THE owner of a historic venue in Colchester is appealing against a council decision to refuse a bid to tear down the building and rebuild it in a similar style.

Blumarble Property Management, which owns the site of the former Odeon cinema in Crouch Street, submitted plans as far back as 2020 to demolish the site and build 55 apartments and two retail units in its place.

The plans were rejected by councillors in August last year, with one representative branding the size of the expansion “outlandish”.

Now, Blumarble – which has owned the old Odeon site since 2015 – is formally appealing against  Colchester Council’s rejection of the plans.

Planning officers at the council initially argued the application constituted poor design and that demolition would have an adverse effect on a special protection area.

But in a document on the Colchester Council website, Blumarble representatives rebutted planning officers’ justification for rejecting the plans.

It read: “There can be little doubt that the proposals would in principle represent the very nature of sustainable development [in Colchester].

“The scheme makes good and efficient use of a derelict site that has not seen any beneficial use for 20 years in a town centre location."

It added that the front of the old Odeon cinema would be replaced by a replica which mimics the current style of the building.

The documents also revealed that when Odeon Cinemas moved to their current site in Head Street in 2002, the firm imposed what is known as a “restrictive covenant” on the Crouch Street site, which prevents its future use as a cinema.

Giving his view on the plans, Green councillor for Castle ward Richard Kirkby-Taylor argued Blumarble should have returned with a fresh proposal.

He said: “They should be looking at the comments of officers and come back with a new proposal that addresses those comments.

“It’s important we defend Colchester’s right to govern our own planning instead of always accepting when developers go to appeal, and letting it go to national planning inspectors who don’t always have Colchester’s best interests at heart.”

When contacted by the Gazette, Blumarble director Matthew Ellis said he did not wish to comment on the matter.