A DOSSIER of evidence showing why a seaside paddling pool should be saved is being sent to councillors.

Castle Point Council’s plan to close a tidal pool on Canvey seafront, is bitterly opposed by generations of families who have paddled and fished for crabs there since the Thirties.

The council wants to retain a smaller, recently refurbished pool further along the beach, which it claims is less of a health and safety hazard.

But Colin Letchford, 62, of Maurice Road, Canvey, has put together a photographic dossier he thinks proves the larger pool is the safer of the two.

He is e-mailing this to every Castle Point councillor in the hope it will change their minds.

He said: “It would be a disaster if they closed the bigger pool, as everyone on Canvey knows it is much safer.

“Hardly any families let their children paddle in the other pool.”

Mr Letchford believes his photographs illustrate his arguments as they show the wall around the larger pool is flat and around 1.5 metres wide, meaning it can be walked along safely.

The wall around the smaller pool is sloped and covered in slime.

The dossier also claims the smaller pool is next to far deeper water at high tide, so there is more danger to children.

The larger pool has a soft sand base, while the other has concrete at the bottom. Mr Letchford added access was easier to the larger pool, which has a wider stretch of beach behind it.

Canvey town councillor Dave Blackwell said: “Mr Letchford is right about everything. When the tide is in, the water outside the smaller pool’s wall is about 20ft deep, with a strong current.

“The council wants to fill in an extremely safe pool and keep one that is far more dangerous and far less popular.”

Castle Point Council’s cabinet agreed last week to consider Canvey Town Council’s proposal to take over the larger pool, following protests from hundreds of Canvey residents.

David Marchant, chief executive of Castle Point Council, said: “The council has not yet received the correspondence and we cannot comment until we have.”