The first step towards Chelmsford City Football Club returning to the borough has been made.

Following an impassioned plea by the chairman of the club at a planning meeting on Monday night, Chelmsford councillors voted to approve the application for a stadium and associated facilities north of Boreham, next to the A12.

Peter Stroud told the packed meeting: "This is the last chance for the club to survive. It is too late to find another site. It is here or nowhere."

He said if the application was refused, the demise of the club would be almost instantaneous.

To a round of applause he said: "It is a community club that will benefit the community. I beg you not to allow the club to die."

Since 1997, the team has been playing out of the borough.

Leader of the council Michael Mackrory said he was very pleased when he received the report and the positive nature of it.

"Many club supporters have been frustrated by the delay but I think they will understand why. We shall support this application and encourage the club back into the town."

Not everyone was in favour.

Dr Wendy Le-Las, speaking on behalf of the Boreham Parish Council and the Conservation Society, said alternative sites needed to be looked at. "It is an ambitious proposal. There will be people coming and going. It cannot be done through an outline permission and then reserved matters."

She said her clients would lobby to call in the application, which is a departure from the present Local Plan, for a public inquiry.

Eleanor Burgess, chairman of the Chelmer Valley Association, said it was premature to approve it before the new Local Plan had been settled.

"It was a mistake to get change of use of the club's original ground. If the housing planned for Boreham comes to nothing, there will not be a railway station built there."

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