An urban beach, a cascading park and a new hotel – all of these could be set to transform the face of Erith.

Fresh plans for Erith riverside have been released this week. Two developers – Crest Nicholson / Orbit Group as well as Gleeson – are bidding for the contract to transform the north of the borough.

The 1.5-hectare site west of Erith has been earmarked by the council for mixed-use development.

Dislike

At present, the town hall, library and old Carnegie building stand on the site and the council’s head of regeneration has confirmed these buildings will remain.

Jane Richardson said: “I am sure people will find elements in both schemes they like or dislike.

“All the feature buildings remain – the town hall is there, the Carnegie building is there, and so is the Running Horses Pub.

“There are some different ideas there. They are different, they are interesting and we really need to know what people think.

“We really do want people to come along to the exhibition. Don’t just rely on hearsay.”

The public can visit Erith this weekend to see the separate proposals and decide on their preferred vision.

The exhibition will feature 3D scale models of both plans, together with a range of display boards.

Ms Richardson, said: “What we want from these people is their ideas. They’ve brought on board a whole load of professionals and they have invested quite a lot to get to this stage.

“The models are just to give a concept and an idea of the density. They will not be showing final architectural finishes – it’s more conceptual – about what might go where.

“At this stage, these are not necessarily endorsed by the borough. There’s no preferred development partner.

“Senior officers will be interviewing both teams which will enable us to make a recommendaton to full council. These are hugely complex projects, but we would hope to get the council to take a decision in July.

“The next stage after that is where we will have a much more detailed consultation.”

n An outline planning application stage will follow the developer selection process and will be confirmed by summer/autumn 2008.