A £200,000 boost has been given to plans to build ten new starter homes in Jaywick in a bid to regenerate the area.

Tendring District Council (TDC) has been awarded the money by the Homes and Communities Agency towards the overall costs of the development.

Paul Honeywood, TDC’s cabinet member for housing, announced the windfall at a cabinet meeting yesterday.

He said: “This investment demonstrates the commitment this council, as well as its partners, has in transforming the future of Jaywick for the benefit of its residents and the residents of Tendring as whole.

“This would not have been possible without the investment TDC made in buying land in Jaywick over the last 18 months and the cross-party support we have had to make a difference in Jaywick once and for all.”

The council has spent around £2million on purchasing around 28 hectares of land in various parts of the Brooklands area of Jaywick.

“These high-quality flood resilient homes will mark the first of what I hope will be many new safe and affordable homes which we are able to build in Jaywick,” Mr Honeywood added.

“Hopefully it will signal the end to the negative media attention which it quite unjustly currently gets.

“It just goes to show that the agency strongly believes we can make a difference.

“Working alongside our other partners, including Essex County Council, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Environment Agency and the residents we will bring about the improvements needed in Jaywick.”

Essex County Council has already committed £5m over two years to upgrade roads and drainage in parts of Jaywick. Work started in July and is now well underway.

The principal contractor is Ringway Jacobs who have engaged the John Henry Group to undertake the work.