UNSAVOURY sexual acts will hopefully be consigned to the past after improvements to a car park in Southchurch.

Independent Southend councillors, Ron Woodley and Mike Stafford, have been seeking an end to antiscocial behaviour, particularly dogging, which has been blighting Southchurch Park East car park, off Lifstan Way.

Boy racers have also been using the car park.

It is now being redeveloped and resurfaced, with additional timber bollards and metal rails installed to help prevent any future antisocial activity.

Shoebury Common car park has recently started shutting at 9pm to prevent similar public sexual activity in the area and men meeting in public toilets, near Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Mr Woodley, who said he was glad to see work finally begin, said: “It’s about improving the community aspects for residents, but also to stop the antisocial behaviour.

“I’m just pleased that officers at the council have recognised there was a problem that needed to be sorted.

“We’ve had a lot of this type of antisocial behaviour in Shoebury Common and East Beach. We’ve also had people driving in there and doing circles in their cars at dangerous speeds.

“People go in and drive around using the car park as some kind of racetrack. The idea is to section part of it off and plant trees there. We hope this will restrict that from taking place and make it a more pleasant place for the neighbours.”

Children from Thorpe Greenways School will be involved in planting the trees, and improvement works will also see a secure place for parents to drop of their children in the morning.

One resident, who lives in nearby Northumberland Crescent, said: “It has never bothered me. I’ve never heard any noise. But it sounds likeagood idea if people have been doing that sort of thing. They needsorting out.”

Another nearby resident said: “We get a bit of noise when cars go around and around.

“It is usually locked up at night and they put the barriers across at either end. I don’t take too much notice.”

Tony Cox, the Southend councillor responsible for public protection, said: “Responding to concerns about antisocial behaviour and the general condition of the car park, we have developed a scheme, in conjunction with local ward councillors, to redefine the parking area to reduce antisocial driving and also provide a landscaped area where trees will be planted in late September.

"We hope these works, which we expect to complete in three to four weeks, will improve the environment for all those who use the park and the car park.”