CAMPAIGNERS told how they have lost their fight to save a community hall as detailed plans to flatten it for a housing development emerged.

Basildon Council wants to demolish Park Lodge Hall, in Stevenson Way, Wickford, as part of an ambitious regeneration project in and around Nevendon Road.

Detailed plans, which have been drawn up by the council’s Tory administration, include four two-bedroom houses and two two-bedroom flats.

Parking will be provided for all six homes.

Councillors said they fought to save the hall after initial proposals to knock it down first emerged last year, but struggled to fine enough residents to support their campaign.

David Harrison, Wickford Independents councillor for Wickford Park, said: “Every effort was made to save the Park Lodge Hall and it is a shame that we are loosing it.

“We told people to stand up and help us fight or that we would loose it in the end.”

Alan Ball, his colleague in Wickford Castledon ward, said he has been trying to save the hall sine 2008.

He added: “The hall has been there for between 30 and 40 years and so I’m sure that it would have played a big part in the community.

“This seems to be a problem that is occurring frequently now and we are seeing that people are not as passionate about some community spaces and so we are loosing them.”

Melanie Ersser, 39, of Stevenson Way, Wickford, joined the hall’s committee in 2011 after running a parent and toddler group.

She said: “I have been fighting for five years now. We were pushing to get more community people and groups involved in the hall to prove to Basildon Council that the hall should have been kept.”

Last September, the cross-party planning committee gave the go-ahead to proposals to develop the Nevendon Road estate, including improvements to the parade of shops, green space and pathways, and the demolition of the community hall.

Basildon Council will put funds into other community facilities nearby- but the exact sum has yet to be confirmed.

Phil Turner, Tory leader of Basildon Council, said he is “angry” about claims campaigners have fought to save Park Lodge Hall.

He said: “The council has been completely open about the plans to regenerate the Nevendon Road area and at no point has anyone come forward and asked to discuss this with me.

“I feel that this is all lies about campaigners frighting and it makes me angry to be honest.

“The council is working hard to regenerate Wickford and the council has invested a lot of money in recent years in doing so.”