10 November 2025
The Bishop of Bradwell and Co-Chair of Citizens Essex, the Rt Rev'd Adam Atkinson, is inviting church leaders in Essex to help give their local communities an important voice ahead of the 2026 Essex Mayoral Election.
Bishop Adam's message of invitation to Essex church leaders can be read in full below.
A conversation with Essex – a message from Bishop Adam to clergy and churchwardens in Essex
Dear colleague,
In May 2026, for the first time, Essex – including Thurrock and Southend will be electing its first ever directly elected Mayor. The Mayor’s responsibilities will cover:
- Police and fire services
- Housing
- Regeneration
- Local growth (economy, jobs and investment)
- Adult skills (except apprenticeships)
- Local transport
You may already know that I co-chair Citizens Essex, who are an alliance of universities, faith groups, schools, food banks and other charities seeking to work together, in a non-partisan way, for the common good. On Tuesday 24 March 2026, at 6.45pm for 7, we are hoping to fill Chelmsford Cathedral with people from all our member organisations, and present to the candidates our “asks” – and give them an opportunity to respond.
In preparation for this gathering, which we call an Accountability Assembly, Citizens Essex is seeking to have a conversation with 10,000 people linked to its member organisations. This is not an opinion poll, it really is a chance for us to engage with our neighbourhoods and hear what really matters to them.
An invitation to help people in your community have a voice in the conversation
If you would like to help people in your church and local community to have a voice in this important conversation, here’s how you can do so:
Citizens Essex has provided two questions: 1) “Share one thing that is putting pressure on you and your family/friends, that links with something the Mayor is responsible for” and 2) “If you were Mayor for one day, what is one thing that you would change that would improve your life?” These questions can be asked in individual conversations, at meetings or church services. If you ask the questions of people in your community, please feedback their answers using this form and send it to agriffiths@chelmsford.anglican.org. Please return forms by the beginning of December.
Please extend the invitation to attend the Citizens’ Accountability Assembly on 24 March to people in you church community. More details of which will be shared closer to the time.
Thank you for reading this message. I hope it will help our church communities and the local communities we serve, to have an important voice ahead of May’s Mayoral election and a fruitful relationship with our first directly elected Mayor of Essex, whoever they may be.
Yours,
+Adam,
Bishop of Bradwell and Co-Chair of Citizens Essex