THE £300million redevelopment of Southend town centre will include 1,300 new homes, it has been revealed.

Last week, Southend Council unveiled plans to demolish four crumbling tower blocks in Queensway and revamp the area with new homes and shops.

The ambitious plan, due to start in 2018 and unlikely to be complete until 2024/25, will have 433 homes for sale, 427 privately rented and 440 affordable homes.

The council is planning the enormous task of moving people out of more than 400 flats in the dilapidated and crime-ridden Pennine, Malvern, Chiltern, and Quantock tower blocks and into the new or alternate homes.

Ann Holland, councillor responsible for culture, tourism and the economy is helping to drive forward the scheme, which could see private and commercial properties compulsory purchased.

She said: “What is important is that we keep residents fully on board at each stage. We are going to have a liaison person so if anyone has a question they can go straight to them.

“We’re looking at proposals for an outline plan and at compulsory purchase orders and demolition notices so people will no longer be able to do right-to-buy.”

People who own flats in the blocks will be given the option to sell them to the council, swap them with a similar property in the borough or to purchase one of the new properties.

This could involve shared ownership between leaseholders and the council, with the leaseholder paying the council back for its percentage of the property if it was sold.

Mrs Holland said: “There will be lots of options for people. They can move into another block elsewhere in the borough or they can move into the new blocks as tenants or as owners or part owners. There is a lot going on.”

Empty properties across the borough will be identified to provide temporary accommodation for the first wave of tenants to move out of their tower block homes.

Mrs Holland said: “There will be various properties we will be able to offer to tenants who can then come back into the blocks as they are built.

“We are going to regenerate the whole area and there will be a mix of everything from penthouses to affordable housing. From what we have seen from regeneration schemes in London, it will be much better.”

Councillors will choose one of three ways of financing the project, all of which involve teaming up with an investment partner.

The council has also applied for £22.75million from the South East Essex Local Enterprise Growth Fund.

Mrs Holland said: “Its going to be a very long-term project but we hope to have half of it built by 2021. There will be some risk but a delivery partnership will mitigate this. It’s a shared risk.

“In terms of the finance, it is difficult to accurately quantify the total cost of the regeneration but at this stage we estimate it could be in the region of £300million plus. Therefore, a key aspect of any proposal will be to maximise the amount of external investment we can attract, and in particular private finance investment.”

The council cabinet considered the proposals at a meeting yesterday. John Lamb, leader of the council, said: ““Whilst there is still a long way to go and we are unlikely to see any physical works until at least 2018, this cabinet report does signify an important milestone for this exciting project.

“We can now start to move ahead.”