Southend Pier should be handed over to amibitious entrepreneurs if it is to survive as a tourist attraction, businessmen have warned.

Southend Council cabinet members have approved recommendations from a public consultation that showed people who participated wanted three themes focused on at the landmark - maritime, environmental and relaxed recreation.

These effectively rule out the previously agreed plans for the Swine rollercoaster planned by Thorpe Bay businessman Tony Garner.

It took the cabinet just a few minutes to decide to go ahead with the new strategy.

Fran McGinty, who ran McGinty's bar on the pierhead, said the council had its strategy wrong.

He said: "The council does not know how to run the pier. It would be 100 per cent better if it was done by a private businessman.

"It is easier for the council to say no to an idea and make sure it is in its budget than it is to take a risk when there is a real opportunity."

He said the marketing of the pier also left a lot to be desired.

Mr McGinty said: "You can have the best asset in the world, but unless you are selling it, there is no point in having it."

Mr Garner, who has recently had several plans for the pierhead rejected by the council, said the council's assertion the landmark should be a feature for local people was unsustainable.

He said: "Southend is a tourist area and it needs to attract visitors.

Thames Gateway and Renaissance Southend have said that it should be a cultural centre of the south east of England.

"The council want the pier for local people, but even if everybody in the town visited twice a year, that wouldn't generate enough revenue to pay for the cost of maintaining and rebuilding it.

"You need to invest a lot of money to get the returns and the council has to move into the 21st century.

"As well as the rollercoaster, we want to get the railway back to two tracks, have a restaurant, a play area and a theatre."

John Lamb, cabinet member for business regeneration, said it was important to recognise the iconic status of the pier.

Council leader Murray Foster said: "There are times we have to look at the past to see the future and remember the pier was originally built as a berthing place for boats.

"There is a potential for increasing maritime use."

Further public consultation will be undertaken with final recommendations on the future of the pier being made by May or June.