The first part of the major refurbishment work in Southend High Street will not be completed by Christmas as originally planned, it has been revealed.
Partly funded through European money, the Sshape project is part of the revitalisation of the town centre.
The section between Victoria Plaza and Elmer Avenue was due to be finished before the start of the festive shopping period.
However, only part - in the middle of the road - will be ready in time for the switch on of the Christmas lights later this month. The "sidewalk" areas and provision of new kiosks will not now be carried out until 2003.
Work has been delayed largely because of decisions over the kiosks which are to be replaced by new ones in different positions in the High Street.
The council's development control committee rejected proposals for temporary kiosks which would have been housed in containers, complaining they looked worse than some areas of former East European communist countries.
Permission has been granted for replacement kiosks, but detailed designs of these have also to be submitted to the committee before they can go ahead.
Southend town clerk George Krawiec said: "It is important that we have pledged not to disrupt the Christmas shopping period for the traders."
Shoppers and workers have said that they are not concerned about the slow progress of work in the High Street - as long as they can shop until they drop over Christmas.
Leah Adams, 25, from Ambleside in Hullbridge, said: "I do not think anyone will really care whether the work is done or not. If people can walk down the High Street they will be happy."
Stewart King, 25, of Bellevue Road, Southchurch, said: "I was not expecting anything spectacular and I wasn't expecting it in a hurry. If it is left half-finished over Christmas, who will really notice?
"If it was the Arc de Triomphe or the Champs Elysees then it would be very bad to leave something half done over such a busy period, but this is Southend High Street."
Published Wednesday November 6, 2002
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