A NEW car park in Southend is on the cards, much to the relief of residents and visitors who are often frustrated by lack of spaces on the seafront.

Hopes have been raised after Southend Council purchased the former gasworks site on Southend seafront, which could initially be used as a temporary car park before hopefully becoming a permanent fixture.

The 3.5 acre prime location was previously owned by Robert Leonard Estates who secured planning permission for a substantial residential, commercial and hotel development, but the work never commenced and the planning permission has expired.

Conservative councillor Mark Flewitt said: “Personally I’m really in favour of the car park. It will certainly help with parking issues.

“It’s going to be a temporary decision for now, but how long it will be a car park for, we don’t know. We want to set it up as quickly as possible though.

“We will have to see what the market is doing as far as housing and other aspects, before the council decide what to do with it in the long run.

“It’s important, it’s a very lucrative and strategic fight for the council.

“I think it will help ease the car parking issues a lot, as there’s quite a high demand in the area when the weather’s good.”

The land, which has been unused for a number of years, gives the council a “unique opportunity” to look at future development opportunities.

Deputy leader of the council, Ann Holland said: “We are pleased that our offer to purchase this prime seafront site has been accepted. We are now going through the appropriate processes that would potentially allow us to use the site for some initial temporary car parking.

“In the medium to longer-term, more detailed work is required but the site clearly has the potential to offer strategic and regeneration benefits to the council and the seafront area as a whole, particularly for future development opportunities and car parking. This site has been a blot on the landscape for many years now, and now that the bid has been accepted we can start work on improving the appearance of the site.”

The land is a prime investment site and a spokesman for Southend Council said: “We currently only have permission to use the land as a car park for 28 days of the year due to there being no planning permission as of yet.

“If they decide to have it as a permanent car park, once planning permission is granted, then it will need to be levelled off, tarmac put down and bays added. We have purchased the site though, so there’s no point sitting on it for the next six months.”