ESSEX County Council bosses will have to agree to the proposed Cultural Quarter development before it can go ahead, the Gazette can reveal.

A covenant is in place on the land which states it should only be used for a bus station, car park or any other statutory function of the council.

Providing student homes, a hotel and retail and leisure outlets are not considered statutory functions of any local authority.

However, Colchester Council bosses are confident the restriction can be lifted, as it was to make way for both the Firstsite and Curzon cinema developments.

The covenant was revealed by Essex County Council in a freedom of information response to campaigner Dorian Kelly.

The land was transferred from the Essex authority to Colchester Council in 1956 and the agreement states: “The specified land must not be used for any purpose other than an omnibus station and car park or for such other of the corporations’ statutory functions as may be approved by the council, which shall not be unreasonably withheld.”

Tim Young, Colchester councillor responsible for culture and regeneration, acknowledged the agreement but said discussions with Essex County Council on its lifting are “advanced”.

He added: “It is in place and we have been open about that but it has been lifted before, for Firstsite and Curzon, and we see no reason why that will not be lifted for this development. Discussions are at an advanced stage.”

In a document submitted to Colchester Council planners, campaigner Mr Kelly also took aim at the plans to build more than 300 student homes, which he labels “a gated housing estate for an itinerant population”.

He also warned the scheme will “dwarf” Firstsite and “diminish” the scale of the Roman wall.

Mr Kelly added “Student accommodation is important, but there are better sites than the cultural core of the town centre where precious development sites for statutory functions, retail housing, cultural purposes and a town square will be lost forever.

“In support of the fact that I am not against student accommodation per se, I believe the development at Magdalen Street is regrettable but uncontroversial and acceptable. The Tendring Border Garden Village is the ideal location.”

The campaigner also questioned whether the development will live up to nearby businesses’ expectations, given students’ propensity to be attracted to cheaper goods and events, which will be widely on offer on campus.

He adds: "The application suggests that 330 extra students will spend many thousands of pounds each and indicates that this, together with the spend of the hotel guests may be worth £3.5 million a year.

"Student shopping behaviour is different to any other group. They are usually short of cash, don’t buy large amounts of food shopping at a time, and spend online when they want larger items.

"Textbooks generally have to be purchased from nominated suppliers. They don’t use the arts centre much as they can ‘gig’ a lot cheaper at the university and why should they pay town centre prices for drink when they can get it at £2 a pint? Their most regular purchase is takeaway food, and it’s a fair bet that one of the first to take up a retail space will be fast food.

"Students typically don’t go the art galleries either. Whatever they do and buy they tend to do it in the evenings when most of the 21 local businesses consulted are closed. More often than not they buy online."