Fill in stadium corners - MP

12.00.00am GMT Thu 29th Nov 2007

Site of new Colchester United Stadium

A call for the four open corners of the Colchester Community Stadium to be filled in to provide a complete enclosure of the pitch has been made by the town's MP Bob Russell who has been one of the leading advocates for a new home for Colchester United Football Club.

The stadium currently under construction at Cuckoo Farm, just off the A12 Northern By-Pass, will consist of stands on either side of the pitch and at each end - but the four corners will be left open, the intention being to fill them in at a later date should this become necessary with bigger attendances and the finance becoming available. There are no immediate plans to do this work. The new stadium will accommodate 10,000 people, all of them seated, a figure which many feel is too small bearing in mind that Colchester United are now in the Championship.

Today Mr Russell, who has supported the U's for 50 years, revealed that he had written to Colchester Borough Council - who will own the stadium - urging them to have the steelwork structure of the four corners put in during the construction of the stadium.

He said: "It will clearly be cheaper to do that now, while the builders are on site, rather than to bring them back in a couple of years' time or whatever. I appreciate that it will add to the cost now, but it will be cheaper in the long run. I also accept that there may not be funding at the moment to install the seating in the four corners, nor to fit out the space beneath this seating for whatever uses may be deemed appropriate, but that should not be a reason for delaying putting in the steel structure at each corner."

Mr Russell added that he thought the fitting out of the space in each corner could be funded by public appeals organised by supporters and local businesses. "For example, perhaps one corner could be made available to the Colchester United Supporters' Association, for them to fit out at their own expense, which I suggest would be a happy resolution to the current situation whereby CUSA will not have facilities at the new stadium to replace those which they currently have at Layer Road and which supporters over the years have funded."

He added: "What appears to be lacking at the moment with the new Community Stadium is a refusal of the Council and the Football Club to involve the community in fund-raising. If this is to be a truly community facility then I feel the community should be involved, indeed should have been involved over the past year or so as I had urged the Club to do on several occasions, so that U's supporters can feel an element of ownership and pride rather than the take or lump it attitude which currently prevails."

Mr Russell has previously suggested that one end of the new Stadium should be known as the "Layer Road end", to recognise the 100 years that football has been played at the current ground, with a commemorative area behind the stand featuring a Layer Road street sign, turf from the pitch surrounded by the engraved bricks which are currently laid outside some of the turnstiles, and a plaque with an engraving of the Layer Road ground and its history