AN ambitious £126million, 20-year plan has been approved by council leaders in a bid to bring major improvements to Jaywick Sands.

Tendring Council’s cabinet gave the green light to the Jaywick Sands Place Plan at a meeting on Friday (September 20).

The blueprint is a long-term strategy for area, which includes ‘quick win’ actions as well as a wider vision spanning the next 20 years.

Cabinet planning boss Andy Baker said it was important the plan reflects community views.

He said: “This is an ambitious but clear long-term vision for Jaywick Sands to improve the area for the good of all.

“Jaywick Sands is a unique place with an incredible community spirit, and we have carried out a series of consultations and workshops to ensure the plan reflects the community’s views – we want to take this journey together.

“The plans are not something we can deliver alone, either in terms of cost or powers – but it is a document we can take to public and private investors.

“Tendring Council and its partners have done much to tackle the challenges in Jaywick Sands in recent years, including improving roads and building new homes, and most recently the Sunspot development, which has been an outstanding success and is quickly becoming a hub for the community.”

Short-term ‘quick wins’ in the plan include making Brooklands a one-way street to tackle traffic issues, as well as improving access for all to the beach and improving parks and children’s amenities, gardens, alleyways and bus stops.

Longer-term aims include a new approach to housing, including bringing vacant and derelict plots back into use, as well as looking to secure funding for improved flood defences which will protect the community without blocking access and sight of the beach, and better access and more space for seafront cycle paths.

The cost of delivering everything in the plan over two decades is estimated at £126million and the plan sets out where this will require external funding.

The estimated price tag of the flood defence work alone is £108million.

Residents were consulted on an initial version of the plan in 2022 before a second consultation into the latest version of the blueprint concluded earlier this year.