A row is brewing between a developer and Southend Council over plans to demolish a seafront pub and replace it with luxury flats.

Swedish company Redab Properties wants to redevelop the site of the Esplanade Pub, in Eastern Esplanade, building a £15million block of 24 flats.

Council planning officers are recommending councillors should turn it down at a meeting on Wednesday, because they think the proposed building is too big for the site.

However, the developers claim their proposal is is only 2ft 6ins taller than a proposed hotel approved for the site in 2010, but never built.

In a letter sent directly to councillors and shown to the Echo, Redab says: “We feel height should not be an issue.

“Our scheme is 10m lower than that of the nearby proposed museum project, which has already been approved.

“The roof is 4.25m lower than the edge of the cliff. It is our firmly- held belief the proposal will not affect views from the conservation area, or views towards it, and it would certainly not be harmful to the conservation area.”

The developer has not offered to include any affordable homes in the block, though it is offering £1.2million to shore up the cliffs behind the site, if the development is approved.

Thirty people have objected to the proposals and Labour Milton ward councillor Julian Ware- Lane is also opposed to it.

He explained: “There is a social housing crisis in Southend and this development does not address that.

“I don’t think it will solve anything by creating expensive, yuppie flats on the seafront.

“While I don’t begrudge people with money the chance to come into Southend, the problem is people coming into the borough at the expense of people with less money, who have to live in overcrowded and sub-standard properties.”

Objector Mark Sharp, from campaign group Saxon King in Priory Park, dismissed the proposal as “a bland, boring, bog-standard building that you would find in any industrial site”.

He added: “The cliffs are a seafront attraction and we feel it would be wholly inappropriate to put homes there.

“If this is passed, and other developers wanted to build on homes on this part of the seafront, it would be hard to stop.

Echo:

CGI of the plans


Developers: Council don't understand plans

Developer Redab claims Southend Council planning officers have failed to properly understand its plan.

The Swedish company says the size of the building won’t affect views over the estuary.

It also claims planners have vastly overestimated the profit to be made from the development.

It says it would be happy to offer some affordable homes, but felt the offer of £1.2million to stabilise the cliffs would be more attractive offer to the council.

Normally, companies are expected to offer 30 per cent of homes in developments as affordable housing. A Redab spokesman said: “We believe there have been a number of misconceptions regarding this scheme, which is understandable with something this innovative.

“We continue to work closely with planning officers and hope we can resolve all objections to everyone’s satisfaction. Redab is looking forward to investing in Southend – helping the town to grow by generating new jobs and opportunities.”

A decision on the plans is due to be made by the council’s development control committee on Wednesday.

Echo: Pearl Jam perform at the Made In America music festival in Philadelphia (Drew Gurian/Invision/AP)

Pearl Jam played first ever European gig at pub

The Espanade has stood on the seafront for more than a century.

The pub, which has continued trading while the planning process was under way, was bought by the Swedish developer last September, for slightly less than £1million.

The pub has been a popular seafront destination for years, and for many years was a renowned live music venue, playing host to bands which would go on to become huge.

In 1992, US grunge band Pearl Jam, who have subsequently sold 60 million records worldwide, played their first European gig in the venue then they first crossed the Atlantic to promote their Ten album. South Essex r’n’b band Dr Feelgood used to play there in their early days in the Seventies and later line-ups of the band played the venue twice in the Nineties.

Other acts to appear there in the Nineties include Geordie hard rock group the Wildhearts, Glasgow rockers Gun and US southern rock band Cry of Love.

It stopped being a venue when it was taken over by the Harvester family pub-restaurant chain and the condition of the building deteriorated.

Planning permission was given to turn it into a four-storey seafront hotel in 2010, but this was never taken forward.