Council leaders have agreed to bolster the budgets for a series of exciting projects in Clacton and Jaywick Sands.
Earlier this year, Tendring District Council (TDC) entered a new Community Regeneration Partnership with the Government, after the authority was awarded £19.7million by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to help regenerate the areas.
The money was initially allocated across 15 projects, chosen by Government ministers after a detailed review from officials into Clacton and Jaywick Sands. These projects are being delivered by TDC, Essex County Council and the NHS.
On Friday, TDC’s Cabinet agreed to reallocate additional budget to seven of the schemes.
Ivan Henderson, TDC Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism said: “Reallocating the funding means we are able to boost a string of brilliant projects which will make a huge difference to residents and businesses in Clacton and Jaywick Sands.
“Making changes at this comparatively early stage means we can move away from projects that have turned out not to be feasible and put the money into projects which have clear benefits.
“The same amount of money which was ringfenced for Jaywick Sands remains committed to that area.
“We are already seeing the real-life impact on the Community Regeneration Partnership but I am excited to see even more progress in the coming months.”
An extra £1.2 million has been added to the budget for the Jaywick Sands Open Spaces project, to improve up to ten public spaces within the area and identified within the Jaywick Sands Place Plan. Residents now have the opportunity to co-design enhancements to areas across the village. The new budget for this project is £3.2 million.
Plans to bring Martello Tower E in Clacton back to community use has been allocated an additional £1.5 million, bringing the budget up to £3.5 million, and £400,000 has been added to a project to create a new venue in TDC-owned buildings on Clacton seafront, raising the total budget to £900,000.
Additional funding has also been added to the plan to install solar panels at Sunspot, TDC’s business centre in Jaywick Sands, reducing bills for tenants who are mainly local entrepreneurs. An additional £50,000 has been committed to the scheme raising the total budget to £200,000.
Other projects to receive additional funding are:
• An additional £100,000 to extend the scope of an initiative to tackle long-term vacant buildings in Jaywick Sands to include work on the Enterprise Centre to support TDC’s Healthy Homes team, raising the total budget to £300,000
• An additional £750,000 to a project to improve Clacton Leisure Centre raising the budget to £3.75 million
• An additional £200,000 added to a fund where businesses can apply to make improvements to their shopfronts – with £150,000 ringfenced for Jaywick Sands businesses - boosting the budget of this popular grant scheme to £700,000.
• An additional £2.5million to the Clacton Town Centre Public Realm project which aims to enhance the route between the town centre and the seafront, raising the total budget to £3.8 million. This project is being led by Essex County Council.
The additional money has been reallocated from two other projects in the programme.
There are still ongoing discussions about extending the walking and cycling route from Tudor Fields to Jaywick Sands, though initial ideas around its use for vehicle evacuation during flooding have been reconsidered due to feasibility concerns.
It is hoped the project can now be delivered for £1million rather than the £2.5million originally allocated while still improving the link between the two areas.
Councillor Henderson added: “We remain committed to addressing concerns around flooding in Jaywick Sands and have called for £100 million of national flood funding to help us with this.
“It has become clear that this site is much more suitable for walking and cycling.”
Work investigating the purchase and repurpose of a building in Clacton town centre into a community and cultural space is no longer being pursued due to market constraints.
The Community Regeneration Partnership has already awarded grants to three local groups to purchase brand-new minibuses for community transport initiatives, with one already on the road. Businesses in Clacton, Jaywick Sands and Holland-on-Sea have also received funding to make significant improvements to their shopfronts.
