A PRIME Southend seafront site opposite the Kursaal should be turned into a temporary car park to help bring money into the city, a trader says.

Ambitious plans to build 282 seafront apartments as well as cafes and bars at the Marina Plaza development in Marine Parade were approved in 2015, but not a brick has been laid since.

The £100million development – on the site of the old Foresters Arms pub – has been hit by numerous delays and developer the Inner London Group has been silent on its future.

Now seafront trader Martin Richardson has called for the site to be used as a temporary car park and has the support of Tory Southend Council leader Tony Cox.

Although the council does not own the land, Mr Cox has called on the developer to allow it to be used as a car park temporarily.

Mr Richardson, owner of Happidrome Arcade, said: “The biggest issue is the enormous increase in building costs.

“It should be a car park again, it would benefit the entire town centre and the entire city would benefit from more parking, just give people more of what they want.”

The development has been hit with a series of delays, including Covid, and in April last year the Inner London Group stated that costs had soared by an extra £25million.

The developer has repeatedly been contacted by the Echo and is yet to respond.

Mr Cox said: “We want to see this site being developed, it is an eyesore, and the issue is, they have managed to do work that has allowed them to keep their planning permission.

“We are trying to do all we can to unlock the site, we could explore some temporary usages of the site to bring it back into use, such as for car parking, even if just for a summer.”

Kursaal ward Labour councillor, Matt Dent, believes an alternative use should now be found.

“The current site is an eyesore and a magnet for antisocial behaviour,” he said.

“It’s been like this for years and we should, as a council, consider compulsory purchase of it, though that has not been feasible given the financial situation.

“I have absolutely zero confidence in the developer, there are various things we could look at for the space, a leisure centre or a sort of gardens, it is a huge site and there is not shortage of space.”