A charity launched to rebuild a 100-year-old tram stop for the disabled to enjoy the seaside has folded.

The Tram Stop Shelter charity has announced its closure citing Southend Council’s refusal to grant a lease for the building it hoped to construct at the bottom of Thorpe Hall Avenue, in Thorpe Bay as the reason for its demise.

The old shelter was demolished by the charity, which had raised £22,000 to provide a new building. The new centre would have been built above public toilets which underwent a £190,000 revamp funded by Southend Council.

Despite granting planning permission for a new one-storey building to be used for meetings and educational classes, the charity says the council has since refused requests for a lease which would have allowed it to raise further funding for the £480,000 building.

Mike Stanford, Independent councillor for Thorpe Ward and chairman of the charity announced the closure.

He said: “Sadly the Tram Stop Shelter Charity is closing down. It has been a very difficult decision to make as we still believe the shelter would be a fabulous community hub, and numerous groups have shown an interest in using it for their meetings and events.

“The main problem has been with Southend Council, who are the owners of the site, and would be the organisation to issue Tram Stop with a lease. They have constantly refused our request for a lease, saying that we need to have finance for the build in place before they would proceed.

“This is fine, but as most people know, no funder is going to offer finance on a building that has no documents to prove that the site is complete with a twenty five year lease.”

The charity launched a concerted bid to raise funds in 2015, organising a number of events and appeals for the project, which was first put forward 20 years ago.

In December 2015, The Gannett Foundation, run by the Echo’s parent company Gannett, donated £4,400. This was for beach matting, to enable wheelchair access for the disabled.

Mr Stanford added: “We have started the process to close the charity, and are planning to invest the money left, after all debts are cleared, in the Southend Fund. This will allow us to have some say in which groups benefit from fund.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported the aims of the Charity over many years by attending the variety of events we held.

“On a more positive note the charity has provided the ramp at Thorpe Bay Corner to allow wheelchair users to access the beach.

“We have also provided beach matting at Thorpe Bay Corner and City Beach and these are the only places in Southend where wheelchair users are able to sit on the beach with their families or friends, something we all take for granted."

In May the Tram Stop Shelter Charity launched its last desperate plea to raise funds for a new building.

The charity had hoped to refurbish the original building, which had not been used for more than 35 years but it proved untenable when it was found to be unsafe.

The lowest quote the charity said it received for the new building was £480,000.

A bid for funding from the National Lottery failed and concerns were raised about the long term support for the new building.

Fundraisers included a fun walk last year when residents braved a cold seafront on a walk.