WORK has begun to build disabled bays and picnic tables at a Canvey beach to help improve access for all.

Canvey Bay Watch received a £2,500 grant from Essex County Council’s Millennium and Chairman’s Fund Awards to build a disabled access path and disabled bays at Thorney Bay beach.

The work includes building walkways on the beach, in Eastern Esplanade, as well as areas where people can park their wheelchairs and new picnic benches.

John Webb, a member of the volunteer group, said that the work should be completed by tomorrow.

He said: “We are putting in two disabled bays and two picnic tables so that people who are disabled can enjoy the beach too.

“We are not doing it ourselves, we have got a contractor as it involved concreting.

“The disabled bays should be finished by tomorrow but we are still waiting for the delivery of the tables.

“The tables are designed so that the wheelchair goes under the table and there is a little extension on the end.

“They should be here as soon as possible.

“The work means that disabled people can come onto the beach with their families as they couldn’t get onto the sand before.”

Canvey Bay Watch, a group of volunteers who care for and look after the beach, are also raising money to tarmac a slope, which leads from the gate and car park to the beach entrance.

It hopes to win a £5,000 grant from the Calor Rural Community Fund, which has accepted the group’s nomination, with the first round consisting of a public vote.

The ten nominations with the most votes in each category will become finalists, with a panel then reviewing the projects.

Thorney Bay beach will also be included in a Coastal Communities Fund grant scheme, which means that Castle Point Borough Council can bit for a slice of £90million to rejuvenate the seafront.

As part of the project, Canvey Bay Watch want to have new toilets and a space for the equipment and tools.

Visit calor.co.uk/communityfund and select Essex to find Canvey Bay Watch’s appeal.