Many Southend residents feel the council is not their council.

It has destroyed the town’s traditional image and at the same time managed a disastrous series of events which have cost the taxpayers a fortune.

The list is endless, but I list just a few: The cost of paving the High Street, the Priory Crescent fiasco, London Road, our main east-west route, reduced to a crawl, developments no one wants, Victoria Avenue, once a superb entrance to the town, now a derelict series of run down, empty buildings, insane cycle paths, an airport sold for £1 and parking charges which stop people shopping in our town or spending a day on the beach.

We have a council which is out of control and continues to make decisions not for the benefit of the town, but simply to keep each senior management person in work, enjoying inflated wages, with goldplated pensions and excessive pay-offs for failure.

At least the new Government is aware of the problem and is making plans to exorcise the evil which controls our everyday existence. As residents, we have to be more vociferous in the condemnation of local government.

I believe the top structure of Southend Council should be discarded.

Councillors should be given the responsibility of governing.

Brian Ayling
Ennismore Gardens
Southend