Preliminary work on the refurbishment of East Square in Basildon town centre is underway. As you can see from the above images, some of the work is taking place right underneath Brooke House. The residents of Brooke House are well aware of the planned re-development of this part of the town centre. What they’re considerably less well aware of is how the works are going to progress and what disruption they can expect while they’re in progress.

Why is this? Simply because the contractors have been less than diligent in talking to the residents and informing them of what’s planned over the coming months. The local councillors for the St. Martins ward, Andrew Buxton and David Burton-Sampson (Lab) have been very diligent in contacting the contractors and the relevant officers at Basildon Council. The thing is, it doesn’t matter how diligent local councillors can be in looking out for the interests of residents in situations like this – at the end of the day, they’re up against contractors and council officers. Who as we know only too well, can be a law unto themselves!

It’s piss poor public relations from the contractors to be as slack as they have been in keeping the residents of Brooke House in the loop as to what disruption they can expect. Not only that, it’s downright rude as well. Promises were made by the relevant parties to keep residents informed but they don’t seem to be getting kept. Time after time, the residents of Brooke House have been treated with contempt by the ruling Tory group on Basildon Council and council officers. Now they’re being treated with contempt by the contractors undertaking the re-development of this part of the town centre.

This is unacceptable. If the contractors and the relevant officers at Basildon Council don’t get their acts together and start keeping the promises they made to the residents of Brooke House, it will backfire on them. Our advice to the contractors and Basildon Council is this – pull your finger out, keep the promises you made to the residents of Brooke House and keep them in the loop as to what disruption they can expect as East Square and East Walk are re-developed.

If they fail to do this, we’re more than happy to keep blogging updates on here detailing every incident where the contractors and Basildon Council let the residents down. A barrage of bad publicity can have a remarkable impact in concentrating minds!