I FIND claims made by Labour activist Victoria Weaver I haven't spoken in defence of the St Botolph's development odd, given that she's been at several meetings of the council and the cabinet where I've done just that.

Perhaps she's too concerned with her internal Labour Party feud with Tim Young to listen to the views of anyone else?

So, for the benefit of her and anyone else who wasn't paying attention: yes, I do support the St Botolph's development.

It would be easy to jump onto the bandwagon and oppose it, but I believe in doing the right thing for my ward and my borough, not just taking whatever opinion is politically convenient at the time.

The development of this area was a major issue when I was first elected as councillor in 2007 and has been something I've had an interest in as a ward councillor and cabinet member ever since.

During that time I've seen parts of the regeneration of that area come forward, notably Firstsite, the creative business centre in the old police station and the Curzon cinema, but I've also seen various other projects fall by the wayside because of the fiendishly difficult issues of developing in town centres - a problem not unique to Colchester.

The visions for St Botolph's have always included a mix of cultural uses, like those already delivered, commercial development, such as the proposed hotel, and residential accommodation.

This site has always been seen as somewhere with a strong residential element and I think students from Essex University and Colchester Institute living there, as well as the opportunity to use it as conference accommodation outside of term time, will provide a lot more life and vibrancy to the area than the luxury apartments that were part of some of the original visions.

Are there other schemes that could be developed in that area?

There may well be lots of ideas people have about what they'd like to see there, but all of them come with price tags that no one has suggested a way to pay.

It took years of campaigning, research and fundraising before Firstsite moved from being a dream to even a vague possibility, and even after construction started it took a huge effort by the late Martin Hunt to get it finished.

Likewise, the creative business centre took years of effort to bring about the numerous funding sources needed to make it reality.

Alongside these, though, there have been plenty of other schemes from both the public and private sectors that have fallen through because they weren't feasible for any of a number of reasons.

Thinking the council could click its fingers and have plans and funding in place for something else is pure wishful thinking, and it's especially dangerous when it comes with an expectation the council will cut spending on essential services for the many to endlessly subsidise the dreams of a few.

I support this development because I think it will be good for Colchester and especially in continuing the improvement and regeneration of the St Botolph's area.

I appreciate that others may think differently, but I hope they will stop assigning base motives to myself, Tim Young and others who support it and recognise that differing opinions are part of democracy.

Further, I would point out there are plenty of other undeveloped areas in the town and the borough and if they're so convinced their ideas are good they could perhaps put their time and energy into the hard work of developing serious and viable plans that could be developed on those, rather than wasting it on silly stunts like trespassing and removing historic artefacts.

Nick Barlow
Liberal Democrat councillor for Castle Ward