AN abandoned eyesore site in Colchester could be bulldozed and replaced with flats for students, renters, or backpackers if plans are given the green light.

Colchester Council has received a planning application from Metin Aksoy, who wants to demolish two vacant buildings located at 12-13 Magdalen Street.

Images on Google Maps show the current buildings, which are positioned between Yak & Yeti and Graphic House, have been empty since at least 2014.

Documents seen by the Gazette now show an ambition to transform the rundown space into a House in Multiple Occupation site, consisting of 23 en suite bedrooms.

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This means the complex, which would have some communal and shared facilities, could be used for student accommodation, as a hostel, or for housing.

If given the go-ahead, it will be made-up of one three-storey building of residential flats and a rear two-storey building with a separating courtyard space.

Sam McLean, Colchester councillor for New Town and Christ Church, said: “If the proposed planning application is to be student accommodation, which is not yet confirmed, then why are we building student housing miles from the university and the facilities it provides?

"There is an argument that bringing students closer to the town centre will promote our local economy.

Gazette: Sam McLean, Colchester councillor Sam McLean, Colchester councillor (Image: Newsquest)"But in recent years students have less and less disposable income to spend and would much rather be situated closer to the university.

"So, I don’t think it should be student accommodation - student accommodation guarantees transient tenants.

"Residents will live there for three years then disappear back to other parts of the country, with no long-term interest in the community."

The latest blueprints for potential student accommodation come two years after Host unveiled student flats at the former bus depot in Magdalen Street.

At the time, some residents raised concerns about the development, questioning if there was a need for student housing two miles from the University of Essex.

Speaking at the time, however, Host’s south east regional manager, Kate Wojciechowski, said she believed a lot of students want to be closer to town.

“They might work in town and want to be closer to their jobs,” she added.

Colchester Council hopes to have made a decision on Mr Aksoy’s proposal for 12-13 Magdalen Street by December 30.