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A developer told councillors how he has gone out on a limb to create a prestigious research park in Haverhill which would cost over £8million.

Nic Rumsey of Carisbrooke told members of Haverhill Area Working Party meeting yesterday just acquiring the 30-acre site at Hanchet End would be costing him £3.9million, although the land was not worth that much.

He initially bought the corner site beside the Gateway roundabout, thinking he would be able to build a prestige hotel on it, but was then told by planners the whole area would have to be developed together as a business park.

“I then had to decide whether to go on with it or cut my losses,” he said. “You have to remember this was before the economy changed. The tide has gone out on me since. So now I will be spending over £8million to create something for an untested market.”

Members heard it would cost around £4.2million to prepare the site because it was on a spur of rising ground. This meant parts of it had to be engineered to create level areas.

Mr Rumsey was making the argument to back his case for St Edmundsbury Borough Council to allow him to develop a third of the site for higher-value uses such as housing or leisure.

The council last year approved a concept statement for the site which only vaguely mentioned the possibility of higher-value uses.

Mr Rumsey and Paul Sutton of agents Cheffins made a presentation about the master[plan they have drawn up for how they want to develop the site, and which they have submitted to the council.

They needed the working party to agree to public consultation going ahead as soon as possible, and the council’s chief planning officer Chris Rand told members it was a tight schedule they were hoping to work to, with Carisbrooke hoping to have first occupiers on the site by 2013.

The council’s economic development portfolio holder, Cllr Nigel Aitkens. quizzed Mr Rumsey in detail about the viability of such a huge investment in an uncertain market, especially as no one knows whether there will be a demand for research facilities in Haverhill.

But he admitted Carisbrooke and Mr Rumsey had delivered Haverhill Business Park. “If you did not have a proven track record we would be very doubtful about this,” he said. “But it is encouraging to find someone who shows such an optimistic commitment to Haverhill.”

Cllr Anne Gower said it was a ‘good news story’. “We should look at the benefits it will bring to the town,” she said. “It will position us to take advantage of the Cambridge Science Parks.”

The working party agreed to let the plan go forward to public consultation, which begins with an exhibition at Days Inn in Haverhill, starting on January 27.