A DEVELOPER is set to get more time to redevelop derelict eyesore Esplanade House, on Southend seafront.
Robert Leonard Estates has permission to demolish the office block, in Eastern Esplanade, Southend, and build 216 flats,a 64-bedroom hotel, a restaurant, shops and 50 affordable homes, but work is yet to start.
Planning officers have recommended Southend Council give him more time to start the work, permission for which is set to run out this month.
Premier Inn has applied to build a five-storey budget hotel on the former gasworks site next door, which Robert Leonard Estates also owns.
Robert Leonard Estates has a contractual agreement with Premier Inn to tear down Esplanade House, which has marred the town’s seafront for more than five years, if the hotel is approved. But the firm, which has been criticised for delaying the development so long, needs the extension to its permission for its own hotel, flats and affordable homes development for both plans to go ahead.
Robert Leonard Estates boss Perry Gamon said if he was given an extension to make the plans reality, he had a housebuilder ready to build the affordable homes next year.
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