THE regeneration of Laindon Shopping Centre will finally get underway “in the coming months”.

Swan Housing Association is delivering a £50million regeneration of the dilapidated shopping centre.

Swan was granted planning permission earlier this year for the large-scale development.

The project will see an entirely new shopping centre built, including a new health centre, 86 houses and 138 flats made up of one, two, three and four bedroom homes built on the site of the worn down current site, which is covered in graffiti and has a number of empty shops.

The firm’s Laindon development team has been working closely with architects, designers and local planning officers to finalise the terms of the planning conditions and the accompanying legal agreement.

These will be completed very soon and the team is working to set out a timeline of development work and local engagement activity.

Improvements have already been made to the car parking at the centre, including parking restrictions, which appear to have been met with a positive response from residents.

In the coming months residents and visitors will see hoarding erected around the site as groundwork begins near the current health centre as well as on the land south of the roundabout at the end of Burdock Drive.

The initial work will involve moving some of the existing earth around to create the right levels for the new buildings.

As this work gets underway, the Swan team will strive to ensure that shopping centre customers and health centre users can continue to use the centre with as little disruption as is possible.

Swan’s director of regeneration and development, Geoff Pearce, said: “We remain committed to delivering the regeneration of the Laindon Shopping Centre.

“We will continue to work closely with local residents and partners to keep them updated as this project progresses and look forward to continuing consultation with local stakeholders. More than 600 residents showed their support of our plans which will see a brand new high street, homes, and health centre.

“We are confident that our project will succeed where others have faltered before, because at Swan we are dedicated to delivering exemplary homes and communities and to continuing our support of the residents of Laindon.”

Lengthy consultations have taken place over the three years, but the most recent proposals attracted mainly favourable responses.