I was fascinated by the letter from David Beale (May 14) in which he claims the ambience and safety of Shoebury East Beach has been improved since Southend Council forced through a number of so-called improvements.

Now the council has turned 1.4 acres of grassland into a brownfield site and gone back on its promise of turning the remainder of East Beach into parkland, it has carte blanc to build right across East Beach.

If he is naive enough to think this couldn’t happen, he should think back to the time when the council built Gunners Road and the residents all had wonderful, unobstructed views of the sea across East Beach.

Over the next few months, there is every possibility the council will sell off the Hinguar Street school playing field to housing developers, despite assurances from some of our councillors that this would never happen.

With an access road from George Street, the council would be set to make a million or so at a time when it would also be experiencing savage cuts from central government.

If, or should I say when, this or some other attempt is made to develop housing on East Beach, I hope Mr Beale and other residents of East Beach Park will support me with my lobbying.

Anne Chalk
High Street
Shoebury