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This could be the future look of the shore end of Southend Pier. The building, on the site of the former bowling alley, is part of an ambitious set of proposals by Epic world leisure, including a huge rollercoaster. The pavilion's design is based on the original Victorian buildings destroyed by fire in 1959. It includes a top-class restaurant, with views across the estuary. The pier museum would be re-housed with a retail area and new pier rail station.

Revealed: One man's vision of where he would like to take the design of Southend's most historic landmark

Shore end - a glass pavilion and sun deck would replace the former bowling lanes

The pier head - location of a leisure complex and high-class shops

Transport - new trains would have port holes for windows to carry on the nautical theme for the pier.

Entrepreneur Tony Garner is fighting for the job of revamping Southend Pier. He has spent the past ten years cultivating ambitious plans for the famous landmark. The Thorpe Bay businessman was the man behind the Swine rollercoaster, billed as the world's biggest white knuckle ride over water. The plans were eventually thrown out by Southend Council in 2000 because consultants insisted the scheme was not viable.

Undeterred, Tony Garner came back with a £45 million scheme to transform Southend's world-famous pier with a water themed project called Atlantis City. Now, he has spoken about his frustration with the attitude of the council to his proposals which include the original Swine rollercoaster, a cinema and dozens of other attractions including extreme rides. Speaking in a meeting organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects, Mr Garner said his original plans for the giant rollercoaster had been "99% of the way there" when the council was controlled by the Lib Dem Labour coalition, until 2000. He added: "We had planning permission and we had the backing of the council under Graham Longley". He referred to a change in political control in 2000 when the Tories took over. Mr Garner said it was vital there was a major investment in the pier as soon as possible otherwise it would just continue to deteriorate.

He added: "I would like to carry out the redevelopment of the pier myself. It's important it is done by someone. Southend cannot afford to let the pier just stay as is with deteriorating structure and trains which are virtually at the end of their useful lives. He added that the capital for the scheme could be obtained from a variety of sources including short and medium term borrowing as well as leasing of the large rides at the pier head. Answering questions, Mr Garner said the RNLI Lifeboat station at the pier head would benefit from his scheme because of increased trade and revenue. "We are looking at a destination attraction for the future and not just something which is dependent on the Olympics or even seasonal trade. We would be looking at an all year round attraction"

Southend Council chief executive and town clerk Rob Tinlin said it would be wrong to comment on matters which concerned predecessors of the current staff and administration. He added: "I have to commend Mr Garner and his team for the enthusiasm and persistence they have shown over developing the pier. What we have to do is establish the pattern of future development which is wanted by the people of the town. We have had a large number of responses to our request for views on the pier's future and I have to say the idea of a large ride at the pier head does not feature high on them". A report on the options for the development of the pier will be presented to the council's cabinet in January. Martin O'Neill chairman of the Southend chapter of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) said he was pleased with the number of people who had attended but disappointed no councillors or officers had come along.

The Epic World Leisure plans were withdrawn before they were due to be considered at the last meeting of the Southend Council's development control committee. Officers were recommending refusal of the scheme and Mr Garner said there was still some work to be done on the environmental impact study.

Letter written to the Echo newspaper by a reader, Mrs Gaynor Thompson of Shoeburyness, and published on 1st December 2006

Appearing by kind permission of the Echo Newspaper.

I went to the presentation of the pier redevelopment by Tony Garner of Epic World leisure Group at the South Essex Chapter of the Royal Institute of British Architects. I was very impressed with the plans for this redevelopment and, as I believe this development is self-funding, I am at a loss to know why Southend Council is not fully behind this scheme. It will bring prestige, jobs and income into this town, which are desperately needed. If Southend Council truly has the interests of Southend in mind when considering this scheme, it will be enthusiastically encouraging it.