READERS have been posting their responses revelations that more than £1.8m has been spent drawing up Priory Crescent road plans.

The Priory Park Preservation Society said the figure up to July 2006 came from a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Transport.

The council is waiting for Government funding for its latest. scaled down version of the scheme, but the society says it is a white elephant and should be scrapped.

A number of readers have used the Echo website to praise the lobby group for its determination to make the spending figures public.

Priory Park Preservation Society secretary Denis Walker said: "At over £28,000 per metre, this scheme clearly remains one of the most expensive roads in the world, but it clearly won't resolve the problems it seeks to address."

Anna Waite, Southend councillor responsible for roads, said: "This figure does seem extremely high and I shall be asking the highways department for a complete breakdown of what has been spent by the council."