Stadium home plans fall foul of cutbacks (From Gazette)

Stadium home plans fall foul of cutbacks

8:00am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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PLANS to build a sheltered housing complex at the former home of Colchester United have been dashed – and the site is set to be put up for sale once again.

Colchester Council had hoped to get cash from the Homes and Communities Agency to build the home on the Layer Road site.

But with the agency facing a massive reduction in its budget due to Government cutbacks, the authority is again proposing to sell the site to the highest bidder.

This has been tried once before to help offset the cost of building the Weston Homes Community Stadium, but hopes were dashed when the recession hit.

Bosses then devised the sheltered accommodation scheme, which involved handing the land to a housing association, in order to address a lack of managed properties for older people.

Ralph Martin, whose flower shop is close to the disused and crumbling football stadium, said he was disappointed the sheltered housing plan had failed.

He said: “I thought the nursing home plan would have been perfect for that site.

“I know no one’s got much money at the moment, but life still goes on and I’m surprised a solution couldn’t be found.

“It is important that something is done, because, at the moment, the football ground is just empty space.

“The condition of the building is getting worse and worse and it is no good for the area, or for trade.

“We are still here and we have a good business, but we won’t recover the match-day trade we lost until something is built there.”

Paul Smith, councillor responsible for resources, confirmed the cabinet was to be presented with a request to put Layer Road back on the market.