MAJOR CASH BOOST FOR REGENERATING TENDRING

Almost £3 million is being earmarked for regeneration and improvement projects across Tendring.

Tendring District Council's Cabinet is looking to spend nearly £2 million on a number of improvement schemes throughout the district - with up to a further £1million of receipts from asset sales committed to supporting improvements in Jaywick.

The Cabinet's proposed budget for 2008/9 has been designed to tackle the Cabinet's number one priority of regeneration and would involve an increase of less than 11p a week on the average Council Tax bill.

It would still leave Tendring with one of the lowest levels of Council Tax in the whole of Essex while also being one of the highest scoring Councils in England and Wales for the use of its resources.

Council Leader David Lines said the exceptional needs of Tendring demand a major change in the way real regeneration is delivered.

"By this we do not just mean economic development but the social and environmental improvement of the district," he said.

"We intend to develop a project, under the banner 'Project Tendring', which will give a sustained approach to focus on the delivery of practical improvements."

Cllr Lines said the project will be driven by the different needs of different parts of Tendring, will involve outside partners, and will be achieved more quickly if the whole Council gets behind it.

He added that it was important that other funding and resources are brought in as the Council did not have the money to achieve its goals on its own.

"We will consider the options, and listen to and learn from all of our Members, Town and Parish Councils and others in the community before deciding how we take this forward," he said.

The initial specific plans for improvements include:

 £200,000 initial funding for the Harwich Masterplan including Gas House Quay
 £100,000 potential contribution towards a £500,000 joint use changing rooms project at Clacton County High School
 £50,000 for district wide car park maintenance
 £50,000 to open Brightlingsea Swimming Pool for the next two summers
 £50,000 potential contribution to Brightlingsea Swimming Pool community partnership project
 £100,000 additional funding for the voluntary sector
 £30,000 contribution towards refurbishing seafront shelters
 £20,000 for work to private roads
 £17,000 for additional maintenance at Dovercourt Swimming Pool
 £15,000 to provide air conditioning at Weeley Crematorium Chapel
 £10,000 for new residents' parking zones in Clacton, Harwich and Walton
 £10,000 for decorating the Chapel and toilets at Clacton Cemetery
 £6,000 for decorating the inside of Dovercourt Cemetery Chapel
 £4,000 increased funding for the award-winning Harwich Tourist Information Centre

The Cabinet is also proposing potential funding of up to £1 million for Jaywick - to be allocated from future sales of assets.

Cllr Lines accepted that Council's limited resources mean that it is unable to tackle the needs of Jaywick alone. However, the money will be used to support work with partners and try to attract additional funding from other sources.

He said: "This is a good budget for the Tendring District. It focuses on the needs of the district and has regeneration at its core".

The Cabinet's proposals will go before the Corporate Management Committee in January and to a meeting of the Full Council in February.