Calls for former rugby club site to be developed

The opposition group on a city council is calling on leaders to sell a former rugby club site to developers to build hundreds of new homes.

Colchester Rugby Club moved from Mill Road in the city to Colchester Sports Park in 2021. The cost of building state-of-the-art sporting facilities was supposed to be covered by developing the Mill Road site.

City council opposition leader, Conservative Paul Dundas, told the BBC: "We need to move this project on and sell it to a developer who can actually get on and do it as the council has demonstrated we can't."

But the council leader, Lib Dem David King, warned against giving "this site away in a fire sale".

"It's a complex location and it has to be developed the right kind of way," King added, saying there was "a huge need for affordable housing" and with "greater control from the council we are aiming for 100% affordable homes".

But the Conservatives accused the Lib Dem minority administration of "not being ambitious enough".

Dundas argued that 600 homes could be built at Mill Road rather than the 350 being proposed.

The Conservatives argued £30m to build the sports facilities near junction 28 on the A12 was costing £200,000 a month in interest.

The Lib Dem administration said the borrowing costs were "half those being claimed".

The city council leader said the pandemic has delayed developing the site.

King told the BBC that from "this summer we will be into the first releases of sites for sale" and there would be "money back into our coffers to offset the borrowing".

He said work on new housing at Mill Road was expected to start in the autumn and the homes delivered by 2027-28.

The council leader said development at Mill Road would "more than cover what has been borrowed".

Thousands of people use the council-run Colchester Sports Park every week which is home to a gym, sports hall archery, cycle-way and 3G sports pitches.

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