COLCHESTER Council signed a legal agreement with the developer of a controversial student flats development just a day before the planning committee unanimously rejected the plans, it has been revealed.

The information has been released in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by campaigners opposed to Alumno’s scheme, which will see 336 student flats, a hotel and retail units built off Queen Street.

A lease agreement, for which Colchester Council will receive a one-off payment of about £980,000 was signed on February 27, the day before the planning committee ruled on the scheme.

The plans were rejected due to concerns over design and disabled access but approved at appeal.

Campaigners are now backing Colchester MP Will Quince’s calls for a Government inquiry into the council’s handling of the application.

Opponents say the council failed to show due diligence when a delay of 48 hours would have allowed bosses to reflect on the committee’s decision.

Leading campaigners are backing the call for an inquiry - Colchester High Steward Sir Bob Russell, former Labour Party chairman Alan Short, Colchester Civic Society chief Jo Edwards, arts expert Dorian Kelly and renowned architect John Burton.

They said: “Signing a legal agreement ahead of the planning committee making a decision, little more than 24 hours before the committee met, does seem strange and raises the question of why? Was this an attempt to bounce the committee?

“Signing the agreement has opened the council to the charge it failed to show due diligence and prudence, when a delay of 48 hours would have enabled it to reflect on the situation.

”There are other aspects of this whole affair which, we suggest, do not seem to be in keeping with the concept of democratic decision-making and transparency. Therefore, we feel there has to be an inquiry, initiated by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.”

Essex County Council has a restrictive covenant on the land which it has so far refused to lift, but Colchester Council could appropriate the land for planning purposes.

It has already bid to remove some residents access rights from a section of land behind the Curzon cinema.

Numerous objections to the “appropriation” have been lodged, but the cabinet will determine whether to accept the objections.

If the Council rejects them, then property owners who have taken independent legal advice have been told they will be entitled to substantial financial compensation from the Council.

A spokesperson for Colchester Council said: “It is not unusual for schemes of this complexity for contracts to be signed before they are discussed by planning committees.

“It was Alumno’s application, so it could only progress if a contract existed. It would never have been possible to wait until after the planning committee had considered the application before entering the contract, which was dependent on the development gaining planning permission – eventually obtained on appeal.”