Leigh Port Upgrade - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Leigh Port Upgrade – A £14.8million regeneration of Leigh Port is set to get underway.

Leigh Port Upgrade - A £14.8million regeneration of Leigh Port is set to get underway.

Leigh On Sea News: Leigh Port Upgrade – A £14.8million regeneration of Leigh Port is set to get underway.

A £14.8million regeneration of Leigh Port is set to get underway.

Southend Council has submitted a full planning application for the renovation of Leigh Port in a bid to boost Leigh’s historic fishing industry.

If approved, the plans, which are funded by the Levelling up Fund, will bring big improvements to part of Leigh’s historic Old Town, including renovating the port by enlarging it and making it safer, improving access for fishing boats, whilst reducing flood risk and improving water quality.

As part of these works, a new quay wall will be installed, the quay will be resurfaced and a small craft club will be demolished.

Lydia Hyde, Southend councillor for climate, environment and waste, said: “The investment is to improve the port and to make it better and to support our shell fishing communities there.

“We’re continuing to work with key partners to make sure the project protects our environment and is delivered in a cost-effective way.”

New surface and trade waste drainage systems at the Port are also included in the scheme, along with dredging of Leigh Port’s channel from Belton Way downstream along Lower Leigh Creek.

Leigh Town Councillor Peter Wexham, who has also worked as a fisherman in the Old Town, is keen to see the scheme get off the ground, but expressed frustration that it has taken so long.

He said: “I’ve been fighting to get this done for about 25 years, meeting with MAFF and then when it was DEFRA, as well as Fisheries officers, Government Ministers Natural England, and finally getting the FLAG (Fisheries Local Action Groups) money, which investigated what improvements needed to be done.”

Once planning permission is granted, Coun Wexham said the most important thing to get started was building the new motor boat club headquarters, fitting it out with power and water.

He added that the new road access to the rear of the Cockle sheds needs to be prioritised.

He added: “Hopefully the work can start as soon as the Cockle season is over as the time frame is a very short window agreed by Natural England.

“Once the sheet piling is done, then the area behind it can be finished and then the dredging can take place, as all the mud and silt has to be taken to landfill.

“This has been a long and arduous time getting this project to come to a finish.”

Coun Wexham added: “I look forward to seeing the works completed.”

In addition to these upgrades, plans for a £2million project to tackle flooding on Southend seafront have also been filed, with a mooted “green oasis” scheme set for Marine Parade.

This is reportedly set to take place in two phases, with phase one realigning kerb lines to create a rain garden that collects and stores surface water run-off on the junction at Hartington Road and Seaway.

The schemes are both funded by the Levelling up Fund, while the Marine Parade project is also being supported by funding from Southend Council, Anglian Water and the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.

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