QUEENSWAY residents have said they fear being left out of the loop on changes to the regeneration plan for the estate.

New housing councillor Mark Flewitt announced in the Echo on Tuesday that Southend’s Tory council, which took over in May, would go ahead with the previous administration’s £300million plans to demolish and regenerate the Queensway estate – but that it would have to be rethought by the whole council.

However Queensway Community Group secretary Michael Smith said he and residents were dismayed not to have been informed beforehand by the council, as they had done in a series of regular meetings with former housing councillor David Norman, who is also the local Labour ward member.

He said: “What we didn’t want to happen when the council changed hands was to start getting all our information about what was happening on the estate from the paper, but now it seems Mr Flewitt is changing the plans, and the first we heard of it was on Tuesday in the Echo.

“It could get quite nasty if people feel they’re being bypassed and they won’t want to co-operate. But we are very open as a community group and, apart from a few people who are unhappy about the decision to redevelop, a lot of people including myself are happy to go along with it to get a better home.”

Mr Flewitt said no changes had yet been made to the plans but residents would be informed should this take place.

He said: “We are only saying the plan presented us needs to be thoroughly looked at because of the costs involved, and if they were presented to the residents as a done deal, they shouldn’t have been because officers have told us this is all moveable.

“I’m very happy to see Michael, and if he wants to be cross with me, that’s fine but we’re going to work up the plan again and consult on that.”