A COUNCIL leader says he is still determined to get a town centre regeneration project underway... despite years of delay.

Castle Point Council has been planning to revamp Hadleigh town centre from the old Crown Pub, High Street, Hadleigh, to the old fire station for at least five years.

Now, Tory council leader Norman Smith has said the delay is down the Essex County Council consultation into closing libraries, which includes Hadleigh Library in the High Street.

Norman Smith, Tory leader of Castle Point Council, said: “We are still waiting an announcement about the library.

“We are in talks with South Essex Homes regarding development at the site.

“It is not that nothing is happening with the town centre regeneration.

“I am determined to regenerate this part of the town. We are working on a few possible scenarios, including one with and one without the library.”

He added: “We are potentially looking at 60 new flats, but with some retail and some community space as well.

“We have been in talks with South Essex Homes since last year on the project.

“We expect an answer on the library by June or July, so then we could be potentially making more of an official announcement by about September or October time.”

In September last year the Echo reported the plans for the regeneration of Hadleigh town centre had been delayed further after £2million worth of funding was withdrawn.

It is thought the whole project could cost at total of about £60million.

The £2million funding from Essex County Council would have gone towards the new library but this is no longer available.

The funding from Essex County Council was allocated in 2017.

Essex County Council is considering closing libraries in Vange and Fryerns in Basildon, as well as Great Wakering and Hullbridge.

Other libraries, including Hadleigh, South Benfleet and Hockley, would need to find a community group to run them in order for them to be kept open under the proposals.

Meanwhile in Southend, the mobile library service is being axed and replaced by Transit vans which will drop off and pick up books at care homes.

The internet, smart phones and Amazon Kindles are all said to be contributing to the decline in the number of people using libraries.

The funding was made available on the basis that Essex County Council provides no further money for the regeneration and was able to move in and operate the new public buildings.

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “No decisions have been made on the Future strategy for Essex Libraries; the consultation is still underway and we encourage those with an interest to complete the consultation.

“The future strategy of each library will not be known until the consultation is closed, responses are collated and a decision is made on the future of Essex library services.”