Promote Committee Meeting July 2026

Wednesday 22nd July, 10am

UPCOMING CITY EVENTS

• City Jam: 28^th – 30^th August.

Southend City BID is a confirmed sponsor. Request from committee to find out which legacy pieces are being painted over.

• Seafront Fireworks: 26th September – 14^th November (dates tbc).

Southend City BID confirmed sponsorship of Fireworks Finale. All shows to start at 7.30pm for 2026 (most started at 8pm over the last few years).

• Southend Food and Drink Festival: 23^rd October – 1^st November.

Announcement of its return went out last week. Started to gather interest from venues and have briefed some new assets.

• Halloween Parade: 31^st October.

Committee members raised the concerns over the calibre of acts in recent years and an excellent benchmark is the Bridgewater Festival. Questions were raised as to whether funding has been moved to City Day.

• Southend Switch On: 14^th November.

Hosted by Southend City BID. Sponsorship packs have been issued.

· We will not be able to return the south Christmas tree without it being sponsored to return.

· Looking into bringing a school art trail into venues – encouraging community engagement and footfall

· Also look how we can bring the music to continue down the High Street

· Committee agreed that promotional boards should go up following the Halloween Parade and agreed the use of adverts on the digital screens across the High Street.

· Request from some of the committee around receiving the sponsorship packs.

• Fireworks: 31^st December

This is to be confirmed but is likely to repeat – 6pm and midnight.

Check back on VisitSouthend.co.uk for updates. Noted that there is a new link to load events onto Visit Southend website: LOAD YOUR EVENT 

STREETSCAPE

• Bunting and Baskets

Had some issues with the bunting and baskets, contractors have been in and reviewed. Tender for 2027 out now.

• Bridge

Enquiry about getting the city centre railway bridge repainted so that it’s a more appealing backdrop for the months of the year when there are no banners and for a backing to the Christmas lighting display.

• Empty Unit

Will be installing artwork from the Southend Tourism Partnership “Choose Your Adventure” campaign on a long term empty unit.

• Cleanliness

Last litter pick was yesterday (21^st July), collected 8 bags of rubbish over the course of the hour. Generally, not lots of litter in central High Street and the litter mostly came from side streets. Next pick in October (register here).

Noted issue was around cigarette butts and discussion was had around the reintroduction of the ballot bins as something that would work better now as gamifying and content is more prevalent now than it was circa ten years ago when they were first used.

Discussion was had around simple ways to try to encourage people to use bins more and one thing was around making them more obvious and drawing people’s attention to them. Black and blue make them blend in. Perhaps use the Visit Southend branding colours or be a project as part of City Jam. Concrete Canvas was raised as an example of an event where they will paint everything and anything.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Youth Voices

The latest Southend Business Partnership Executive meeting heard presentations from a member of the Southend Youth Council and a student from Chase High School.

Southend Youth Council

Sharing the top priorities of young people aged 11-18 found through the annual “Make Your Mark” ballot.

·        money, housing, jobs and cost of living (18.9%)

·        tackling discrimination, hate and being treated unfairly (18.7%)

·        feeling safe: crime, policing and harm (17.4%)

Chase High School

Highlighted the importance of local, independent businesses within the heart of communities. Discussions around the benefits of bringing young people into businesses with real roles and the positive impact this can have for SMEs.

Discussion with committee around surveying High School students to see what they are interested in and then matching this with BID businesses to run workshops to provide more insight into the pathways of those careers and the options covering those interests.

• Small Business Saturday

Potentially get some local students in a campaign around this for November.

AOB

• Visit Southend Website

New site has launched. Sign up for mailing list (scroll to bottom).

• Weight Restrictions

Southend City Council has asked us to remind businesses that vehicles exceeding 7.5 tonnes are not permitted access to the High Street. The High Street is not designed to support vehicles of this weight; all deliveries should be made via rear service/loading areas where available.

• Southend Business Show 

Led by Business On Sea the show on 17^th September, will bring together local businesses, entrepreneurs, investors, and partners for a day of networking, workshops, and businesses from across the city exhibiting under one roof. Find out more.

Next meeting will be held in October.