THIS is the first look at plans by a popular retirement village to create an indoor swimming pool, a bar and function room.

Bosses at Kings Park, off Creek Road, Canvey, have put in the plans to Castle Point Council saying they are committed to improving the park for residents.

Six months ago the council gave the go-ahead for the former Jack Rabbit bar and nightclub, which became increasingly underused by residents, to be transformed into a restaurant and cafe.

Now bosses of the retirement village want the new building extended further to create an indoor swimming pool, which would replace the existing outdoor pool.

The new communal building would have a coffee shop area during the day, a bar and restaurant during the evenings and offering Sunday lunch, and a function room available offering bingo, quiz nights and other events.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Michael Prideaux, Kings Park director, said: “The outdoor swimming pool is very old and it costs a fortune to heat.

You have to go up a set of steps to get to it, so it’s not really appropriate for our residents.

They are looking for something they can use all year round.

“We did a big consultation and the responses were overwhelmingly positive.

“What we are trying to do is to keep improving facilities in the park, because a lot of them date back to the Sixties or Seventies.”

Work on the initial restaurant and cafe is already underway, with a new access road set to finished by the end of the month.

Kings Park, which was bought by Britannia Parks in 2007, applied three years ago to create a new 4,146 sq m social club, but this was refused by Castle Point Council.

Bosses at the 823-home caravan park appealed against the decision in 2013, but a Government planning inspector upheld the council ruling, citing concerns about noise.

Kings Park, which caters for the over-fifties, was built in the Sixties.