WE'VE rounded up some of this week's headlines from Basildon, Castle Point and Southend. 

1. WEB giant Amazon is opening a delivery centre in Basildon which could create more than 200 new jobs.

The company has announced it will begin operations at the warehouse in Christopher Martin Road, near the Mayflower Retail Park, within the next week.

Amazon will employ 20 staff directly, but as many as 200 new drivers could be hired by the eight companies working to deliver parcels from the warehouse to customers across Essex and Suffolk.

2. A HEARTBROKEN fiancee has described the agonising moment her partner died following “serious failings” by paramedics.

Following a two-day inquest at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court it was concluded that Steven Jackson would have survived if he had been given better treatment.

3. AN UNEXPLODED bomb was detonated just off Southend beach this evening as a crowd of about 50 onlookers watched. 

An area of beach either side of the Sea Life Adventure Aquarium in Eastern Esplanade was cordoned off at 2pm on Tuesday by the police as the team of Royal Navy bomb disposal experts went to work.

However, the four soldiers were unable to take any action as the second world war shell was buried underneath the water and they had to wait for the tide to roll out.

4. PRIME Minister David Cameron proclaimed Basildon “has a special place in my heart” as he praised the town’s economy.

Mr Cameron was responding to a question posed by MP Stephen Metcalfe during Wednesday's Prime Minister’s Questions.

5. HEAVY rain caused more flooding in Daws Heath.

The brook in Daws Heath Road, Thundersley overflowed after heavy rain overnight, leaving the area flooded on Wednesday.

Bosses at Castle Point Council say flooding is a priority and they are working on the issue.

6. POLICE will not marshal Canvey’s annual remembrance parade as a result of police cuts.

Instead volunteers have stepped forward to make sure the island’s annual parade will go ahead.

Organisers have branded the cuts “disgusting” and say they are “sad” police will no longer take part in the Canvey parade.

7. A MUSIC festival featuring international stars and attracting as many as 20,000 visitors a day is expected to come to Billericay next year.

Organisers have asked Basildon Council for permission to play live music at Barleylands Farm until 10.30pm, and sell alcohol until 2am over the May Day weekend.

The Uprising Music Festival, which would offer a campsite for revellers, could be staged at the popular family attraction from Friday, April 29, until Sunday, May 1.

8. PRIVATE police officers could be employed by Southend Council in the wake of major cuts toEssex Police.

Mike Assenheim, Independent councillor for Shoebury and spokesman for the independent group, will propose the reintroduction of the Uniformed Southend Borough Patrol at December’s full council meeting.

9. A MAN has told how he and his wife fled for their lives after getting caught up in an earthquake that killed more than 260 people in Pakistan.

Ibrar Azam and his wife Parveen went out to Pakistan for their nephew’s wedding and were out shopping when the earthquake struck.

The couple, who were also with their sister-in-law, were forced to run for safety when the Metro Superstore in Islamabad started to move during the 7.5 magnitude quake.

10. A FORMER policeman and a retired meat dealer have been found guilty of possessing cannabis resin worth more than £267,000 after a court heard how the smell of rotting chicken led to their arrests.

Michael Kinkaid, 72 and Anthony Wright, 76, were found to have 267 kilos of the drug at an industrial unit at Laindon after it had been smuggled from Spain alongside frozen chickens.