Residents team up to improve Southend estate (From Southend Standard)

Residents team up to improve Southend estate

10:04am Tuesday 11th September 2012 in Echo News By Emma Thomas

Residents have teamed up with South Essex Homes and Dulux to brighten up a garage block in Southend.

The garages on the Queensway estate have been regular targets for graffiti and vandalism over recent years and fed-up residents vowed to do something about it.  They enlisted the help of South Essex Homes, who maintain the estate, who in turn contacted paint-making firm Dulux for help.

AkzoNobel, who own the Dulux brand, kindly supplied sufficient paint, along with four members of its own staff, to assist residents and South Essex Homes’ Resident Involvement Officers in painting the garage doors. 

The team got together on a sunny day in late August to give the garages a makeover.

Sam Elliott, Resident Involvement Officer for South Essex Homes, said: “By making the Queensway garages more visually pleasing for the residents, we hope to restore some pride in the community and deter vandals from spoiling the much-improved area.

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to Dulux for their generosity and to all the residents who helped out.  We all had a great day painting the garage doors and meeting new friends, although I did look like a Smurf covered in blue paint by the time I went home!”

A spokesman for AkzoNobel Dulux said: "We enjoy being a part of making a real change in our local community by adding colour to people's lives."