WORRIED councillors are campaigning to get a rundown pool on Canvey refurbished.

Members of the Canvey Island Independent Party claim the paddling pool, on Concord Beach, is becoming dangerous and desperately needs fixing.

The base of the pool, which is looked after by Castle Point Borough Council, is made out of concrete and is becoming filled with algae and seaweed.

Councillor Janice Payne is pushing for the bottom of the pool to be cleaned.

She said: “If you are going to make the base of a pool from concrete then you will get algae.”

Mrs Payne said work should have started on the pool before the summer holidays kick in next week.

She added: “Many families around the island cannot afford to go away during the summer so they look forward to spending a nice day on the beach.

“But it isn’t ideal for families when the paddling pool is in such poor shape. Something desperately needs to be done about the pool; it really needs to be fixed.”

The pool, which sits on the side of the Concord Beach Cafe, was refurbished by the borough council three years ago. Joan Liddiard, town councillor for Canvey South, said the algae is making the bottom of the pool slippery.

She added: “You can’t control children all the time and monitor their every move and they could easily slip in there.

“There could be a serious accident in there, and I know people have been hurt before and it needs looking at before something happens.”

The tidal pool, one of two on Concord Beach, off Eastern Esplanade, Canvey, underwent costly renovations in 2007.

Work involved replacing its original sandy base with concrete and cementing rocks around the perimeter wall.

However, visitors to the beach complained the changes made the pool more dangerous, after the base and walls became covered in slippery seaweed which caused several people to slip over and hurt themselves.

In 2012, the council planned to spend £28,000 removing the concrete base, but the work has not yet been carried out.