The final nail in the coffin of a landmark building has been hammered in by councillors who gave the green light for the bulldozers to move in.

The historic former Ritz Cinema in Chapel Street, Billericay, is to be levelled and replaced with 14 flats, the Echo can today (Friday) reveal.

Waterfall Holdings, which manages what is currently the Radion Snooker Club, has been forced to sell on the land to David Wilson Homes because of increasingly-poor trading.

Members of Billericay Area Committee were last night unanimous in supporting the proposals, which will see the building replaced by three-storey brick buildings with residential parking.

The planning committee's decision will now need to be rubber stamped by Basildon Council.

Committee chairman, Geoff-rey Buckenham (Con, Bur-stead), said outline permission granted in 1995 had left little option.

He said: "It will certainly transform the area into an attractive development and will be an asset to that part of the town.

"However, I do have a certain amount of sadness about the cinema going as I used to visit it back in the 1950s."

Despite approving plans, councillors rejected an officer recommendation requiring David Wilson Homes to meet the costs of traffic calming measures.

These would have included improving visibility from the site onto Chapel Street.

Steven Horgan (Con, Billericay West) said: "It would be crazy if this was stalled because of arguments over traffic calming measures which are not needed."

Demolition, which could come as early as next month, will mark the end of an era for a building which was once the hub of Billericay's social life.

Built in 1938, many residents still describe queues for the Ritz stretching down the High Street during its heyday in the Second World War.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.