Entrepreneur Tony Garner is fighting for the job of revamping Southend Pier.

He has spent the past ten years cultivating ambitious plans for the famous landmark.

The Thorpe Bay businessman was the man behind the Swine rollercoaster, billed as the world's biggest white-knuckle ride over water.

The plans were eventually thrown out by Southend Council in 2000 because consultants insisted the scheme was not viable.

Undeterred, Tony Garner came back with a £45million scheme to transform Southend's world-famous pier with a water-themed project called Atlantis City.

Now, he has spoken about his frustration with the attitude of the council to his proposals which include the original Swine rollercoaster, a cinema and dozens of other attractions including extreme rides.

Speaking to a meeting organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects, Mr Garner said his original plans for the giant rollercoster had been "99 per cent of the way there" when the council was controlled by the Lib Dem-Labour coalition until 2000.

He added: "We had planning permission and we had the backing of the council under Graham Longley."

He referred to a change in political control in 2000 when the Tories took over. Mr Garner added: "Then there was a new chief executive and a new leader of the council and the whole attitude changed. It seemed we were no longer wanted and they did everything they could to shoot us down."

Mr Garner said it was vital there was a major investment in the pier as soon as possible otherwise it would just continue to deteriorate.

He added: "I would like to carry out the redevelopment of the pier myself. It's important it is done by someone.

"Southend cannot afford to let the pier just stay as is with deteriorating structure and trains which are virtually at the end of their useful lives."

He added the capital required for the scheme could be obtained from a variety of sources including short and medium term borrowing as well as leasing of the large rides at the pierhead.

He added a further aspect of the shore end of the scheme would be a new pier museum which could aim for the possible establishment of a national pier museum.

Answering questions, Mr Garner said the RNLI and lifeboat station at the pierhead would benefit from his scheme because of increased trade and revenue.

"We are looking at a destination attraction for the future and not just something which is dependent on the Olympics or even seasonal trade. We would be looking at an all year round attraction."

Southend Council chief executive and town clerk Rob Tinlin said it would be wrong to comment on matters which concerned predecessors of the current staff and administration.

He added: "I have to commend Mr Garner and his team for the enthusiasm and persistence they have shown over developing the pier.

"What we have to do is to establish the pattern of future development which is wanted by the people of the town.

"We have had a large number of responses to our request for views on the pier's future and I have to say the idea of a large ride at the pierhead does not feature high on them."

A report on the options for the development of the pier will be presented to the council's cabinet in January.

Martin O'Neill, chairman of the Southend chapter of the RIBA, said he was pleased with the number of people who had attended but disappointed no councillors or officers had come along.

He said: "These are imaginative plans which are worthy of consideration. Clearly a great deal of work has gone into them."

The Epic World Leisure plans were withdrawn before they were due to be considered at the last meeting of Southend Council's development control committee.

Officers were recommending refusal of the scheme and Mr Garner said there was still some more work to be done on the environmental impact study.