A HUGE block of 557 flats will be built in Southend city centre after plans were given the green light, despite major concerns over the shortage of parking.

Southend’s development control committee approved the plans for Alexander House, a former HMRC office block, after it was deemed transport links and the city centre location justified just 299 parking spaces being created.

The building sits at the junction of Victoria Avenue, Queensway and Baxter Avenue, and will be extended and transferred into flats by developer Comer Homes.

Planners deemed 0.5 parking spaces per flat are adequate as the development is in a “sustainable location” and near public transport.

Richard Longstaff, Green Party councillor for the Leigh ward, said Chelmsford is encouraging less car ownership with its planning strategy and Southend should follow suit. He said: “Anywhere within an 800-metre zone of the central train station and bus station doesn’t need any parking. They are building blocks of flats with zero parking.

“The majority of properties in this development are just one bedroom and they suit a different demographic. Younger people are less likely to own a car so I think it should be welcome that we are going down to 0.5 per dwelling, particularly given the sustainable location of the development and its proximity to local transport.

“If we are going to mature and develop as a city we need to be discouraging car use. We need to be focusing on public transport.”

Victoria Avenue’s office blocks, such as Baryta House and Heath and Carby House have gradually been turned into flats with limited parking over recent years.

Kevin Buck, Conservative councillor for Prittlewell Ward, raised concerns this had put pressure on surrounding roads and council car parks.

He said: “We look at what’s happened to Victoria Avenue in general - and this may be almost the last piece of turning all those properties along there into residential properties - and we already know the surrounding roads are already suffering from parking stress. We also know the council car parks are being used for residential parking, after 6pm. This is only going to add to that parking stress.”

He added: “We need to look at this through our local plan to see how we can better enforce car ownership in sustainable locations. It’s probably one of the most sustainable locations. The problem is it’s not going to stop people that move into these properties from buying and owning cars. We are engineering congestion into the city. We’re engineering in parking stress.”