Parks across Southend are to be spruced up in an effort to attract more visitors as part of a five-year plan.

Southend Council’s cabinet is expected to agree the authority’s green spaces strategy today, as it looks to make the most of its open spaces.

The Grade I listed Southchurch Hall and gardens, off Woodgrange Drive, will be among those areas returned to their former glories as part of the plan.

The restoration of Leigh Library Gardens and work at Priory Park, off Victoria Avenue, will also be tackled.

Speaking about the plans for Southchurch Hall, Graham Longley, Southend Council’s deputy leader, said: “As well as developing this project we will also be examining historic and horticultural aspects of the site to see how best we can conserve the gardens, while enabling people to enjoy the area and learn about its history.

“The project is likely to focus mainly on the gardens and its historic features, so we are not envisaging big changes to Southchurch Hall itself.

“The site is a scheduled monument and the hall is Grade I listed.

These official protections are key elements of how we develop the project, so all improvements will be strictly in keeping with, and appropriate to, this important part of Southend’s heritage.”

As part of the council’s strategy, which will be subject to a 12- week consultation, there are also ideas for community orchards, boosting tree donations, increasing educational visits and developing wildlife schemes, using recycled materials, such as granite kerb edgings in parks, and, encouraging more volunteering in all of the borough’s parks.

This is in addition to introducing management plans to maintain and improve parks, as well as increasing the numbers of events and activities there.

Southchurch Hall, a Tudor building, already hosts a variety of themed and historic events, and is open from Tuesdays through to Saturdays every week.

Kursaal ward councillor Judith McMahon believes the funding will help attract more visitors to the gardens.

The Labour councillor said: “I’m delighted this has been earmarked as an area that needs input from both a management and resources perspective.

“The water table in the lakes has been a prominent issue for me, with algae growing there and some of the moat drying up, so an improvement will be a good thing.”

There has been no timeframe put on any of the improvement works for the parks.

Gardens are getting safer

Southchurch Hall gardens are getting safer, according to the councillor who has criticised them before.

The gardens have been notorious as a haven for drug users and dealers, plus people drinking alcohol. There was a serious sexual assault there last year.

Labour’s Judith McMahon said: “My mailbox isn’t as busy with issues about the gardens as it once was.”

She added the council was looking to improve the area.

She added: “This will make it safer by virtue of having more people in the park at one time.”

But a local resident, who walks his dog in the area, still believes the gardens are unsafe and unsightly.

Stephen Campion, 54, who lives in Carousel Steps, on the Woodgrange Drive estate, said: “I don’t think it’s getting safer as you get alcoholics drinking in there.

“There are a lot of problems on the estate and I’ve found a lot of juice heads and druggies congregating in the park.”