About the Council

Essex County Council is one of the largest Local Authorities in the UK with a 7000+ strong workforce. There is so much about Essex that makes us proud. Most important is its diversity – in every sense of the word.

 

“The thing that Essex has got is the scale and the diversity, matched by the skills of the people in the organisation both politically and at officer level.”  Gavin Jones, Chief Executive

 

Essex is many places. Here you’ll find historic market towns and radical new ones. Busy cities and towns, pretty villages, and hard-working port communities. Rolling fields, vigorous rivers, and the longest coastline of any county in Britain.

 

We want to work locally to create homes not houses; places not developments; communities not estates.

 

The strength of Essex is its people. We are home to an incredible voluntary sector and community spirit. It’s our goal to nurture a safer, better connected society by giving people more ways to control and contribute to their communities.

 

The new cabinet’s first 100 days:  https://www.essex.gov.uk/news/celebrating-new-cabinets-achievements-in-first-100-days

 

The Council has recently developed a new plan for Essex which sets out 20 commitments: https://leadingessex.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ECC-Everyones-Essex-our-plan-for-2021-to-2025.pdf

 

Political Make-up

“[We have] politicians that respect officers, but are also very clear about their responsibilities and accountabilities.”  Gavin Jones, Chief Executive

 

Officers and Members at Essex County Council work closely to develop and implement the strategies to improve the lives of our 1.5m residents.  There are 75 councillors elected to the Council. Most Councillors belong to a political group registered with the Council.  The table shows how many councillors belong to each registered group.

 

Party Number of seats
Conservative 52
Liberal Democrat 8
Labour 5
Non-Aligned Group 10*
Total 75

 

*The Non-Aligned group has 10 members as follows:

 

  • 1 Green Party
  • 2 Canvey Island Independent Party
  • 2 Residents for Uttlesford
  • 1 Rochford District Residents
  • 1 Independent Loughton Residents Association
  • 3 Independents

 

More information about the Cabinet:  https://www.essex.gov.uk/how-decisions-are-made/the-cabinet

Current Projects

North Essex Garden Community

Essex County Council, Colchester Borough Council and Tendring District Council are working together to plan strategically, innovatively and sustainably for future growth for North Essex.

 

Our commitment is to create quality places to live and new jobs for future generations, with an infrastructure first approach to housing delivery.  This will be accomplished by the exciting Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community project – one of the biggest of its kind in the country.

 

North Essex is an exciting place.  The Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community is well located with the award-winning University of Essex nearby, and the ports of Harwich and Felixstowe to the east, with Stansted International Airport to the west.

 

Rich in history, beauty, and with an exciting multi-sector economy, the location of this community offers our future generations an exciting and nourishing place to live, work and enjoy.

https://tcbgardencommunity.co.uk

 

The Essex Climate Action Commission

This has been set up to advise us about tackling climate change.  It will help us identify ways where we can mitigate the effects of climate change, improve air quality, reduce waste across Essex and increase the amount of green infrastructure and biodiversity in the county, as well as explore how we attract investment in natural capital and low carbon growth.

 

The commission has over 30 members. They include a Lord, local councillors, academics, business people and 2 members of the Young Essex Assembly.  The commission will run for 2 years initially and make recommendations about how we can improve the environment and the economy of Essex.

https://www.essexclimate.org.uk/

 

Key service areas

The Executive Director, Climate, Environment and Customer Services role covers the following service areas:

 

Highways and Transportation

Essex County Council has one of the largest highway networks in the country – around 5,000 miles of roads and 5,000 miles of footways – and we’re responsible for maintaining all of it. This includes road maintenance, street lighting, drainage and flooding, winter travel, road safety, traffic management, highway development, bridges and structures, grass and vegetation, bus stops and bus shelters, and roads strategies right across the county.

 

Over the coming years, the Highways and Transportation team will modernise the service, maximising value from technology and raising customer engagement.  

 

Our focus is clear: to improve travel in the county while helping fuel sustainable long-term sustainable growth in Essex and enriching the lives of our residents.

https://www.essexhighways.org/

 

Waste and Environment

​In Waste and Environment, we deliver a range of services, across three distinct areas:

  • Environment services – dealing with issues such as access to our green infrastructure, historic environment, community energy and other strategic sustainability initiatives
  • Planning services – offering services related to strategic planning, planning policy and planning applications for mineral and waste sites
  • Recycling and waste services – looking after Essex’s 32 recycling centres, domestic waste, initiatives to reduce landfill and implementing a waste strategy.

Our vision focuses on the Essex Climate Change Commission (ECCC). Leading the way in tackling climate change, developing and delivering the waste, energy & environmental strategies for Essex, creating long-term plans to align our wider infrastructure growth agenda and strengthening our environment and minimising negative environmental impacts.

 

Customer Contact Centre

The Contact Centre resolves external customer enquiries and are the first point of contact for queries.  By managing initial contact from customers more effectively, increasing customer self-service, and delivering through digital channels, we can offer a more effective and efficient service for Essex residents. And, to us, that’s what counts.

 

Culture, Arts and Heritage

With over 70 libraries across the County (some of which are co-located or shared service delivery with community of voluntary sector partners) and two mobile libraries reaching out to local communities, we want to get the library experience to every corner of Essex.  The country parks of Essex vary greatly from ancient woodlands, lakes and flower meadows to sandy beaches and play trails. There is lots to discover at Explore Essex:  https://www.explore-essex.com/

 

The Executive Director, Economy, Investment and Public Health role covers the following areas:

 

Sustainable Growth

Sustainable Growth supports the strategic role the council (and our partners) play in ensuring the economic prosperity of the county. Here, our high-calibre professionals enable infrastructure, skills and technology improvements that our businesses need to develop, promote jobs and encourage housing growth.

There’s a diverse range of teams in Sustainable Growth and Development. They include:

  • Strategic Development
  • Infrastructure Planning
  • Sustainable Growth and Regeneration
  • Spatial Planning
  • Sustainable Travel Planning
  • Transport Strategy and Engagement
  • Rail Engagement including Community Rail Partnership
  • Transport Strategy

 

We come together to achieve a series of stretching goals:

  • Deliver sustainable growth appropriately and sustainably across the county
  • Ensure local plans and other planning documents prepared by district/borough/city councils are consistent and reflecting county council policy and strategy
  • Work with stakeholders to develop transportation strategies for each of the sub-regions in the county and to communicate these strategies to internal and external stakeholders
  • Secure and manage appropriate funding, land and developer works to mitigate the impacts of development, including lobbying central government for major infrastructure funding
  • Work with partners to ensure regeneration and sustainable growth are delivered in a way that enhances the county
  • Promote sustainable forms of transport including cycling, walking and public transport (including use of the county’s rural branch lines).

 

Public Health

Our Public Health function is responsible for investing ECC resources to secure better outcomes, establish greater efficiency, and deliver value-for-money in public health and wellbeing initiatives for every resident of Essex. They have three priorities:

  • Improving public health and wellbeing
  • Enabling each individual to achieve their ambitions by supporting world-class education and better skills in the county
  • Protecting and safeguarding vulnerable people

 

Capital Investment and Delivery 

The Capital Investment and Delivery function develops the Council’s ambitious capital programme (over £1.5 billion in the next five years) and builds new capital infrastructure across Essex. This includes delivering new assets such as schools, housing and roads, as well as serving and maintaining the Council’s £1.7 billion estate. this estate covers around 350 buildings – from libraries to County Hall – and roughly 1,500 sites ranging from residential care to country parks and schools.

 

The function also delivers consultancy advice across the UK which covers historic, natural and build environmental services.

 

The Director of Public Health role covers the following areas:

 

  • Active Essex – Focusing on increasing people’s participation in, and enjoyment of, physical activity
  • Public Health – Supporting the public sector to deliver its role in sustainable development
  • Strategic Commissioning and Delivery – Unlocking the great potential of places and communities throughout Essex
  • Strengthening Communities – Lead and develop key strategies to deliver self-sustaining strong communities to support Essex residents to enjoy long and healthy lives and fulfil their potential.
  • Trading Standards – Supporting legitimate business activity by providing advice and support, encouraging economic development and prosperity
  • Adult Community Learning – We are the largest provider of adult education in the county, provide learners with as many ways to flourish as possible, across communities throughout Essex, and making a difference to residents and businesses.

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