Timeline

2020 - 2022

2020 10th January - 19th January. 8th annual Horror on sea film festival. 14th January. Pier closed as storm Brendan slams into Southend. 14th January. Plans are put on show of several different designs for replacement trains for Southend Pier. January. Green light for Southend’s £100m Marine Plaza. A £100million seafront development has jumped its final hurdle and can now go full steam ahead. The Marine Plaza development has been granted special dispensation to go ahead after a legal review. 22nd January. Proposals to create a conservation area in and around Hamlet Court Road are announced. 1st February. 16,818 people visited Southend Pier in January beating the 14,084 visitors recorded the previous year. 9th February. Storm Ciara slams into Southend with wind speeds gusting to 75mph, parts of the Cliffs Pavilion roof are torn away and left dangling over the edge of the building. 17th February. After serving the elderly of Southend for 147 years, Nazareth House care home closes its doors for the last time. 1st March. Councillor and local restaurant owner Paul Van Looy sadly passes away. 10th March. Plans to re-lay the car park at Southchurch Park East are announced, with 180 marked bays, with pay and display machines in use, but with free parking for any car registered in Southend. March. Southend is put in lockdown in line with national government guidelines as the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold of the country and a blanket lockdown is introduced. Town’s shops reopen with COVID-19 restrictions in place. August. Southend (& Essex) gets a new Radio Station, Street Sounds Radio, broadcasting from Leigh-on-Sea. Primark moves out of the Royals Shopping Centre and relocates to the old fully refurbished British Home Stores building in the High Street. Footbridge at the Bell on the A127 is demolished to make way for road improvements. COVID-19 testing station is opened in a car park in Short Street. 5th November. Town is in lockdown again due to another COVID-19 lockdown. December. Southend reopens with COVID-19 restrictions in place. December. Southend is put back into lockdown due to rising COVID-19 infections. 2021 4th January the country goes into lockdown. This section will be updated soon.