CANVEY urgently needs more investment so it can rival other seaside destinations by becoming a "top visitor hotspot".

Thousands of tourists flocked to the seafront on Canvey and neighbouring Southend to soak up the sun over the Bank Holiday weekend.

However, there were problems with there not being enough toilets open plus some operational problems

Bradley Baisden, 34, of Canvey, has now set up a petition calling for greater investment on the island, including paving along the arcade to create a vibrant “food and drink mecca”, ensuring that paving is trip hazard-free, improving public green spaces and improving the street scene furniture, such as benches, signs, railings and bins.

He also called for improvements to be made to the toilet facilities after many were closed or flooded over the weekend, causing long queues to form. Mr Baisden said that investment also needs to be made in parking facilities, and maintaining the environment, with regular litter picking and bin emptying.

He said: “I have lived on Canvey most of my life. I have always been keen to see the whole area thrive and reach its potential.

“In the past couple of months, we have had Canvey Bay Watch and Friends of Concord Beach be really inspirational to a lot of residents.

“I was walking about on the Bank Holiday weekend, and the seafront was the busiest I have ever seen it in the 34 years I have lived on the island. It was great to see but it does but it just re-enforce that some of the areas don’t look great.”

Mr Baisden said it was time Castle Point Council took Canvey seriously as a seafront town and treated it as such with the correct investment and maintenance.

He gave the example of how on Tuesday morning, the area was still covered in litter, whereas in Southend a street cleaning team had been sent out in the morning to get the seafront ready for the day. He added it was important that if Canvey got a government grant for seafront improvement works that the council is currently vying for, that the money wasn’t spent on things that the residents’ council tax should be spent on, such as street cleaning. To sign the petition visit change.org/p/love-canvey-canvey-island-seafront-rejuvenation