COUNCIL bosses hope Rayleigh town centre can be revamped to try to attract better shops and more restaurants and bars.

Rochford district councillor responsible for planning, Keith Hudson, said the town centre of Rayleigh, like Hockley and Rochford, was “absolutely dire” and in need of a makeover to prevent it from dying.

Hockley and Rochford are currently the subject of town centre masterplans which will eventually be adopted into the council’s local development framework and will guide how development is carried out in the future.

Mr Hudson said: “We hope to do a similar one for Rayleigh after these two are out of the way.

“If you look at our town centres, they are dire and dying on their feet with shops closing left, right and centre.

“Where in these towns can we say there is a first-class restaurant or a great nightclub? We have to do something dramatic, to provide more leisure facilities so people can shop in and enjoy those areas.

“If you go to Rayleigh, there is the Pink Toothbrush nightclub, the snooker hall, a few pubs and precious little else.”

There has been alarm in Rayleigh over the past year about the number of long-established shops and pubs which have closed down.

One idea that has been mooted by Rayleigh Chamber of Commerce is a partial pedestrianisation of the High Street in the wake of last summer’s gas works which saw part of the road closed off for about three weeks.

Mr Hudson said: “It was quite extraordinary.

“Traders were initially very concerned, but then when it closed, they said it was not such a bad idea.

“It needs to be part of the study. The High Street is probably the only A-road in the Rochford district, so it would need very careful consideration and a detailed study on traffic movements.”

Mr Hudson said no dates had been put forward for a Rayleigh town centre study, but he hoped one could start later this year.

He added: “It would be wrong of us not to proceed having done Rochford and Hockley.

“Rayleigh is more vibrant than the other two, but it’s still dire and we have to do something to rejuvenate it.

“What we can’t do is leave them alone.”