Bosses at Southend's seafront theme park today welcomed news that cash has been found to build a record-breaking rollercoaster at the end of the pier.

Peter Pan's Adventure Island bosses have "no reservations" about the proposed Swine rollercoaster.

We revealed just before Christmas that Basildon businessman Tony Garner had found an American backer ready to put £30 million towards plans for the tallest white-knuckle ride over water.

The Swine has its own website. To visit it, click here Ted Lewin, marketing manager at Peter Pan's, said the seafront theme park had no problems about the Swine plans.

He said: "If Tony Garner can build the Swine ride then we are behind it all the way.

"We want Southend to be the best and we want the town to be back where it should be - number one."

Mr Lewin said the Swine was not felt to be a business competitor as Peter Pan's was aimed at the family end of the market and not at thrill seekers looking for a white-knuckle ride.

He added: "If we have big attractions then more people will come to the town. Doubling or trebling the number of people coming to Southend has got to be good.

Mr Garner, of Thorpe Bay added cautiously: "This is another step forward. In all these cases, though, having the funding does not automatically mean everything else falls in place."

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