A NEW director with a £100,000 salary is set to be employed by Southend Council in a bid to pull in visitors and help boost tourism in the city.

As part of the Labour council’s plans to help Southend thrive as a tourist hotspot, leader Daniel Cowan announced a new director of culture and tourism would be appointed.

When the Labour-led administration took over following the May elections, they announced a grand plan to hold dozens of events in the High Street and on the pier throughout the year.

They believe the new director will effectively help organise and deliver the events to lead a tourism boom in Southend.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: “We have a growing tourism agenda within the council. We want to attract more people to Southend. We have an ambition to deliver a minimum of six major events across the city each year and at least 20 weeks’ worth of events on the pier each year.

“This requires a lot of organisation and a lot of strategic direction. It was a post that we previously had. When the last one left the post was vacant and it was deleted under the last administration and we feel that given that Southend has a big tourist economy that attracts seven million visitors a year it is a post that we can’t afford to not have and that’s why we’re bringing it back.”

The new director will work with a council team that is already established but will be bolstered with extra staff.

Southend Council has budgeted £170,000 for the post with the new director receiving a director-level salary of circa £101,000.

Mr Cowan added: “The council is not short on ideas or potential opportunities with partners. What we are short on is the resource to deliver our ambitions and that’s why we need to make sure we’ve got the right people in place.

“That team is really important to us in driving visitors to Southend which will benefit the council but more importantly will benefit residents and our local businesses. The council has advertised the post this week. The post closes on August 12 and interviews will take place in September. The new director is expected to take up his post in the new year.

Tony Cox, leader of the Conservative Group, questioned where the money was coming from in the face of a “£1.9 million deficit”. He said: “They say they need one but where are they going to finance it from? They haven’t identified one single in-year saving.”