A Profile of the Borough of Castle Point

Castle Point comprises of the towns/villages of South Benfleet, Hadleigh and Thundersley as well Canvey Island, it is situated to the south-east of the County of Essex and on the northern side of the Thames estuary between the towns of Basildon to the west and Southend-on-sea to the east. 

The total population of the Borough is approximately 86,000 with electorates approaching 40,000 and 30,000 on the Mainland and Island respectively. The Borough occupies an area of about 17.3 square miles. 

On a good day the M25 can be accessed by car via the A13 or the A127 in about 20 minutes. There is a frequent rail link to London with some commuter journeys to the City in less than 40 minutes. (Fenchurch Street – Shoeburyness (c2C))

The London City, Stansted and Southend airports are all within easy reach.

For Borough Council electoral purposes, there are 14 wards, 6 on Canvey Island and 8 on the mainland.

The Canvey Island wards are named:-

Central, East, North, South, West and Winter gardens,

while the mainland wards are called:-

Appleton, Boyce, Cedar Hall, St. George’s, St James’s, St. Mary’s, St. Peter’s and Victoria.

Each of which is represented by 3 councillors  except for the smaller ward of Canvey Island West, which has only 2 elected members.  A full complement now is therefore 41 Borough Councillors. (prior to 2003 there were 39).

Borough elections are now held annually except for the fourth year when the County Elections take place.

Local elections are usually held on the first Thursday of May.

The boundary of the Borough is coterminous with the Parliamentary Castle Point Constituency Boundary.

As a result of the recent Boundary Commission’s review of the Essex County Council electoral divisions, in May 2005 there was1 less County division on the mainland part of the Borough than has been the case in previous years. The names of the five Borough County divisions broadly describe their location, namely:-  Benfleet, Canvey Island East, Canvey Island West, Hadleigh and Thundersley, each of which will be represented by 1 County Councillor.

At the time of the Local District Government re-organisation in 1973, the Urban Districts of Benfleet and Canvey Island were merged to form Castle Point and a short time after, the South East Essex Parliamentary Constituency was re-named Castle Point when Rayleigh was moved to another constituency.