4.1 Allocate and promote new sites for additional tourism/leisure developments in the central seafront area or elsewhere in the Borough. Where do you think these should be focussed

We need to capitalise more on what we already have - the pier, the seafront, parks etc. There is nothing on the end of the pier worth visiting!

Marine Plaza, Seaways, need to relook at Kuursal, need to bring Marine Centre back to life (near Ocean Beach)
Old Leigh with sympathetic enhancements,
Shoebury including marina
And major need is an Estuary Experience Centre (modern version of museum) reusing existing town centre (high st) premises rather than iconic new build

Sea Front, Hamlet court Road, High Street South End - Preserve Heritage & build things to last with quality not cheapness.

Near seafront & High Street

The seafront is the most popular tourist attracting Southend offers. City Beach I believe is a huge success and this should be built upon with the look and feel extending along the seafront to Westcliff and up from the seafront along the high street.

Redevelop vacant central sites but also focus on Shoebury East beach

In and off the town centre location and also linked with existing key tourism offer.
Exisiting resources need to be promoted and enhanced
currently hardly ever open, dependant on volunteers. can take lessons from USA on visitor experience and emersion

Not just on pier - but looking at all SBC assets

Pier - more to do at the sea end
Central Seafront - redevelopment to encourage safe environment
Arts and Museum Development - look for opportunities to develop museum to house Saxon King and London exhibits. Promote space which allows for events, street theatre and a vibrate feel to the town centre and other areas
Protect and promote historic nature of areas such as Old Leigh, Prittlewell Priory

There is a balance to be struck and I would argue it has already reached its peak in the seafront area.

I would support additional leisure options from the Pier or Seafront - such as boat rides to Kent; or other parts of Essex to see Seals or Birds in the locality.

Promote tourism across the borough to ensure diversity

Developments should not impact on the important coastal winter feeding grounds of the wintering flocks of geese and waders.

Tourism should be centred in the central seafront area, but limited development allowed on the water side of the seafront,

Use the foundations prepared for the new museum on the cliffs to build a heated outdoor lido instead, a year round leisure offer supporting health and wellbeing, as well as being a driver for tourism and a project for income generation, in lieu of no swimming pool offer in central Southend.

Build a lido on the site reserved for the new museum on the seafront - huge tourism draw, income generating, focus to wellbeing, allows for new carpark on seafront.

The leisure, culture and tourism offer should be borough wide and not just focused on the seafront. The town has potential opportunities to encourage visitors to experience more of the town and to stay for more than a day.

Areas such as Shoebury and the towns parks could play a greater part in tourism.

In addition to the Central Seafront Area the New Local Plan could support additional tourism and leisure developments in the town centre to diversify its role and enhance its vitality and viability, whilst at the same time being complementary to the Seafront tourism and leisure offer.

Let get something like a centre parks north of Southend by the Roach River

Allocate and promote new sites for additional tourism/leisure developments in the central seafront area or elsewhere in the Borough. Where do you think these should be focused?
My opinion is that there is already an adequate amount of leisure development in the central seafront area; future leisure developments should focus on encouraging visitors to explore other parts of the borough. A suggestion would be to build a Promenade Park (Maldon) type of development in the Shoebury area to encourage more visitor activity around the towns Blue Flag Beach areas. This would also relieve some pressure from the central Southend access and parking infrastructure.
Promote further hotel and tourist accommodation. Should this continue to be directed to areas in the town centre, seafront and airport or should other areas be promoted?
Southend-on-Sea is probably one of the only east coast resorts that does not cater for camping and caravan holidays With over 10m domestic camping and caravan overnight trips, this tourism sector generates over £1.7 billion per annum which currently we are not tapping into. Areas that could be considered as potential campsites include Shoebury East Beach and Leigh Marshes.
Promote the second phase of City Beach and enhanced public realm areas. Should priority for City Beach be given to the areas east of the Pier adjacent the Kursaal or west of the Pier?
Priority should be given East of the Pier as the public realm this side is in urgent need of regeneration.
Improve accessibility to the central seafront areas for all users. How best do you think this could be achieved?
Suggestions for consideration:
• Bypass from out of borough on A127 around the north of the town feeding directly to the areas east of the town centre.
• Two lanes turning left towards seafront on Vic Avenue, majority of traffic event out of peak season turns left here and there are constant queues in the left hand land. Two lanes to turn left and one lane to turn right would ease congestion and improve traffic flow. There is plenty of room here with the shared space. Or event consider an underpass from Vic Ave turning left resurfacing further along in Queensway to eliminate traffic from the Vic Gateway junction.
• Multistory car parks – Tylers, Gasworks.
Seek further enhanced links between the central seafront and town centre to improve services and facilities. How best do you think this could be achieved?
More leisure facilities south of High Street, to blend/ link both areas. More imaginative use of Royal Square, pretty much dead space for most of the year but could be used more innovatively to link areas, outdoor street food/drinks area, place making art and installations to make that link area and would make it look more attractive. Live band and performance pop up space etc to encourage high quality ‘Covent Garden’ style busking.
Continue to safeguard Key Visitor Car Parking in line with the provisions of the Southend Central Area Action Plan?
Parking is crucial to the viability of the central seafront offer and will need to be protected if we are to remain competitive with similar resorts as the bulk of our visitors arrive by car. Increased access and parking issues will influence visitors decision making with regards to which resort they choose to visit.

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