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Jaywick

Community consultation at the heart of a feasibility project for Jaywick’s open spaces.

Jaywick is protected from the waves by a high sea wall

Jaywick is protected from the waves by a high sea wall. Copyright Gareth Gardner

Despite its stunning beach location, North Essex resort Jaywick is socially and economically disadvantaged. Yet in the face of a history of delayed regeneration plans, and deepening levels of deprivation, there is room for hope. Its Napoleonic Martello Tower, located on the edge of a caravan park, has been transformed into an arts venue for both community and visitors.

And it is this tower that forms the focal point for a feasibility study that is being carried out with Sea Change funding. Options for creating a series of three interlinked ‘arts and environmental parklands’ are being explored by a team which includes artists Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie, as well as Essex County Council’s arts and landscape officers. It is hoped the green spaces will attract visitors to Jaywick, as well as improve connectivity through pathways and cycle routes and provide a local educational resource.

With a closely knit community and some cynicism about regeneration plans, consultation forms a major part of the feasibility process. Two parallel strands - one involving a local primary school, the other Jaywick’s residents - will result in exhibitions of proposals at the Jaywick Martello Tower prior to the final report being published this Autumn.

Find out more about the resort background, regeneration context, project description and delivery.

What we love about this project

  • artists are being appointed as key members of the design team, aiming to give different perspectives to design proposals
  • the project takes an existing cultural offer and aims to provide added value by surrounding it with an arts-led setting
  • consultation is at the heart of the project and its delivery process
  • enthusiasm among the local community has allowed the project team to widen the scope of its feasibility study
  • the final output will not simply be a new cultural attraction for Jaywick. It is likely to also result in infrastructural improvements, as well as better connectivity between green spaces in the resort.

What people are saying

“The artists will bring a bit of magic to this project, make it special.”
Georgia Ward, Arts Development Manager, Essex County Council