The chairman of Canvey 2000 has today hit back at suggestions that a new youth centre planned for Benfleet should be built on the island instead.
The charity Legacy XS is behind proposals for the £125,000 centre which would cover around a quarter-of-an-acre of the park at the rear of Richmond Hall, in Benfleet.
It would offer local youngsters a place to skateboard, ride bikes and roller skate and will include a coffee bar, pool tables and computers - in a bid to get them from hanging around with nothing to do on streets corners.
However resident Paul Buzer, 55, of Brook Road, Benfleet, whose road backs onto playing fields where the centre would rise, wants to see it built in Canvey instead.
He thinks the land next to Waterside Farm Sports Centre in Somnes Avenue, Canvey, would be more suited for the scheme as it is not near to a residential area.
However councillor Dennis Williams, who is chairman of Canvey 2000, said the site was already earmarked for a separate skateboarding and BMX park.
He said: "We are already well into the process of getting our own park off the ground which will cater for the youths in Canvey.
"The Legacy XS centre needs to be in Benfleet so youngsters in that area have somewhere to go as well - they are not going to travel all the way to Canvey if it was built there instead.
"I don't really understand how anyone can object to the site where the Legacy want to build the centre as it would only take up a fraction of South Benfleet playing fields."
Published Wednesday, January 15, 2003
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