A MENTAL health charity is set to double in size after its expansion plans were approved.

Trust Links has been granted conditional permission from Southend Council to demolish several outbuildings on the site, creating up to 40sq m of new gardening space.

The application is for the Growing Together Garden in Westcliff which was established 16 years ago and allows staff and volunteers to attend to the garden, helping them gain confidence, meet new people and work towards qualifications.

The gardens also boast chickens, polytunnels for bringing on young plants and a log cabin for training.

The development site is on the north west of the gardens, along Prittlewell Chase and six demountable buildings will be removed as part of the plans. They will be replaced by a single storey extension to the main training centre building and two new demountable buildings.

The changes will make the gardens more publicly accessible by removing gates that are currently positioned between the buildings.

Chief executive, Matthew King, said: “We are delighted that our plans to further improve Growing Together Westcliff have been given the go-ahead by the Council. Demand for our therapeutic gardens is rising as people become more aware of mental health issues and the positive outcomes Trust Links has to offer people.

“Now of course we need to start a big fundraising campaign to pay for the improvements. Saturday, October 8 is our annual Apple Day at St Laurence Orchard which is hugely popular - people can help themselves to windfalls so we thought that’s the time to launch the project to create a financial windfall for the new scheme.”

The Growing Together Garden in Westcliff has helped hundreds of people and provided them with new skills and in the past, the garden won Southend in Bloom and Anglia in Bloom awards

The planning statement said: “In recent years it has transformed the application site from disused and overgrown allotments into a beautiful community garden producing flowers, fruit and vegetables, and provides a place for courses, meeting new people, sharing experiences and working towards qualifications.