Angry Rochford councillors have accused a housing association of failing to honour an agreement to build a community centre for residents.

St Mark's Field was sold to Springboard in 1995 by Rochford District Council, on a 99-year lease, with the condition that it should build a community meeting hall.

Springboard put forward a proposal to Rochford Parish Council to put up a prefabricated building, insisting this would be suitable for the site.

But after parish council members went along to view a similar type of hall at the Bluebell Centre in Colchester, they returned a verdict of extreme disappointment with its quality.

They wanted to discuss the possibility of a substantial brick construction with Springboard instead.

Lib Dem district councillor Vic Leach believes it is about time things were done.

He said: "It seems Rochford Parish has had three years to get its act together and it has not done so. Can we be assured that when Rochford Parish does meet can we have proposals as to what they want in the building?"

Labour councillor David Weir said: "This council has put a covenant on this site and Springboard was supposed to do it within five years and they have broken the covenant on the site. What are we doing about it?"

Lib Dem councillor Janet Helson said the housing association should have been told what was required from the outset.

She said: "How did we ever get to a situation where we had a piece of land and we never knew what size or shape the building was going to take?

"We are to blame and Rochford should have been jumping up and down asking exactly what it would be getting.

"I was horrified when I found out about this and it is too late now.

"but it is a great shame it was not spelt out at the time."

Councillors agreed to set up a meeting between Springboard and the council to resolve the issue.

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