As a long-time resident of the Hythe, I am disappointed by the piecemeal and decidedly downmarket appearance of the river developments along the Colne.

Ipswich has an excellent redeveloped waterfront, as do cities like Gloucester and Bristol among many others.

There are now plans to build more student flats on the only piece of green space on the Hythe from the old bridge downstream to King Edward Quay (Gazette, June 10, “Proposal for 300 new student flats unveiled”).

This piece of land is larger than the green riverside spaces at Rowhedge where they make a great community asset.

This could be a green lung for the overdeveloped Hythe, providing space for riverside recreation, including, as in Rowhedge, picnic tables from the local pub, The Spinnaker.

The developers, Beyond the Box, intend to provide “more than 300 high-quality, en-suite student bedrooms” and provide greater community access and a riverside path.

Since the strip of land is only 15 metres wide at the maximum and the block is going to rise to an amazing 10 storeys, access is bound to be very limited.

International students are, of course, welcome, they enrich the university and the town academically and culturally.

READ MORE:

But they also bring with them very large bucks - the economics of international students is mind boggling.

Beyond the Box runs student accommodation at Avon Way, Greenstead, and an average weekly rent seems to be £189 paid for a 48-week year.

If this applies to the Colne Quay development, then that represents a potential annual income of £9,027 per student and some £2.7million per the new development.

The university itself has its fingers in this international student very rich pie.

Some 40per cent of the student body at the University of Essex are international students, according to their own website, Wikipedia equate this to 4,300 students.

Since the lowest annual course fee quoted by the university for 2020/21 is £16,050 (many courses charge more), this represents a possible annual income of some £69million.

The new development at Colne Quay should not be allowed, as being so high, it is not in character with the modern Hythe.

The site should become a community riverside asset, but given the vested what chance is there of a happy outcome?

Dr D J Bowden,

Distillery Lane, Colchester