A NEW draft masterplan has been unveiled as part of a bid to regenerate the UK’s most deprived area...but this time town hall bosses have ruled out compulsory purchases.

Tendring Council is launching its Place Plan for Jaywick, which could include the development of 222 homes, a village centre and village square on council-owned land either side of Lotus Way.

It is hoped there could be a supermarket, similar to a mid-size Tesco Express, early years nursery and GP surgery.

The proposals could also include creating an embankment on the beach, making the seafront Brooklands road one-way, and redeveloping empty plots within Jaywick village and the Brooklands estate - which is officially listed as the most deprived neighbourhood in the country.

But the council has already ruled out compulsory purchase orders – a controversial option considered as part of a previous unpopular masterplan for Jaywick in 2006.

Gazette:

  • Site - Lotus Way in Jaywick's Brooklands

The idea to bulldoze large part of Brooklands was shelved after hundreds of residents vented their anger at a public meeting.

Paul Honeywood, Tendring Council’s cabinet member with special responsibility for Jaywick, said the plan will build on the recent building of new homes and the new workspace and market project, which has just started construction.

“The challenges in Jaywick are complex, and often interlinked, meaning we need to take a wide view on rejuvenation of the whole area which is ripe with opportunity,” he said.

“We have already done much great work from community-focused actions tackling fly-tipping and tidying up green spaces, to building new homes and the current construction of workspace to promote economic opportunity.

Gazette:

  • Masterplan - more than 200 new homes could be built

“We know much still needs to be done to tackle issues such as flood risk and poor quality housing and doing nothing is not an option.

“Only by having a proper plan for the future of Jaywick, backed by the community, can we attract further private and public investment in the area and ask for Government assistance in tackling some of the area’s most complex challenges.”

The council said the plan will depend on improvements to flood defences, which are currently being assessed by the Environment Agency.

Gazette:

  • Paul Honeywood and fellow councillors at the site of new starter homes in Jaywick

Jaywick's ward councillor has called on officials to ensure they get the backing of residents for any new masterplan.

Dan Casey, who is part of the Tendring Independents group on Tendring Council, said: “It sounds fantastic if they can get a GP surgery and supermarket in Brooklands and I’ll back anything that improves things for the people living there.

“But I am sceptical. They haven’t even been able to sell all the new starter homes they have built yet and I can’t see how they can improve many of the sub-standard homes without compulsorily purchasing them.

“It does feel a little bit like we have heard it all before. We’ve had previous masterplans and nothing much has happened.

“It could be what Jaywick sorely needs but I’m a little concerned that it could create a different Jaywick. They have got to take the residents with them.

“This must not be a plan to get rid of them.”

The draft plans will be debated by the council’s planning policy committee on Tuesday and, if approved, will be considered by the council’s cabinet which will decide whether to publish them for a community consultation from September.