A CORONAVIRUS testing centre should be set up at the University of Essex serving students returning to campus and the wider community, it has been claimed.

The idea is being pushed by Essex County Council member for the area Julie Young (Lab, Wivenhoe), who is also deputy leader of Colchester Council.

With thousands of students set to return to the Wivenhoe Park site from countries across the world over the coming weeks, Ms Young believes testing will be more important than ever to keep Colchester residents safe.

She says reports of Colchester residents being told they need to travel hundreds of miles to get a test are unacceptable.

Ms Young said: “After posting the idea online I have had people coming forward saying things like they know people who have been sent to Inverness for a test.

“Martin Ford, who runs Colchester Community First Responders, got in touch to tell me the nearest place he could get for a test was Norwich.

“I do not know exactly what is going on but it is not a good state of affairs. The Government has had plenty of time to get this sorted but they haven’t.

“With thousands of students about to come into Colchester we need to get something organised.

“There has been a lot of allegations put out there it is young people socialising which is causing the rise in cases in Britain. I do not want to see generations being pitted against each other like this. There is already sometimes tension between students and people in Colchester for various reasons.

“Whatever we can do to mitigate and make people in the community feel as safe as possible should be an absolute priority.”

This month the Gazette revealed some residents of the town were being told to take a four hour drive to Rochdale in order to be tested.

Carer Nicholas Collins, 63, who has to take tests every fortnight for work, was also told he would need to undertake a 300 mile round trip to a testing centre on the Welsh border.

Ms Young is in discussions with both university bosses and Essex County Council’s director of public health Mike Gogarty about the idea.

She said: “The students start to return on September 18 so there isn’t much time. I have spoken to the university and they done a really good risk assessment for when the students return. A test centre would really definitely improve things for both students and residents.”

University of Essex Registrar Bryn Morris said: “We recognise the importance of having an NHS testing site at our Colchester Campus and we’re encouraging public health leads at Essex County Council to locate a facility on a site we have made available for a testing unit.

“This will support the extensive protection measures we already have in place to keep our students and staff as safe as possible as they return to our campuses.”