The announcement that Southend Council has struck a deal with the town’s football club that paves the way for more than 1,300 new homes and modern football stadium has been praised as a “glimmer of light”.

Details of the deal between the council, Citizen Housing and Southend United Football Club show that the authority will gain a major source of long-term income by managing 502 homes built on the Roots Hall stadium site and around 800 surrounding a new stadium on Fossetts Farm, off Eastern Avenue.

>> Southend United stadium plan finally set to become a reality

Meanwhile, the football club will receive significant investment from Homes England in order to finance the stadium.

The homes surrounding the stadium will replace earlier plans for shops, restaurants and a cinema.

Labour's Ian Gilbert, leader of the council, said: “This is really very significant news for all of us. I am very pleased that despite the current difficult circumstances we have been able to move this forward.

“The council has been working closely with the football club over an extended period to move this project forwards and I am pleased to see that we have got to this stage, which would not only see much needed new homes built, but also take away the threat to the town centre from the previously proposed retail element.

“We need to build more homes as a borough, we want more affordable rented homes, we need to generate more income into the council to fund local services and we are seeing more than ever how essential these services are.

“We have always recognised the importance of the football club to the borough and we now have the opportunity to enable them to deliver their new stadium and secure the club’s future.

“This is a win-win situation.”

Ron Martin, chair of Southend United, said: “We listened to the Council’s concerns, in particular, the impact of the proposed enabling retail development on the town centre.

“The collaborative approach achieved with the council, together with our other partners, will deliver a project that I believe the people of Southend will be very proud of.

“We are delighted for all our supporters that this agreement will unlock the delivery of Southend United’s new home, enabling the club to fulfil its long-held potential.”

Jack Martin, spokesman for Citizen Housing, said he expects the plans to deliver around 400 ‘affordable’ homes that will each be available at “truly affordable levels”.

The deal was agreed by the leaders of all four political parties in Southend and will be discussed further by council leaders during a future cabinet meeting.

Dennis Baldry, chair of Southend Business Improvement District, heaped praise on the agreement calling it “a glimmer of light in these dark and uncertain times”.

“This is really positive, the town gets the new football stadium it deserves, as well as much needed new housing and in addition to this more dilution of the retail offer in Southend is avoided,” he said.