CHANCELLOR George Osborne visited Colchester on Friday – and said the right infrastructure must support new homes.

Colchester is one of the fastestgrowing towns in the country and Mr Osborne went to the new Rosewood development, in Mill Road, Colchester.

He acknowledged associated facilities, including roads and medical provision, must keep pace with development.

He said: “It is absolutely crucial as part of our long-termplan we provide homes for people to buy.

“Of course, alongside the homes you want the right infrastructure.

A growing community like Colchester needs to be providing good new schools and making sure the health services are there.

“If we’ve got a strong member of parliament who is heard by Government, and I think Will Quince will be, we will get those schools here in Colchester.”

When asked about securing funding to make the A120 a dual carriageway, he said: “There is a really compelling case for going ahead with that.”

He also spoke about the importance of the rail line, and said he had met with people campaigning for the Norwich in 90 and Colchester in 30 schemes.

Mr Osborne was in town to talk about the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.

He said: “We want to live in a country where people who want to buy a house can buy a house.

“We make sure homes are being built in the right places on the brownfield sites.”

Insurance claims handler Craig Mills, 26, showed him around his two-bedroom home, which he bought in September thanks to the scheme.

Mr Mills said: “Help to Buy made such a huge difference to my purchase that I wanted to meet with the Chancellor to help spread the word to more people out there who might be able to benefit from it.

“Without it, I would have paid more in rent than I currently do for my mortgage for a property which would have been nowhere near the high standard of the house I’ve managed to buy here at Rosewood.”

The Tories have targeted Colchester as a key seat.

Liberal Democrat Sir Bob Russell has held the Colchester seat since 1997, but Mr Osborne said: “I think we’ve got a fantastic candidate.

“I’m confident we can win in Colchester.”