New proposals have been agreed by councillors to try to break the deadlock over a controversial village site.

Tiptree Parish Council backed a list of points to take to the developers when the two parties meet tomorrow over what will become of the old Tiptree Book Site.

Plans submitted by agents London and Amsterdam include a new Tesco's store, more than 60 houses, small starter units for businesses and a community centre.

Villagers have voted in favour of the store but there were fears the houses proposed would be too many for the number of jobs created.

There are concerns the increase in traffic in Church Road would cause congestion.

Although no decision will be reached at the meeting, councillors hope they can reach a compromise.

The council has said it welcomes the recent change by London and Amsterdam to provide six live/work units to expand the employment potential of the site.

London and Amsterdam also changed its provision for public open space to 10 per cent of the site, but councillors said it should be this amount plus the land for a proposed community centre.

The council, at its meeting last night, said it would reconsider withdrawing its objections to the general application if the majority of vehicle access was on Station Road rather than Church Road.

Members asked for barriers to be put up across the proposed car park to stop youngsters using it as a race track.

They have also asked for a portion of the housing to be allocated for sheltered accommodation and for the proposed Anchor Press Museum to be located on the site rather than elsewhere.

The final decision will be made by Colchester Council on April 19.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.