A SOLAR farm could be built to provide Colchester's Northern Gateway development with green energy as council bosses look set to devote £450,000 of funding to progress the project.

A report to go before Colchester Council's cabinet details a scheme to install a 4.5 megawatt "solar park", using a £5.7 million funding pot.

The panels would complement existing plans to use heat drawn from deep boreholes to warm a 350-home development at former Colchester Rugby Club land, off Mill Road.

Gazette: Plans for 350 homes as part of the Northern Gateway developmentPlans for 350 homes as part of the Northern Gateway development

The report said: "The Heat Network draws geothermal [and] renewable heat which is intensified using an industrial heat pump that is powered by electricity.

"The Micro Grid, which would produce electricity from solar [panels], would therefore provide renewable electricity to the Heat Network and wider Northern Gateway, as an extension of this vision, to deliver even more sustainable heat and energy."

The project would see the panels installed on council-owned land adjacent to Severalls Industrial Estate and the A12, alongside energy storage and electric vehicle charging ports.

The report adds: "A site identified would be particularly beneficial as it is near Severalls Primary Substation, so the grid connection cost will be relatively low.

"In addition, sites where [panels] are installed can usually be combined with other rural land uses, such as grazing land, or habitat creation for biodiversity net gains."

The report recommends the cabinet commits £450,000 to develop the scheme and seek planning permission.

It adds: "The development funding would be from the £5.7 million allocated for this project in the capital programme."

The report will be considered at a meeting of the cabinet on September 7.

Work started on Colchester Council's Northern Gateway leisure park in March, which is scheduled for completion next autumn at the cost of £65 million.

It will feature two drive-thru restaurants, a Travelodge, a Hollywood Bowl bowling alley, parking for 750 cars, and a 12-screen cinema complex.

The 200,000 sq ft leisure park is located within the wider Northern Gateway, south of junction 28 of the A12.

The development will include the 350-home site at Mill Road, 30 per cent of which are set to be affordable, which will sit alongside a private hospital and a medical centre.

Plans also feature a 75-bed care home, up to 56,000 sq m of office space and a healthcare campus with 300 homes for elderly residents.

A £29 million sports centre opened to the public in April last year.