ANGLERS will be allowed to return to a Shoebury lake after a 20-year ban on fishing was lifted yesterday.

Southend Council’s Tory leadership agreed to remove the restrictions on the back lake in Friars Park.

The move followed a campaign by anglers and police, who said the presence of a permanent fishing club would help to prevent antisocial behaviour around the water.

Derek Jarvis, the Tory councillor responsible for tourism and culture, said: “I fully support this approach. It is something the police themselves have supported.”

Council chiefs imposed a ban on fishing the lake in 1991 after a swan was killed when it swallowed an angling hook.

Bosses agreed to reconsider after being approached by Jason York, a Shoebury resident, earlier this year.

But 120 residents had signed a petition calling for the ban to stay in place.