A small island community in the Thames Estuary that voted massively for Brexit is now drawing inspiration from distant Catalonia for its own plans to gain independence from authorities on the mainland.<\/p>\n
Just 40,000 people live on Canvey Island in Essex, a 40-minute train ride from London but a world apart from the British capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are surrounded by sea, I suppose it gives us that feeling of independence,\u201d said Edward Parkin, 39, who works at the waterfront arcade Parkins Palladium.<\/p>\n
Just two roads connect the area to the mainland and there has been resentment that decisions are being taken on the other side of the water which affect the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is always the mainland that decides. People are fed up,\u201d said Dave Blackwell, whose frustration with the situation led him to create the Canvey Island Independent Party (CIIP).<\/p>\n
The latest move seen as unacceptable by Blackwell is a proposal to turn a community centre into housing, following a decision by Castle Point borough council — which governs Canvey.<\/p>\n
The septuagenarian has announced a petition on independence and, inspired by Catalonia, a referendum for Canvey to separate from Castle Point and run its own affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019d have a referendum tomorrow, 80% of the people would be in favour of independence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Islanders have already tested their breakaway views at the polls, with the area voting by 72.7% in favour to leave the European Union in last year\u2019s referendum — one of the highest proportions in the country.<\/p>\n
Blackwell, who started his party 14 years ago, sees his ongoing bid for independence as similar to Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have done campaigning for independence in the past. It grew,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are fed up with mainstream parties and want to be able to determine their own future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nine out of the 11 Canvey Island town councillors have already been convinced to join CIIP, along with 15 of 17 councillors representing the island in Castle Point council.<\/p>\n
But the leader of Castle Point council, Colin Riley, is firmly against the idea and argues the talk of separatism is taking away from the \u201cwonderful sense of community\u201d within the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time when all councils are facing increasing pressures on budgets and are looking at ways of working together it would be contrary to promote independence for Canvey island,\u201d he told AFP. \u201cI am<\/p>\n
hopeful that we can quickly get back to business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Money for the island<\/p>\n
On Canvey Island, however, residents are already coming up with ways to spend the council\u2019s budget if autonomy is returned.<\/p>\n
Ideas include a third road to the mainland to relieve congestion, a new drainage system to protect the island from flooding, or more toilets along the beachfront.<\/p>\n
Dave Taylor, tucking into a plate of bacon and mushrooms on toast at Sue\u2019s Cafe, told AFP independence \u201cwould be a very good idea\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money will be spent on the island, not elsewhere,\u201d said the 74-year-old, noting unhappily that it was left to volunteers to clean Canvey\u2019s beach and repair the island\u2019s benches.<\/p>\n
Cafe owner Sue Thomas, donning a blue apron, agreed: \u201cI think it might be a good thing for the people of Canvey; they could make decisions for themselves and have a say.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been more than 40 years since the creation of Castle Point borough council, in 1974.<\/p>\n
Blackwell believes the case of Catalonia could act as a catalyst for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want self-determination like we do,\u201d he said of Catalans, who earlier this month held their own independence referendum.<\/p>\n
Blackwell thinks it unlikely that if Canvey holds its own vote, locals will face the same crackdown by authorities seen in Catalonia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A small island community in the Thames Estuary that voted massively for Brexit is now drawing inspiration from distant Catalonia for its own plans to gain independence from authorities on the mainland. Just 40,000 people live on Canvey Island in Essex, a 40-minute train ride from London but a world apart from the British capital. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8108,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8105\/revisions\/8108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}