Jaywick councillor defends town against critical survey

The village has been ranked eighth in the annual poll by satirical website iLiveHere.com.

Jaywick has been finished in eight place in the survey for the last three years.

The website describes it as making “even the worst bits of Blackpool seem like paradise.”

But ward councillor Dan Casey said the survey was created by people who “don’t really know Jaywick.”

He said: “I’ve lived here for more than 20 years, it’s a fantastic place with a good spirit and lots of decent people who get on with their lives just like everywhere else.

“It has lots of clubs with fun events like quiz nights and things have been buzzing around here recently.

“The roads are getting done up which is lovely and there are new businesses and shops coming such as the Brooklands Community Shop.”

Mr Casey said people should instead focus on the positives such as the generosity of the people who live there.

The town hosts regular fundraising events and raised more than £350 at two quiz nights which went towards the Salvation Army in Poland and aid for Ukrainian refugees.

Mr Casey added: “I believe the people who write surveys like this don’t really know Jaywick, they should get down and get a better understanding.

“They’ll usually show you unflattering pictures of when the roads weren’t done but generally speaking its ten times better than when I first became a councillor in 2010.”

Mr Casey believes there are ways to better utilise the town’s facilities.

He views the beach as particularly underused and sees it as an opportunity to raise Jaywick’s profile.

He added: “Our beach is a fantastic asset, if we could find something interesting to do related to the beach it would change Jaywick’s fortunes forever.”

The worst place to live in England according to the website was Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

It was followed by Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, Luton in Bedfordshire, Liverpool in Merseyside and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.