A LEADING councillor has suggested a prime location in the heart of Southend could be used for a new museum to house the gold-encrusted relics from the Saxon king burial ground.

Land next to the Forum library has been named as a potential site for the long-held plan for a new museum.

Plans to extend the library and create a “Forum II” building fell through because Southend Council feared it was no longer financially viable due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ron Woodley, deputy leader of the council, believes it could be the perfect site for a museum.

The new museum would house artefacts from the Saxon King burial ground found in Prittlewell in 2003 and those from the wreck of The London which sank in 1665 off Southend Pier.

Mr Woodley said: “We are looking at a cultural-led regeneration of the town centre. Could there be a museum where Forum II was going to be? We’ve got the Forum but instead of keeping it an open area, maybe we could have a museum there.

“You can’t just have culture though - we need homes to bring more people into the town centre but it’s all up in the air.

“We need to sit down and discuss this cross-party as a united council.”

Mr Woodley previously suggested the Victoria shopping centre, which the council now owns, could also be a good site for a museum.

Plans for a £55million purposebuilt museum on Southend cliffs were ditched over spiralling costs.

However, Peter Wexham, Lib Dem councillor for Leigh ward, believes the artefacts should be kept in the iconic Kursaal building on Southend’s seafront.

Mr Wexham said: “When we come to the next round of bids that’s mentioned the Kursaal, that’s a high upkeep building that’s going to take a lot of money to maintain over long periods.

It’s not a brand new building and I think one of the best options for that would be to start looking at putting the museum into that, as well as well as having places for the artists.

“There should be enough room to spread out to do a great deal of things.

“The museum would pull in a lot of money from different pots of money because of the Saxon King and because of the ship The London off the end of the pier and making a big display of that - which we were trying to do on the cliffs but that fell through - would make a lot of sense.”