Horizon scan
Horizon Scanning Log
13 June 2026
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- Tendring District Council’s planning committee has proposed removing the SAH4 site (up to 300 homes off Samsons Road) due to landscape sensitivity and single-road access. Five smaller alternative sites, including the former Well House site, totalling approximately 90 homes, are favoured.
- Ric Morgan has been appointed Brightlingsea Town Council mayor for 2026-27, with Kate Mitchell as deputy mayor. Morgan succeeds Cllr Jayne Chapman BEM.
- New CCTV footage shows missing person Vitória Barreto jumping a boatyard fence on the day she disappeared. A boat was later found unmoored and adrift; a lifebuoy from the vessel was recovered. Investigation ongoing.
- Brightlingsea resident Joseph Dines, previously handed a suspended sentence for indecent images of children, has now been sentenced for cannabis cultivation and drug dealing.
- Ipswich-based Fox's Yacht Sales has become part of Brightlingsea maritime firm Morgans Group.
- Brightlingsea's open-air Lido has reopened for the Bank Holiday weekend and the summer season.
- Actor and musician Alan Fletcher, known for Neighbours, and his five-piece band are scheduled to perform on Hurst Green as part of a Brightlingsea town festival.
- Sport England's Active Lives survey found activity in Tendring rose 9.5 percentage points in the year to November 2025, with inactivity down 5.6 points — the strongest improvement in Essex. Cllr Mick Barry (TDC) credited the council's Sport and Activity Strategy.