CONTROVERSIAL work done to a Canvey seafront paddling pool – which cost £200,000 and was supposed to make it safer – is set to be reversed.

The tidal pool, one of two on Concord Beach, off Eastern Esplanade, Canvey, underwent the costly renovations in 2007.

Work involved replacing its original sandy base with concrete and cementing rocks around the perimeter wall.

However, visitors to the beach complained the changes made the pool more dangerous, after the base and walls became covered in slippery seaweed which caused several people to slip over and hurt themselves.

Castle Point councillors have now conceded the original work, funded through a Government grant, was a waste of time and approved plans to spend £28,000 undoing the changes.

The local authority will now remove the concrete base and create a drainage channel to prevent the pool retaining water at low tide, which it is hoped will stop the marine algae building up.

Ray Howard, Tory county councillor for Canvey, said: “I am mindful it did cost a lot of money, and have always been very critical of the works that were carried out, as they were handled in a way which in my view was totally unacceptable.

“When the weather is nice that pool is hugely used, and we had lots of complaints because it certainly was dangerous in lots of aspects. But hopefully this will be the solution.”

Plans also include installing more safety signs to warn residents of possible dangers.

Barry Palmer, 64, of Linden Way, Canvey, said: “It was a big mistake putting in that concrete base. The algae went wild.

“It couldn’t grow when there was sand in the base, as the water moved the sand around, but that concrete gave the slime something to latch on to. Thank goodness it is going.”

Other alternatives considered by councillors included spending upwards of £80,000 to demolish the entire structure and replace it with a beach, or retaining the structure while improving health and safety features.

The pool in question is known locally as the “new pool”.

This is because it was installed after the other tidal pool, off Concord Beach, which was built in the Thirties and is widely known as the “old pool”.