THE site of a bulldozed pub at the centre of a failed £60million town centre regeneration could be turned into a car park, it has been revealed.

The Crown Pub, in Hadleigh High Street, was razed to the ground in 2020 amid huge plans to revamp the area and create a new library, new homes as well as space for a farmers market.

However, Castle Point Council has struggled to find the cash to push the project forward and now independent council leader, Dave Blackwell, has revealed the site could be covered in tarmac and turned into a car park.

The regeneration project would have also included the former Hadleigh fire station and Hadleigh library, however these buildings will not be impacted by the car park plan.

Mr Blackwell believes a new car park would be a much-needed addition to the area after a new three-hour parking limit was introduced at the nearby Hadleigh Morrisons.

Mr Blackwell said: “What I can say is that the future of Hadleigh is being considered by the members and officers of the council.

“We have tried to work with Essex County Council to reconfigure the Hadleigh island site because they own the library and Hadleigh old Fire Station, but it has gone nowhere and in the current economic climate, I can’t see that changing any time soon.

“We are looking at what we can do with the land that we own ourselves.

“Hadleigh business and retail owners have told the council that following Morrison’s decision, they have nowhere to park.

“One of the options might be to use it for car parking and we’ll look at that alongside other options which officers will put together.

“We haven’t made any decisions yet, however, so it would be wrong to speculate.”

Mr Blackwell added that the council is eager to engage with the public before any decision is made.

Hadleigh ward councillor, Jacqui Thornton, has however opposed the plan.

She said: “This is shocking, we didn’t have a parking issue, the Morrison’s car park was huge. The town has had nothing invested in it, there is no vision for Hadleigh.

“We don’t know what the plan is, there has been no consultation, I am the ward councillor and I don’t know about it.”