Shoppers divided over £100m island revamp (From Echo)

Shoppers divided over £100m island revamp

10:00am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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PLANS to give Canvey town centre a £100million overhaul have received a mixed reaction from shoppers.

Castle Point Council’s planning chiefs have unveiled their vision for the future of Canvey’s shopping area, which includes a new supermarket, coffee shops and the possibility of a major high street name.

Amy Gardner, 21, of Lincoln Way, Canvey, believes it is about time the island got some better shops.

She said: “It’s got to improve things because there’s not really anything in Canvey town centre at the moment.

“If me and my friends go clothes shopping, we go to Basildon or Lakeside, but maybe we’d come to Canvey if they had a big high street name and a few coffee shops to sit in.”

Jim O’Brien, 73, of Wilrich Avenue, Canvey, was also impressed by the plans, but said work needs to get under way quickly.

He said: “It sounds like a good thing, but will I be alive to see it? It just seems like they’ve been talking about it for years and years, but it never gets done.”

However, Mark Betts, 48, of Stanford Road, Canvey, argued the council had missed a trick in not pedestrianising the High Street.

He said: “It’s always been one of our biggest bugbears on Canvey. Trying to get your shopping done with all those car fumes around you is not pleasant.

“When you go to a town centre where it has a lovely pedestrianised centre, you can see why it’s full of shoppers.”