THEY are seen as the jewels in Southend’s crown – and the pier, Southchurch Hall, the mayor’s parlour, Porters and the cliff lift give the town its distinctive character.

But few realise they actually cost taxpayers more to maintain every year than the income they generate.

For example, Southend Pier made a £1.2million loss last year.

So the question is: Should private companies or charities be given more involvement with Southend’s heritage sites to make them more viable and sustainable for the future?

The new Independent, Lib Dem, and Labour administration at the Civic Centre has pledged to look at working with private firms, or volunteers, to bring the buildings and structures into profit.

Lib Dem Graham Longley, deputy leader of the council and councillor responsible for culture, said: “These assets contribute to the sense of local pride, help attract tourists to the town or provide useful services.

“Nevertheless, over the past four years alone, the council has reduced the cost of our heritage assets to local taxpayers by over £2million through income generation and the use of volunteers.

“The council will continue to explore ways of increasing revenue and working with the private and voluntary sectors to minimise the cost of these assets – or indeed bring them into profit.

“That will ensure they continue to play an important role in the town.”

Southchurch Hall – used by the town’s museums service for events – made the smallest loss, costing the authority £6,900 to run last year.

Civic house Porters, off Southchurch Road, is not open to the public and is the mayor’s residence.

It is usually opened for charities and private functions.

It only brought in £9,000 compared to an upkeep of £35,000.

However, the council has recently allowed the building to be hired for weddings to generate income.

But it is the town’s pier that makes the biggest loss by far.

Campaign group Skipp claims no efforts have been made for seven years to seek private involvement, or investment in the pier.

Mark Sharp, from the group, said: “Places like Southchurch Hall and the pier don’t belong to the council – they belong to the people of Southend.

“We would oppose attempts to privatise our historical assets, but for the council to look at revenue streams from our assets, we will look at them on their own merits.

“We have been saying for a while to the Tories that they should encourage pub chains to look at the end of the pier, but that was dismissed as a ludicrous idea by them.”

Development on the pier is always a thorny issue.

Campaigners have long argued the 1.3-mile landmark should be kept in public ownership.

Over the years, there have been some applications to develop the pier, including the Swine ride – a huge rollercoaster over the pier.

The company behind the scheme, Epic World Leisure, later produced a futuristic £50million “Atlantis” development plan for the pier.

But after years of talks with the developer, the company ultimately failed to get the scheme off the ground.

Insiders at the time suggested it was because the council wanted to retain ownership, which increased the risk for the investors. The question is whether anything has changed.

Would a private company want involvement in the pier and other heritage assets which ultimately make a loss?

However, historian Marion Pearce claims bringing in private firms to run the town’s assets could bring them back to their former glory.

Marion, of Hamlet Road, Southend, claims some historical buildings, such as Southchurch Hall, are “criminally underused”.

She has written books on the history of parts of the borough, including her published novel Milton, Chalkwell, and Crowstone.

She said: “How the pier has been allowed to get into the state it has, I do not know.

“The end of it should be given to private firms. You see plenty of seaside towns have thriving piers run by private operators.

“Southchurch Hall is another wonderful example of an underused resource and these are wonderful historical assets that could benefit from some investment.”