A COUNCILLOR has accused funding bodies of "passing the buck" after the deprived village of Jaywick was once again refused cash for vital regeneration.

By Roddy Ashworth

A COUNCILLOR has accused funding bodies of "passing the buck" after the deprived village of Jaywick was once again refused cash for vital regeneration.

Roy Smith, who represents the area at both district and county level, made his comments after MEP Jeffrey Titford was told there was no European funding available for roads and drainage in the run-down area.

Mr Titford visited Jaywick in November and contacted the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East) to find out what Europe could do to improve the dilapidated conditions there.

Parts of the village have unmade up roads, no drainage, regular flooding problems and shanty-town style buildings.

Some of its residents still inhabit pre-war holiday chalets which were never-designed for all-year-round living.

However, in a reply to Mr Titford's letter, GO-East's European director David Morrall said that no European money could be found to address the problems.

Mr Morrall wrote: "There are no European programmes in the East of England dealing with the problems you describe in Jaywick.

"The Structural Funds Programme that is concerned with the economic regeneration of deprived areas in the East of England is Objective 2, and Tendring is not one of the areas designated for support.

"While the Objective 2 programme does support capital infrastructure projects, it does not fund local roads and drainage, which remain the responsibility of member states.

"In the case of Jaywick, that falls within the remit of Essex County Council/Tendring District Council."

But Mr Smith said: "I get sick and tired of these statutory bodies because they keep passing the buck on to one another.

"We all know that Essex County Council can't find the funds to put £20 million in. It needs an awful lot of money to upgrade the roads and drains.

"The roads are full of potholes and at the moment they are flooded. They are like boating lakes.

"It has been a nightmare for the old and disabled people who live there."