Cllr Tony Ball

Tony Ball first moved to the new town of Basildon at the age of four. He has lived in Wickford for 34 years and has been a councillor for Wickford North since 1998. He is married to Gwen and has one daughter, Rosie, 13, who attends a local school. His father also Tony Ball was a Basildon and Wickford councillor for 20 years and was Leader of Basildon Council from 1979 to 1982. He became Conservative Group Leader in May 2009 and leader of the council on 21 May 2009, having served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative group since 2000.

Cllr Ball has overseen the opening of the Basildon Sporting Village, the start of the major regeneration of Basildon town centre and the site clearance of Dale Farm, the largest illegal Traveller settlement in Europe. He was also shortlisted for Local Government Information Unit's 2012 Leader of the Year award.

In August 2012, he was appointed to the Local Government Association's Economy and Transport Board as lead Conservative member until 31 July 2013. He is Vice-President of the European New Town Platform (ENTP) network, a forum for new towns like Basildon. He is also Chair of the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership and the Basildon Renaissance Partnership.