A DERELICT former college which has blighted Southend town centre for more than a decade could be demolished to make way for flats.

Hollybrook Homes has applied to demolish the former South East Essex College in Carnarvon Road, Southend, and build more than 150 flats in its place.

Southend Council has approved several plans to redevelop the eyesore as flats, but work never started.

However, Hollybrook believes the new scheme, which is the first to include demolishing the former college, will get off the ground.

David Norman, Southend councillor responsible for housing, who represents Victoria ward, said: “It’s obviously an eyesore on our doorstep and we want to see it developed in a suitable form.

“I hope the amended application is in line with the most recent one and I’m sure we can make progress as soon as possible.”

The six-storey Sixties college building, behind Southend Civic Centre, would be replaced by three-storey blocks facing the semi-detached Edwardian houses in Carnarvon Road.

Further blocks up to five-and-a-half storeys high, but lower than the existing former building, would be built around a courtyard behind.

Nearby residents, including those living in Carnarvon Road, Crowborough Road, Tickfield Avenue and Tunbridge Road, were invited to an exhibition of the plans at the Civic Centre in January.

More than 100 people attended, with 27 out of the 28 who left feedback backing the demolition of the former college, 22 welcoming its development as housing and 21 saying it would improve the appearance of the site.

Some visitors feared the one and twobedroom flats could cause congestion and parking problems in the area.

But the plans include 158 parking spaces, many of them underground, and Hollybrook claims a traffic study shows the newhomes would create less traffic than the college or other, already approved, redevelopments of the site.

Southend Council approved plans to demolish part of the building and redevelop it as 173 flats in 2007.

It also approved plans to demolish part of the building and redevelop it as 119 flats, with 12 more in a separate block, in 2007, with permission extended in March 2013.

Mr Norman, whowas also previously the chairman of the council’s development control committee, which will decide the application, said: “Residents were in the main satisfied with the previous developments and I would want to sit down and compare the two.

“My main concern would be the height and scale and the views of local residents who didn’t want to be overlooked by a building.”

Hollybrook declined to comment on the plans.

 

Derelict office block may soon be developed too

THE most notorious derelict office block in Southend could also soon be redeveloped.

Heath and Carby House, at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Harcourt Avenue, has been sold, the Echo can reveal.

Southend Council threatened to force the owner, which is an off-shore investment company, to sell the eyesore, which has blighted the main route into Southend for years. But the owner has agreed to sell the former office to another private developer.

Council leader Ron Woodley said: “The council was preparing to use the power of compulsory purchase orders in relation to Heath and Carby House, but following discussions with the owner of the buildings we are pleased to learn a sale has been agreed and have been advised that this is proceeding subject to contracts.

“Until this sale has been completed, the responsibility for securing the site remains with the present owners.