Aha!

She says the number and the rudeness of the personal attacks has increased in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal.

She said: “People think they can be as rude to you as they like at the moment because of the national situation. I’m not saying people should be respectful because I’m a councillor, but they are disrespectful because I’m a councillor.”

Odd. I'm not 'disrespectful' to my councillors over something that has nothing to do with them personally. But perhaps Anna's unique in that respect...

So, hmm, that's not working. What's a girl to do?

*snaps fingers*

Aha! Cloak yourself in the impenetrable shield of 'I'm a laydee, you horrid brutes! Don't be mean to me!'

As the only woman on the cabinet, she does wonder if there is a little latent sexism underlying some of the anger towards her.

She added: “I think there is a bit of that. I don’t think they would have gone for a man in the same way.

“I get comments about my hair or the length of my skirt. Men don’t get comments about their appearance.”

Ed 'Blinky' Balls, Alastair 'Badger Brows' Darling and Gordon 'Cyclops' Brown could not be reached for comment...

“My cabinet colleagues do support me behind the scenes and there’s no problems between us.

“It might be nice if they stuck up for me sometimes, but they all say Anna’s got broad shoulders!”

Oh, fantastic. An appeal to chivalry now: 'Protect me, chaps! I'm just a weak and feeble woman!'

But this tawdry little whine just shows how utterly unsuited to politics some modern women really are. When the going gets tough, they wimp out, and fall back on blatant emotional appeals and whining about 'unfairness'.

What happened to the strong female politicians of the 70s and 80s, who were only too happy to mix it up with their male counterparts and not fall back on claims of discrimination when they failed to get their own way?

When did they morph into the likes of Anna Waite?

It's A Bit Late Now, Love...

A Southend councillor is hoping to help Britain's bees by calling on the council to create insect-friendly wild flower areas in the town.

Oh, well, that's a jolly good idea. For once, a councillor is actually doing something sensi...

Waite, what?

Anna Waite, Conservative councillor for St Luke's ward, and executive councillor for transport and planning, is hoping to turn roadside verges in less populated areas of Southend into floral havens.

Anna Waite? This Anna Waite?

The one who has been tearing up every tree and green area in Southend for her 'regeneration' project?

She said: "The loss of bees will have disastrous effects on pollination and food production – but if we can play our small part to help in Southend via some unused areas of land, then that would be excellent."

Now, that's chutzpah!

Death Threat – Yr Doin’ It Wrong

The woman in charge of a controversial road-widening scheme says she has received a death threat.

Oh, dear. That’s a very bad thing to have to recie…

Ah:

Anna Waite, Southend councillor responsible for transport, received a threatening letter from a disgruntled campaigner challenging her to “a duel to the death” .

*sigh*

Sweetie, that’s a genuine ‘death threat’ in the same way that this is a genuine ‘terrorist threat’…

Mrs Waite said she had suffered “personal attacks” from those opposed to the scheme and has passed on the threatening letter to the police.

She added: “It’s intimidation. I deeply resent the personal attacks. I find it very unpleasant and worrying.”

You need to grow a thicker skin, then. Did someone tell you being a councillor was all sunshine and kittens?

The issue threatened to boil over at a council meeting last Thursday when more than 30 protesters turned up to heckle councillors, forcing a 45-minute delay to the meeting.

The protesters also unveiled a banner saying “Nigel Holdcroft and Anna Waite out” and one woman threatened to chain herself to the railings of the public gallery.

So what?

Are they not allowed to have their say? If they break the law, the police will arrest them.

But that’s not enough for Anna:

“For a small group, to do what they did at the council meeting was appalling.

“The council meeting was part of the democratic process and if they don’t like it, why don’t they stand for election?

“They’ve done it twice, to my knowledge, and lost on both occasions.”

It’s not an ‘either/or’ option, sweetie. They can stand for election AND protest in the street, if they want to.

It’s called ‘democracy’…

Mrs Waite accused the campaigners of launching a “dirty tricks” campaign and also criticised comments about her, left on the Echo website.

Oh, boo hoo…

If they’ve libelled you, sue. If they haven’t, bear up, like everyone else does.

This is why people are turned off politics. It's not enough for this ghastly woman to wield her political power like a chainsaw, she expects to never, ever be challenged on it by anyone.

Comments are, as ever, rather illuminating...

The ‘Regeneration’ Game….

What do you suppose Southend Council were doing at the weekend? Gritting the streets? Catching up on the backlog of uncollected rubbish?

Well, no. None of those things. They were paying Sunday rates to indulge in The Great Tree Massacre of Victoria Avenue:

There was traffic chaos leading up to a busy Southend roundabout as trees were chopped down to make way for a new £25 million regeneration scheme.

Yup, in the middle of the worst weather seen for many years, and the accompanying travel difficulties, they chose Sunday for a bit of quick tree savaging, secure in the knowledge that by the time people could muster to protest about it, it’d be too late.

As a result, a nice, attractively-planted roundabout now looks like the Somme.

Anna Waite, Southend Council’s executive councillor for transport and planning, said: “We are extremely proud of this scheme, which will transform the entrance to Southend Town Centre.

“It will make it so much easier and more convenient for people to arrive via different forms of transport and get straight into the heart of the town.”

Say what..? I fail to see how this is going to ‘make it easier’ for anyone to get into the town.

And ‘different forms of transport’? Such as? Low flying aircraft?

They are just making it up as they go along, aren’t they?

Update: Here's the breathtakingly inviting vista that Anna Waite thinks was made hideous by the mature trees and bushes: