£300million plan for Southend - but you can't see it (From Echo)

Hope we get told about the plans. No doubt the jayman begade will winge & complain about every thing. as he always dose. Good to hear the airport is expanding. A bigger & better Southend Airport can only be a good thing.

Southend Andy wrote:
Hope we get told about the plans. No doubt the jayman begade will winge & complain about every thing. as he always dose. Good to hear the airport is expanding. A bigger & better Southend Airport can only be a good thing.

whatever the plan is, the cost will be tucked into bed with a nice cup of coco, a bed time story and a massive bung.

the project will be as deliverable as an elephant in an A4 jiffy bag and the consideration to local residents will be about the same level of consideration that a hungry lion has to a wheezy gazelle.

do i really need to crack out the list of failed council projects again..

this isn't just a naff cafe in warrior square. this is 300... million!!!!! of our money.

Oh, goody.

I smell local democracy in action again.

Plan agreed between Council and developers but the public can't see it.

Perhaps we can go one step further and do all the development behind closed doors and only reveal it when it's all done.

Out of interest, have all councillors had an input or is this something else that has 'been agreed in Cabinet' by the few elite?

Don't worry, we'll put up with whatever you decide, after all it's only £300 miliion......

"Bosses at Southend Council have identified 19 key sites throughout the heart of the town AND SEAFRONT which they want to see transformed into new shops, homes, offices, car parks and public squares."


According to notable council supporters on this website the cliffs museum wasn't going to open the gates to more concreting over of the seafront.

I don't like being proved right.

you haven't been proved anything yet, as usual.

Shoebury_Cyclist wrote:
"Bosses at Southend Council have identified 19 key sites throughout the heart of the town AND SEAFRONT which they want to see transformed into new shops, homes, offices, car parks and public squares." According to notable council supporters on this website the cliffs museum wasn't going to open the gates to more concreting over of the seafront. I don't like being proved right.

here we go, did they say what part of the seafron? No not yet, can't wait till you are proved wrong by the council imporving the area running from the Kursaal TOWARDS Shoeburyness.

Now time to jump on my bike for a nice ride along the seafron cycle track.

trebles and new solid gold pocket linings all round

Cant wait to see the plans when they are released.
Love seing this town and our Council actually moving forward, hopefully they include a total regeneration of Vic Avenue.. That would probably swallow the lions share of £300m alone.

Perhaps some people/trolls might note this part of the article before bleating negatives as usual. "They have now finalised a list of projects which they want BV to fund"

And no I dont have any connection with the Council.. I just live and work here.

HA HA HA HA HE HE HE HE CHUCKLE omg i needed a good laugh. Nothing will be done. If it is such a secret, WHY? I can smell compulsory purchases.....

Might sound like a ridiculous idea, but how about filling the ever increasing boarded up shops across the borough first, before we go building more empty ones????

Lets start with homes. We don't need any. Southend already has twice as many people per square mile as Castle Point, we are overcrowded, where is it going to stop, you can't just keep adding more and people.

Sir Peter Pantsless the 3rd wrote:
Might sound like a ridiculous idea, but how about filling the ever increasing boarded up shops across the borough first, before we go building more empty ones????

that's far too sensible an idea to be taken seriously by the riders of the gravy train

I see the echo are reporting on inproving Southend & both the anti-improve Southend & pro-Southend are both jumping on the band waggon. I'm sure when all the plans & meetings are complete we will se the plans, until then I'm going to go on with my life.

Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

jayman wrote:

Southend Andy wrote:
Hope we get told about the plans. No doubt the jayman begade will winge & complain about every thing. as he always dose. Good to hear the airport is expanding. A bigger & better Southend Airport can only be a good thing.

whatever the plan is, the cost will be tucked into bed with a nice cup of coco, a bed time story and a massive bung.

the project will be as deliverable as an elephant in an A4 jiffy bag and the consideration to local residents will be about the same level of consideration that a hungry lion has to a wheezy gazelle.

do i really need to crack out the list of failed council projects again..

this isn't just a naff cafe in warrior square. this is 300... million!!!!! of our money.

Did you read the WHOLE story, how it read in the printed Echo was...

A new compnay would be set up, this new company will be 50% owned by the Council and 50% by BV Strategies (or their subsidiary company) the two will work together the council selecting the sites and layout what they would like, the partner will supply the funds taking 50% of all renatable income and/or 50% of all sell on monies.

Max Impact wrote:

jayman wrote:

Southend Andy wrote:
Hope we get told about the plans. No doubt the jayman begade will winge & complain about every thing. as he always dose. Good to hear the airport is expanding. A bigger & better Southend Airport can only be a good thing.

whatever the plan is, the cost will be tucked into bed with a nice cup of coco, a bed time story and a massive bung.

the project will be as deliverable as an elephant in an A4 jiffy bag and the consideration to local residents will be about the same level of consideration that a hungry lion has to a wheezy gazelle.

do i really need to crack out the list of failed council projects again..

this isn't just a naff cafe in warrior square. this is 300... million!!!!! of our money.

Did you read the WHOLE story, how it read in the printed Echo was...

A new compnay would be set up, this new company will be 50% owned by the Council and 50% by BV Strategies (or their subsidiary company) the two will work together the council selecting the sites and layout what they would like, the partner will supply the funds taking 50% of all renatable income and/or 50% of all sell on monies.

It doesnt say anything about 50/50???
Inside knowledge maybe???

What a ridiculass scenario, we will let you know we are going to to do something but not tell you what it is.

I wonder how many councillors and ex-councillors have interests in BV Strategies... Sounds like Renaissance Southend by another name to me. Just saying.

Max Impact wrote:

jayman wrote:

Southend Andy wrote: Hope we get told about the plans. No doubt the jayman begade will winge & complain about every thing. as he always dose. Good to hear the airport is expanding. A bigger & better Southend Airport can only be a good thing.

whatever the plan is, the cost will be tucked into bed with a nice cup of coco, a bed time story and a massive bung. the project will be as deliverable as an elephant in an A4 jiffy bag and the consideration to local residents will be about the same level of consideration that a hungry lion has to a wheezy gazelle. do i really need to crack out the list of failed council projects again.. this isn't just a naff cafe in warrior square. this is 300... million!!!!! of our money.

Did you read the WHOLE story, how it read in the printed Echo was... A new compnay would be set up, this new company will be 50% owned by the Council and 50% by BV Strategies (or their subsidiary company) the two will work together the council selecting the sites and layout what they would like, the partner will supply the funds taking 50% of all renatable income and/or 50% of all sell on monies.

This has got disaster to Southend Taxpayers written all over it!! I'm sure it is a 50/50 partnership but I'm also quite certain that BV will have the bigger half!

Sensitive plans but not controversial - contradiction ! We know about the plan for flats next to the probation office - count me out.
Probably like the new swimming pool that was not big enough to attract the olympic swimmers. A cricket ground that will not now be fully used. etc. etc. We will all be interested in BV Strategies. Also Kier doing some work - is this why South Essex Homes may be taken in house - to release the maintenance team for working on the site ?

Exactly which BV Strategies are they teaming up with? Type the name into google and there are loads of them trading, apart from B V STRATEGIES LIMITED which is dormant as per the last accounts submitted.

Sir Peter Pantsless the 3rd wrote:
Might sound like a ridiculous idea, but how about filling the ever increasing boarded up shops across the borough first, before we go building more empty ones????

this and renovate buildings for one and two bed flats, NOT luxury apartments. student type places for the many who are in bed and breakfast hotels etc.
and definately not more expensive hotels. sos council get real.

perini wrote:

Max Impact wrote:

jayman wrote:

Southend Andy wrote: Hope we get told about the plans. No doubt the jayman begade will winge & complain about every thing. as he always dose. Good to hear the airport is expanding. A bigger & better Southend Airport can only be a good thing.

whatever the plan is, the cost will be tucked into bed with a nice cup of coco, a bed time story and a massive bung. the project will be as deliverable as an elephant in an A4 jiffy bag and the consideration to local residents will be about the same level of consideration that a hungry lion has to a wheezy gazelle. do i really need to crack out the list of failed council projects again.. this isn't just a naff cafe in warrior square. this is 300... million!!!!! of our money.

Did you read the WHOLE story, how it read in the printed Echo was... A new compnay would be set up, this new company will be 50% owned by the Council and 50% by BV Strategies (or their subsidiary company) the two will work together the council selecting the sites and layout what they would like, the partner will supply the funds taking 50% of all renatable income and/or 50% of all sell on monies.

This has got disaster to Southend Taxpayers written all over it!! I'm sure it is a 50/50 partnership but I'm also quite certain that BV will have the bigger half!

lol.

the council will probably underwrite any potential losses BV may incur.

its a loan, and it wont include any much needed social housing. how would BV make any profit in social housing. This is basically PPP. you know! the method of financing whereby the tax payer gets screwed over..

http://www.publicsec
torplc.com/Partnersh
ips.html

this is the set up..

maureen wrote:

Sir Peter Pantsless the 3rd wrote:
Might sound like a ridiculous idea, but how about filling the ever increasing boarded up shops across the borough first, before we go building more empty ones????

this and renovate buildings for one and two bed flats, NOT luxury apartments. student type places for the many who are in bed and breakfast hotels etc.
and definately not more expensive hotels. sos council get real.

add to this what the public cannot see is who is profiting from all this, not joe public but sos council

jolllyboy wrote:
Sensitive plans but not controversial - contradiction ! We know about the plan for flats next to the probation office - count me out.
Probably like the new swimming pool that was not big enough to attract the olympic swimmers. A cricket ground that will not now be fully used. etc. etc. We will all be interested in BV Strategies. Also Kier doing some work - is this why South Essex Homes may be taken in house - to release the maintenance team for working on the site ?

Er how is ECCC cutting South Essex off the County cricket map anything to do with the council...

Keeping plans underwraps is nothing new many many projects have a commercial confidentiality clause placed upon them until the final blueprints and all the funding are all in place.

I'm shocked the conspiracy theorists have not started making wild claims as to what will be built... Prison, Nuke Plant, VTOL Airport!

Next

oh.. this is priceless.

from the website i mentioned above

"The advice is that you need to take elected members along with you, and you need to make sure that
you take residents along and have their support. People must know what policy objectives you have and
what problems you are trying to resolve before you
impose solutions on communities"

http://www.publicsec
torplc.com/userfiles
/MJ1904_p18_19_NEW1.
pdf

oh... what irony.

jayman wrote:
oh.. this is priceless. from the website i mentioned above "The advice is that you need to take elected members along with you, and you need to make sure that you take residents along and have their support. People must know what policy objectives you have and what problems you are trying to resolve before you impose solutions on communities" http://www.publicsec torplc.com/userfiles /MJ1904_p18_19_NEW1. pdf oh... what irony.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzz
BANG sorry just fell off my computer chair due to jaymans boring normal dribble.

jayman wrote:
oh.. this is priceless.

from the website i mentioned above

"The advice is that you need to take elected members along with you, and you need to make sure that
you take residents along and have their support. People must know what policy objectives you have and
what problems you are trying to resolve before you
impose solutions on communities"

http://www.publicsec

torplc.com/userfiles

/MJ1904_p18_19_NEW1.

pdf

oh... what irony.

Very interesting, thank you for posting it. It's obviously beyond southendshrimper's miniscule intellect to understand it.

Shoebury_Cyclist wrote:

jayman wrote:
oh.. this is priceless.

from the website i mentioned above

"The advice is that you need to take elected members along with you, and you need to make sure that
you take residents along and have their support. People must know what policy objectives you have and
what problems you are trying to resolve before you
impose solutions on communities"

http://www.publicsec


torplc.com/userfiles


/MJ1904_p18_19_NEW1.


pdf

oh... what irony.

Very interesting, thank you for posting it. It's obviously beyond southendshrimper's miniscule intellect to understand it.

You should print it and send it to the council with a FOI request for minutes of the meeting where the residents were consulted about attending.

Tel478 wrote:
Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Can I detect a whiff of racism here? I'll have to ask my friends from the Gardner's lane campsite. Why fetch our poor old Basildon town into this debate?

I personally am saving all my energy so that I can work to earn my pension that I paid into for half a century, thanks to that Civil service layabout and Peer of the realm.Oh, and I already spend at least one day a week helping out in a care home.

Unfortunately, I have that dreaded asbestos, which our fine bosses and politicians did such a grand job of covering up about its fatal effects for over a 100 years, so at best I'll recoup around 5-10 years of that pension before I die from a nasty cough, so will I be excused from the "Voluntary" work to "earn" my pension as I will only collect 10 years worth of my money back?

Who voted for this money gobbling mob anyway?

Devils Advocate wrote:

Tel478 wrote:
Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Can I detect a whiff of racism here? I'll have to ask my friends from the Gardner's lane campsite. Why fetch our poor old Basildon town into this debate?

I personally am saving all my energy so that I can work to earn my pension that I paid into for half a century, thanks to that Civil service layabout and Peer of the realm.Oh, and I already spend at least one day a week helping out in a care home.

Unfortunately, I have that dreaded asbestos, which our fine bosses and politicians did such a grand job of covering up about its fatal effects for over a 100 years, so at best I'll recoup around 5-10 years of that pension before I die from a nasty cough, so will I be excused from the "Voluntary" work to "earn" my pension as I will only collect 10 years worth of my money back?

Who voted for this money gobbling mob anyway?

No-one. The Tories seem to have missed the fact that they haven't won a general election since 1992 and they have no electoral mandate for all these extreme right-wing ideologies they're imposing on society.

Tel478 wrote:
Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Basildon is better then Southend anyway. The roads in Southend are sh!t compared to the roads in Basildon. Boy racer playground in Basildon, long straight roads, unlike southend, cameras everywhere and sh!t roads. And some of the houses we have in Basildon, Langdon Hills, are pushing £1million. Southend is more scummy then Basildon. I hate the place. Scumend more more like.

Yes Basildon is lovely, that boy racer playground sounds awesome.

As for the actual story...

Lets not redevelop anything, lets leave Southend to decay.

Great plan.

Not sure why people are already complaining about developments that they know nothing of.

I watched southend deteriorate for years, finally we have seen redevelopments alont the seafront, victoria circus, warrior square.

Yes you can pick holes in certain aspects of any development, but at least the town in being improved.

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

Tel478 wrote:
Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Basildon is better then Southend anyway. The roads in Southend are sh!t compared to the roads in Basildon. Boy racer playground in Basildon, long straight roads, unlike southend, cameras everywhere and sh!t roads. And some of the houses we have in Basildon, Langdon Hills, are pushing £1million. Southend is more scummy then Basildon. I hate the place. Scumend more more like.

Basildon.lad.21 prehaps that is because Southend has a long rich history Victorian grandure and a thriving arts scene whilst Basildon is just like its residences down market, interbreeding cesspit hellhole who's people wear fake bling smell and think breaking the law is the law!

What has a Southend story got to do with you anyway!

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

Tel478 wrote: Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Basildon is better then Southend anyway. The roads in Southend are sh!t compared to the roads in Basildon. Boy racer playground in Basildon, long straight roads, unlike southend, cameras everywhere and sh!t roads. And some of the houses we have in Basildon, Langdon Hills, are pushing £1million. Southend is more scummy then Basildon. I hate the place. Scumend more more like.

Hahah how funny. Basildon has next to no nice homes. Langdon hills is vile and cheap. £1 million is minor money compared to some of the houses in Leigh, Chalkwell, Thorpe Bay and the Shoebury Garrison. Just bungalows or council flats galore in Bas Vegas!

southend_Dave wrote:
Yes Basildon is lovely, that boy racer playground sounds awesome.

As for the actual story...

Lets not redevelop anything, lets leave Southend to decay.

Great plan.

Not sure why people are already complaining about developments that they know nothing of.

I watched southend deteriorate for years, finally we have seen redevelopments alont the seafront, victoria circus, warrior square.

Yes you can pick holes in certain aspects of any development, but at least the town in being improved.

how can failure be classed as improvement?

in the case of the new H&M store for instance.

Woolworth's closed then TJ Hughes took over the site. Then they closed. Now H&M have relocated from one unit in the high street to another. This is overall decline.

over the past years the council have spent millions of pounds on capital projects that have had no real impact on the lives of residents. the money has been spent on aesthetics. moving the furniture 'so to speak' will not increase trade and growth in our town.

the council are/have spent massive amounts of our money on capital spends that have no proven record of increasing growth.

the only way you can increase growth is by having a low cost and reliable transport network and low business rates and a happy and educated workforce.

the council would do well to build more schools and invest in existing schools, invest in roads and bus routes and directly investing in locally developed businesses.

not one pound of any capital spending to date will have any effect of the prospects for Southend. The council need to understand what the signs of success actually are because if success looks like a few appearances on EastEnders and a few failed projects then Southend is doing really well.

mys842 wrote:

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

Tel478 wrote: Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Basildon is better then Southend anyway. The roads in Southend are sh!t compared to the roads in Basildon. Boy racer playground in Basildon, long straight roads, unlike southend, cameras everywhere and sh!t roads. And some of the houses we have in Basildon, Langdon Hills, are pushing £1million. Southend is more scummy then Basildon. I hate the place. Scumend more more like.

Hahah how funny. Basildon has next to no nice homes. Langdon hills is vile and cheap. £1 million is minor money compared to some of the houses in Leigh, Chalkwell, Thorpe Bay and the Shoebury Garrison. Just bungalows or council flats galore in Bas Vegas!

Plus all your crime that is reported every day in this paper, plus your town centre every friday night, saturday night, filled with drunks and druggies, plus your overpriced car parks, plus your stupid pier that gets burnt down every now and again, yeah sounds a great place to live. Southend is the most over rated place in Essex, its absolutely sh!t and I hope the place blows up.

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

mys842 wrote:

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

Tel478 wrote: Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Basildon is better then Southend anyway. The roads in Southend are sh!t compared to the roads in Basildon. Boy racer playground in Basildon, long straight roads, unlike southend, cameras everywhere and sh!t roads. And some of the houses we have in Basildon, Langdon Hills, are pushing £1million. Southend is more scummy then Basildon. I hate the place. Scumend more more like.

Hahah how funny. Basildon has next to no nice homes. Langdon hills is vile and cheap. £1 million is minor money compared to some of the houses in Leigh, Chalkwell, Thorpe Bay and the Shoebury Garrison. Just bungalows or council flats galore in Bas Vegas!

Plus all your crime that is reported every day in this paper, plus your town centre every friday night, saturday night, filled with drunks and druggies, plus your overpriced car parks, plus your stupid pier that gets burnt down every now and again, yeah sounds a great place to live. Southend is the most over rated place in Essex, its absolutely sh!t and I hope the place blows up.

Jealous much?

Shoebury_Cyclist wrote:

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

mys842 wrote:

Basildon.lad.21 wrote:

Tel478 wrote: Great news - if you have a problem go and live in Basildon ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha etc

Basildon is better then Southend anyway. The roads in Southend are sh!t compared to the roads in Basildon. Boy racer playground in Basildon, long straight roads, unlike southend, cameras everywhere and sh!t roads. And some of the houses we have in Basildon, Langdon Hills, are pushing £1million. Southend is more scummy then Basildon. I hate the place. Scumend more more like.

Hahah how funny. Basildon has next to no nice homes. Langdon hills is vile and cheap. £1 million is minor money compared to some of the houses in Leigh, Chalkwell, Thorpe Bay and the Shoebury Garrison. Just bungalows or council flats galore in Bas Vegas!

Plus all your crime that is reported every day in this paper, plus your town centre every friday night, saturday night, filled with drunks and druggies, plus your overpriced car parks, plus your stupid pier that gets burnt down every now and again, yeah sounds a great place to live. Southend is the most over rated place in Essex, its absolutely sh!t and I hope the place blows up.

Jealous much?

Oh yeah im well jealous! I remember when we had a fight with some boys from Southend about 4 years ago. We kicked the absolute sh!t out of them outside Benfleet train station.

Strictly speaking Basildon is far better than Southend…………
…potentially.

Open spaces wide straight roads all built on the US pattern.

Problem is the scrotes and assorted low-life who live there.

Basildon was built in the 60’s to absorb the overflow from the East End of London. You can tell this by all the ‘ammers shirts bowling around

The 50’s East End of London “where you could leave your back door open and no-one would bother you”

So how come Basildon is the way it is?

Would you leave your door open in Basildon?

Only the middle class in Basildon have front doors.The chavvies of Basildon opt for a flap....

Basildon Built for the dregs of London's dregs.

v.randy wrote:
Only the middle class in Basildon have front doors.The chavvies of Basildon opt for a flap....

it'd have to be a flipping elephant sized one given the mass obesity of the chav residents round them parts.

So it'd be tantamount to leaving the door open.

The only door they leave open is the door to the pop and crisps cabinet

Still, some of the improvements to Southend in recent years have made it a place to admire. The airport, thanks to the truckers, is now the best one to fly out of, the 20 mph seafront, with cars giving way to pedestrians makes for a much, much safer front, although this could be vastly improved by banning vehicles at peak pedestrian times. What I would love to see next though would be an upgrade to the pier and then Ro-Ro ferries to link us to Calais. How good would that be? No more trundling up to Thurrock and all the way back down to Dover, just whip down to Sarfend, turn right on the pier and an hour or so later, Calais for lunch. Got to happen.

Oh, and by the way, Basildon was built as part of the slum clearance programme devised after the war. Don't keep blaming the people of Basildon, Laindon etc. we had it built around us. We have all but lost our identity but we still have feelings. And don't forget you had Thorpe farm long before we had Dale so perhaps you started that trend! (Read your history for that!)

One minute the council wants hard up traders to cough up extra cash for BID then all of a sudden someone in the Council finds £300 million down the back of the sofa and earmarks it for the same..ie improvements to Southend.
TAXI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!

Jose El Mezclador wrote:
Strictly speaking Basildon is far better than Southend…………

…potentially.

Open spaces wide straight roads all built on the US pattern.

Problem is the scrotes and assorted low-life who live there.

Basildon was built in the 60’s to absorb the overflow from the East End of London. You can tell this by all the ‘ammers shirts bowling around

The 50’s East End of London “where you could leave your back door open and no-one would bother you”

So how come Basildon is the way it is?

Would you leave your door open in Basildon?

Yeah. Its a nice place. No one would ever dream of breaking in.

Southend rock(s)....!

Soouthchurch59 wrote:
Southend rock(s)....!

Never seen 'em. Mainly mud, with a bit of imported sand and ballast.
Mind you, Sarfend did look cool when the coppers had white helmets and the Kursaal really was the Kursaal.

These days there are no white helmets and the best amusement park in the country is a chavs estate!

Does the plan include the block of flats in station road that was empty for years. I asked the council why a few years ago and was told it was being kept for emergency accomodation. Which is strange as the block was sold to a company which I understand a very unpopular councilor was conected to and now the flats are being advertised for sale.

Whats the betting the sites to be purchased are owned by councilors, family and friends and we will buy it at a premium price a bit like the last plans when we bought the Rossi factory which was purchased for top dollar then leased back for peanuts. Not mentioning a Rossi is married to a councillor of course. What about all those plans have they been dumped now.

I can see one of the plans that instead of the sky rise on the corner of southchurch ave and the seafront opp the Kursal there will be a giant car park. Why build more shops when there are so many empty in the town and rather than build houses why not South Essex Homes AKA southend council buy the ones being sold of by genisis throughout the town. Get the housing assns that already have planning permission to build homes eg in sutton road to actualy build them as the sites been sitting ready for a few years now. Sort victora avenue out its an eyesore..

£300million +Southend Council =
corruption.
From personal experience whenever public servants get a windfall,few can handle it.
Instead every greedy developer knows that he can charge what he likes,with so much money available.
The Council will have a time limit set to spend the money so expect rubbish.
The only change in Southend you'll notice is a lot more Range Rover Sports on the road..the prefered choice of the developer and Council staff taking more holidays whilst their free extensions are completed.
Shocking story!!!!!!!!!!