Cllr. John Spence CBE DL

Speaking at today’s meeting where the Council’s budget was approved, Cllr David Finch said that local people were in the best position to know what could make the biggest difference in their area, and both schemes would support the principle.

The new buses are part of a £1.7m investment from First Essex as part of their contract with Essex County Council to run the Park and Ride service. Advantages of the new buses will be free Wi-Fi, temperature-controlled air conditioning and announcements detailing the next stop.
 

More than 400 new special school places will be created across the county as Essex County Council strives to meet demand by investing a record £85 million. The number of young people in Essex diagnosed with autism has risen and there is growing demand for special school places.

A record-breaking 3.2 million square metres of road surfacing has been completed on Essex roads this summer – that is the equivalent area of more than 12,000 tennis courts.

Chelmsford Park and Ride has been a huge success with thousands of people using the service on a daily basis.

Energy-saving LED lamps are set to be installed on all-night street lights across the county to save taxpayers thousands on electricity costs.

The new longer-lasting lamps require less maintenance and use less electricity. 

More than nine in ten pupils in Essex now attend schools rated as good or outstanding, according to the latest statistics.

Some 91.2 per cent of primary and secondary pupils go to a school with one of the top Ofsted ratings, compared with 84.3 per cent in 2015 and 71 per cent in 2013.

Chelmsford Conservatives and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex have condemned hate crime.

Roger Hirst, Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “Hate crime is unacceptable.

A major new £40 million school looks set to be built on the Beaulieu development in Chelmsford. 

Today, for the first time on this scale, arts, heritage and museums leaders in Essex came together with council chiefs to open a new ongoing collaboration aimed at celebrating the unique and unrivalled cultural history of Essex and to maximise cultural investment into the county.