A new health centre, school and hotel could sit alongside 450 homes on the Shoebury Garrison site.

A planning application by Gladedale Homes Ltd, which paid £8,155,000 for the 182-acre site, could be just three weeks away.

However, while new life could be breathed into the historic officer's mess, a proposed transformation into a hotel could be years away.

Ross Brodie, Gladedale's commercial director, said: "We are looking at hotel use for the officer's mess.

"It really is ready made as a hotel. It would not be one of the first elements of the development because of where it is and it would be affected for quite a while by building works".

A site for a new school is also being proposed on land adjacent to the garrison church but it will be left to Southend Council to determine whether one is needed. Another possible feature is a health centre to compliment existing medical facilities in Shoebury.

Mr Brodie said: "That would be in the same area as the school, off Ness Road, near the church."

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