A street food and music festival which aimed to represent the diversity of Southchurch and Southend has been cancelled.

HopeBox, a new event organised by Project Southchurch, was originally due to take place along Southchurch Road on August 21.

However, due to Southchurch Road being part of the A13, organisers were unable to close the road for the afternoon and the venue was changed to Southchurch Park.

Sadly, organisers say the venue "cancelled at the 11th hour" and the event was moved to another area of the park.

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A spokesman for Project Southchurch said in its announcement: "Each move was seriously diluting the original idea of HopeBox.

"We also encountered difficulty on support from a number of organisations and funding opportunities. Albeit that cultural tourism is high on the list of investment.

"We also fell short on our commercial sponsorship target.

"There comes a point when you realise that even if all financial targets are reached you have insufficient time to host the show.

"We had many traders interested in being there and we thank them for their support, it is wrong of us to hold on and for them missing out on other opportunities.

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"We are also grateful for the artists who agreed to exhibit and perform at the festival, we will see you at other events."

The aim of HopeBox was to bring a sample of street food and music representing the diversity of Southchurch and Southend, as well as to highlight the independent traders along Southchurch Road and involve the whole community. 

Organisers say they will learn from this experience and look at hosting the event in 2023, allowing them "much more time for organisation".