SOUTHEND Council has been told to “take action straight away” to save the High Street from going under.

Architects on behalf of the Stockvale Group of Companies - which runs various businesses, including Adventure Island - presented their vision on how to save Southend High Street from becoming “a desolate empty space”.

Steven Kearney and Richard King have more than 40 years’ experience, and have highlighted four key areas for Southend Council to improve the state of the High Street.

The first is to open up the High Street to allow people to drive all the way down it, abolishing all double yellow lines and encouraging people to drive on and use the High Street to park.

The second is to scrap short stay tariffs on all Southend Council-owned car parks and give two free hours of parking on all town centre roads, including the high street, Clifftown Parade, Gordon Road and Chancellor Road.

The third is to encourage more investment in the area surrounding the Odeon cinema, bringing in more eateries and places to visit to get more people to stay in the town centre.

Mr Kearney and Mr King presented their proposals on behalf of Philip Miller, executive chairman of Stockvale, who has been highly critical of the council’s policies for the High Street and town centre over the past few years.

READ MORE: Business boss: 'Council's High Street policies have failed... it's time for something new'

Mr King said: “I have been a resident of the area all my life, my family are from here, I have seen the town change over the years.

“The fact is we have a wonderful selling point of the seafront here, it’s such a strong factor in encouraging people to come here during the summer, stay overnight, bring the family out.

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“But seafront visitors aren’t the same as high street visitors. The parking charges, inaccessibility, and unattractiveness of the high street are driving people away.”

He added: “It’s pleasing to see the council have their vision for Southend in 2050, but I’ll be 124 then. We need some short term action, and we need it to happen right now.

“We cannot lose this high street. The council need a short term vision. We feel this is the best vision possible to keep the centre of the town alive.”

Mr Kearney said: “Our presentation today was about reactivating the high street. We desperately need a greater intensity of people, traffic, landscaping, green spacing and to feel like our high street is economic, vibrant and safe.

“Our one ask of the council is to reintroduce traffic in parts of the high street as per our plan, from Alexandra Road up to Clifftown and from Whitegate Road up to Queens Road, which will instantly introduce on street parking which will help the businesses remaining there to survive.”