40 CONTEXT 175 : MARCH 2023 problems again in the following December. The self-help measures that residents took to ease the situation, including cutting through the sea defences to allow water to drain away, were challenged in court by the Essex Rivers Catchment Board, which had previously ignored letters of protest about flooding. Despite flooding, poor services and sanitation, and the resentment towards the CUDC because of little in return for rates, pre-war Jaywick was an otherwise happy place, with a real sense of holiday fun. Reflecting growing popularity and visitor numbers, the local press in the 1930s would often report on carnivals, sports days, gala evenings and all manner of entertainments there, often sponsored by the Stedman family and the freeholders association. By the outbreak of war in 1939 the Jaywick Sands Estate was firmly established within the coastal landscape of the Tendring District. An effective association of freeholders who would campaign and fund-raise rigorously, the determination of Stedman to spend his time and energy developing Jaywick, and a commitment that as many positive links as possible were made with local councillors, all helped in this pre-war consolidation. But Jaywick was a success simply because it was a fun, carefree place to be. Billy Butlin had seen the potential of Clacton as a location for his next holiday camp, and had won permission from the CUDC to build. Although the same concerns raised by the CUDC over Jaywick also applied to Butlins, permission was granted and development went ahead unhindered. During the war, Jaywick became a restricted area. In 1943 it was the unwitting subject of a survey of the east coast, which informed the post-war Ministry of Town and Country Planning’s view of such places. There was objection to the haphazard and unregulated nature of the development but, unlike similar developments in other areas, a clear acknowledgement of the benefit to urban holidaymakers of such places. Jaywick demonstrated the demand for (and social benefit of) such holiday accommodation in Tendring, close to the capital. But, unlike the new holiday camps such as those planned by Billy Butlin, which under the new planning laws would be controlled and regulated, it was the lack of control among the existing plotlands that caused problems. Post-war Jaywick is characterised by several factors: continued problems with flooding; a gradual transition from holiday to attempted residential use; and a continuous struggle with the local authority, culminating in a failed council attempt to compulsorily purchase the Brooklands and Grasslands areas. The freeholders continued to lobby effectively, but after a brief post-war resurgence in holidaymaking, the estate began its gradual decline. New caravan sites were appearing close by, offering affordable holiday accommodation to the families that Jaywick and the pre-war plotlands had hitherto catered for. The problems of flooding culminated in the 1953 disaster, which caused devastation along the east coast. Lives were lost and the invading sea, driven by high winds, caused much The Sunspot Amusements arcade has since been demolished. Tendring District Council hopes to redevelop the site with a market building.
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