Copford Colchester centre of development plan for 90 flats

Anchor Housing has submitted blueprints to planning bosses at Colchester Council which show a detailed desire to build an assisted living block of 90 flats in Copford.

If the proposals are given the green light, an extension to Dorothy Curtice Court, an existing development of sheltered accommodation, could also be established. 

The hope is by providing specialist housing for older people in the area other accommodation in the city and its surrounding areas will be freed-up for younger families.

In the application a spokesman said: “The proposed development will include specialist design features to enable residents to live independently in their own homes but with care and wellness services provided as and when required.

“The proposal provides a much desired housing choice for the older people of Copford and the wider Colchester community.

"In turn, through having this aspiration choice existing family homes will be freed up by enabling local people to downsize.”

The two new buildings will be made up of 32 one-bedroom and 40 two-bedroom flats in the assisted living block, and 13 one-bedroom flats and five two-bedroom flats in the extension to Dorothy Curtice Court.

The development would also have communal facilities, amenity space, parking for cars and bicycles and electric charging points.

The London Road site is understood to have been allocated as being suitable for a development if this kind in Colchester Council’s recently-passed local plan.

It is also considered an attractive proposition due to the number of local services which would be accessible on foot, towards either Stanway or Marks Tey.

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The sheltered accommodation site would also have access to local buses, which connect Copford to Colchester and Chelmsford, while the nearest bus stop is Westbury Close, just 150 metres away.

Marks Tey railway station is also only roughly one kilometre from the development, which can take passengers to the likes of Ipswich and London.

If Colchester Council approves the plans, the construction would, however, have to be conducted outside of an area considered medium risk flood zone.

Since the application for the development became public, however, other concerns about the proposals have been raised by residents.

One said: "I object to this proposal on the grounds Queensberry Avenue is not suitable for construction traffic access [nor] the volume of traffic accessing the new housing.

"These factors are likely to lead to noise, dirt, congestion, danger to pedestrians and difficulty of access for current residents of the Queensberry Avenue development."