VISITORS flocked to Southend seafront at the weekend as extra measures were in place to keep people safe.

There was a steady pace of visitors on Saturday, although food kiosks remained busy throughout the afternoon. However, Sunday saw a much busier day.

The promenade between Chalkwell and Southend Pier has been temporarily widened to keep people socially distant while using the seafront.

The widened promenade has been made possible by a contraflow system installed by Southend Council. The system allows cars to travel in both directions, but reduce lane width. All parking bays along the Western Esplanade are out of use, giving the public a great deal of extra space.

Despite the water fountains being turned off in a bid to dissuade visitors, the contraflow does not cover this part of City Beach by the arcades, and photos show a large amount of people within a close proximity to each other.

Councillor Matt Dent said: “The seafront seemed a lot busier yesterday afternoon. The car parks were a lot fuller and there were many more people out - clearly a mark of the improved weather.

“Disappointingly, there seemed to be a lot less social distancing going on. It could have been an ordinary spring weekend on Southend seafront. You’d hardly have known there’s a global pandemic going on.”

Most food kiosks operated a two-metre queuing system but few people appeared to have made use of the extra space from the contraflow system.

Councillor Ron Woodley suggested people avoid central Southend and use the quieter areas of the seafront in Thorpe Bay and Shoebury.

He said: “All the facilities in Southend will still be there in a few months.

“I say it’s better to be patient than dead. At my age and with my wife being diabetic, we are self-isolating and can’t go anywhere.

“I have said to Thorpe residents don’t go to Southend seafront unless you go to quieter areas.”

Council leader Ian Gilbert said: “It is the first time we’ve done this - there will be some learning and feedback in terms of what we can do differently in future weekends. It’s very difficult to strike a balance - we don’t particularly want large numbers of people, but we are considering numbers might, and how we make that as safe as possible. “