We love Southend-on-Sea and we know you do too. That is why we are working hard to make our city the best it can be. In January 2025, we launched our Civic Pride Action Plan. It is all about making Southend-on-Sea a place where everyone feels proud to live, work, study and play.
But we cannot do it alone. We need you! Together, we can make Southend-on-Sea shine even brighter.
What is Civic Pride?
Civic pride means feeling proud of where you live and helping to make it even better. It is about everyone, residents, communities, students, businesses and organisations working together.
Some of our proudest moments so far?
We have already made great progress, here are some things we have achieved:
- £1m investment in our playgrounds
- many of our beaches meeting Blue Flag standards
- Southend Pier ranked the best seaside pier in Britain
- Southend named Best Seaside Town in the UK
- over 100,000 Poppies on the pier
- Southend United getting to Wembley
- Monopoly coming to Southend (spring 2026)
- 1,500 volunteer hours within culture services between April to June 2025
And there is more to come, from new playgrounds to exciting festivals, we are building a city full of life and pride.
Our big goals
Our Civic Pride Action Plan focuses on four big areas:
- Proud and prosperous - celebrating Southend's arts, culture and heritage.
- Safe, clean and green - keeping our city sparkling and our beaches beautiful.
- Caring with a good quality of life for all - supporting strong communities and helping those in need.
- Transformative, responsive council - high standard services designed around the needs of our residents.
How you can help
Want to make a difference? Volunteer for Southend-on-Sea. There are lots of ways to get involved:
- join a community clean-up
- help with gardening clubs
- become a Tree or Street Warden
- support local events and festivals
- volunteer at our libraries and museums
Every little bit helps. When you volunteer, you are not just helping Southend-on-Sea, you are making it a place we can all be proud of.
We are building a city that you can be proud of. Let's keep building it together.
Visit our volunteering pages to find out more about how and where you can get involved.
In January we are launching the Our Southend enewsletter, a monthly round up of news, events and opportunities for residents to get involved across the Southend-on-Sea community. Sign up to Our Southend.
Partnership working
The Civic Pride Action Plan is supported by the Southend City Partnership. This is made up of:
- the Council
- City Family
- Essex County Fire and Rescue Service
- Essex Police
- London Southend Airport
- Metal
- South East Essex Alliance
- South Essex Homes
- Southend Association of Voluntary Services
- Southend Business Partnership
- South Essex Colleges Group
- Southend Tourism Partnership
- Southend Business Improvement District
- Southend Pubwatch
- University of Essex
We have also got support from:
- Southend United Football Club