A MULTI-MILLION pound court house, likened to a power station by opponents, should be given permission to be built on a Colchester car park, according to planners.

A bid for the £30million magistrates’ court on the site of St Botolph’s Car Park, near Colchester Town train station, were unveiled last year.

Residents, Colchester Civic Society and Colchester MP Bob Russell have claimed the blueprint is out of keeping with the historic surroundings of the nearby Priory.

David Stenning, of Lavender Way, said the new building would be “offensive” to people living nearby.

Mr Stenning said: “The present proposal unfortunately promises to be an alien and damaging building in this particular location.

“With a courthouse, a sense of dignity would seem essential, while avoiding undue pomposity.

“I suggest this proposal has no real symbolic content and could be mistaken for an expensive office or clinic.”

Colchester Civic Society said the new building should be immediately recognisable as “a significant public building with an aura of justice”, but said it has more the look of an educational building, or a small power station.

The four-storey court complex, with four courtrooms and a youth court, 18 cells for defendants and 18 staff car parking spaces will be built by property developers, Lambert Smith Hampton, if it gets the green light.

The Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government submitted plans to Colchester Council earlier this year.

If permission is granted, the facility will replace sites in Colchester Town Hall and Harwich. It could be built by 2012.

Colchester Council is due to hold a planning committee meeting on September 3 at the town hall, where the plans will be discussed.