11:49am Tuesday 9th March 2010
What is happening to Southend?
During recent months I have watched the “container park” student dwellings rise opposite Sainsburys, in London Road, since the removal of trees at Victoria Circus exposed it in all its ugliness.
It really is a blot on the landscape.
No thought seems to have been given to the area as it dominates the skyline.
Southend came to prominence during the Victorian era. Walk along the High Street and look up above the shopfronts and you will see architecture that has stood the test of time and now cries out to be renovated to its former glory.
Who decided central Southend should become this characterless place where at night people fear to travel?
I for one would like an answer. Our council rarely comments on readers letters. Perhaps it should.
There is an election coming and I would like the opportunity to vote for a party which cares enough to preserve our heritage, not hide it away as if ashamed to acknowledge its existence. I hope future generations will forgive us.
Sandy Mitchell
Hastings Road
Southend
...I sent a photograph of the student accommodation building in Southend, to a relative in America and asked their opinion as to what it was. They replied: “Containers stacked at the dockside.” I can see the likeness.
J Faulkner
Lawn Avenue
Southend
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