With just weeks to go before a contract between Southend Council and developers Turnstone Estates expires, councillors have raised concerns the major project to transform the Seaway car park into a leisure facility remains “in limbo”.
Turnstone Estates originally signed a deal with Southend Council in 2015 to deliver an 11-screen Empire Cinema with IMAX, a 20-lane Hollywood Bowl, and a Travelodge hotel on the site off Lucy Road, Southend.
The company failed to find investors despite a pledge by the council for a £10million investment if the scheme went ahead. Planning permission granted in 2020 has now expired and the contract with the council is also set to expire on February 23.
It has been suggested the council, which says it is unable to comment until after the contract expires, could decide to leave the car park as it is. However, Tony Cox, leader of Southend’s Reform Group, said it could be improved.
He said: “I would hope to see it remain as a car park but what I think we should do is lay it out better and put another deck on top so you maximise seafront parking.
“You can get more spaces in that site in a prime location and it’s what we should have been doing all along. Money has been set aside for Seaway. It’s already there. We could utilise it and increase parking.”
However, Southend mayor Ron Woodley, said homes should be a priority and this “virtually empty” car park should be looked at. He added: “I wouldn’t want to see green belt being taken up for housing when we have car parks that are not fully utilised.”
Planning permission for the leisure complex expired in October 2023, a month after Turnstone failed to convince planning bosses to accept changes to a condition which said no work should start without a Section 106 agreement.
James Courtenay, leader of Southend Conservatives, says his main concern is a prime location being left “in limbo”.
He said: “My biggest concern with Seaway has always been that nothing is happening. The ability to potentially get more parking spaces and do something with it as a car park has been put on hold.”