Essex County Cricket Club signs ground redevelopment deal

A model showing how the Essex county ground will look after the development

An agreement has been signed for a £80m redevelopment of Essex County Cricket Club's ground.

The club will build several apartments block around the ground to finance a new pavilion, cricket school, car park, public square and bridge.

Proposals for the redevelopment of the ground in Chelmsford date back to 2004 with permission granted in 2010.

On Monday the 140-year-old club signed an agreement with developers MCD to start building work.

A separate agreement has been reached with Chelmsford City Council to incorporate the New Writtle Street car park into the development plans.

Club treasurer Keith Brown said the agreements were a "landmark" in the history of Essex cricket.

The first phase in the redevelopment is to build a block of 62 apartments on top of the current cricket club car park.

The club said 90% of these apartments had been sold with the money used to fund the next phases in the redevelopment.