A RALLYING cry was sounded last night for two councils to team up and create a new park and ride scheme for a major Essex town.A number of park and ride schemes are currently under consideration for Colchester.

A RALLYING cry was sounded last night for two councils to team up and create a new park and ride scheme for a major Essex town.

A number of park and ride schemes are currently under consideration for Colchester.

Colchester Borough Council is looking at a park and ride scheme in north Colchester as part of the Cuckoo Farm and 10,000-seat community stadium project, as well as a park and ride for west Colchester near Stanway.

In the longer term, the council is also looking at building a park and ride scheme for east Colchester because large volumes of people travel into Colchester from both Harwich and Clacton.

But yesterday Labour St Andrew's councillor Julie Young called for the eastern option to be ranked above the western option because of congestion at Clingoe Hill and the number of visitors to the town coming in from the north Essex coast.

She said: “I believe a park and ride for the east of the town is a high priority and an urgent meeting should be set up with Tendring District Council to find possible sites and to discuss the possibility of joint funding such a scheme.

“The traffic at Clingoe Hill is a nightmare and 200 extra homes are planned near Essex University. Commuters to the west of Colchester tend to travel to London or Chelmsford, not Colchester.

“But commuters to the east of Colchester tend to commute into Colchester. The park and ride scheme for the east of town makes sense.”

Leader of Tendring District Council Terry Allen said he welcomed contact with Colchester Borough Council but warned he was loath to spend Tendring taxpayers' money on projects in Colchester.

He added: “We would look at anything that would help regeneration in Tendring. Without knowing the details of this particular project I can't comment in detail, but I would rather have a park and ride scheme in our area.”

John Jowers, leader of Colchester Borough Council, said he welcomed Mrs Young's request for the matter to be looked into but he warned that previous studies had cast doubt over whether a bus route could be laid on from the east of Colchester that would ease congestion at Clingoe Hill.

He said: “She is doing just as one would expect a ward councillor to do and we want to look at it.

“Previous studies showed there was a reasonable case for a park and ride in the east of Colchester but what we could not find was a suitable bus route.”