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A Community Centre “Canvey Can Be Proud Of”

The Paddocks is to be transformed into a “community centre Canvey can be proud of”.


At a meeting of Cabinet on 19 October, Councillors agreed a budget of more than £883k to renovate the 1970s building. 

The decision follows a meeting last month where Cabinet agreed to fund £32k of emergency repair work to keep the facility open.

Council Leader, Dave Blackwell, said: “The building clearly needs a lot of work but we believe the main structure is sound.

“Rather than knock it down, we are proposing to ring fence just over £880k to repair it and make it into a modern community centre Canvey can be proud of."

Money for the modernisation will come from funds generated by the sale of the Chapman Sands Sailing Club.

The decision to repair rather than replace The Paddocks reverses a decision taken in 2018 to knock down the existing building and create a new facility.

Cllr Blackwell continued: “We believe this option represents the best value for money and preserves part of Canvey’s heritage. Most of us who live on Canvey have fond memories of  events at the Paddocks.”

“As we develop plans for this we will be working closely with The Friends of The Paddocks and others in the community to get their input.”

The Council will now seek to appoint a project manager to oversee the development of proposals and a business case. It is expected these will come back to Cabinet in early 2023.

No timescale has yet been set for the redevelopment.