Colchester City Centre Masterplan SPD

Ended on the 31 July 2023
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(45) 02 Vision and Masterplan

Vision

Colchester was the UK’s first city, and regained its status in 2022 to become one of its newest, too. It has all the potential to meet the twin challenges of the climate emergency and wider economic trends with bold, yet pragmatic, approaches.

Together, the proposals in this plan will support Colchester’s development over the coming decades, with a respect for its past and ambition for its future.

Colchester’s heritage should be source of pride for residents, and attract visitors from across the region and the country. Development of the city centre must create quality streets and spaces that provide the perfect setting for historic buildings, and make a walkable, enjoyable environment for everyone.

The city centre economy should be amplified with more diverse activities, including markets, community uses, independent retail and food and drink, and workspace for the creative and digital sector. This will create more high quality jobs in the city centre and sustain other businesses in turn.

People living in the city centre also sustain local businesses and make it a lively and vibrant place. Good quality and affordable homes, tapping into the appeal of city centre living, will support local shops and services, and the transition to low-carbon lifestyles.

As many people as possible should walk, cycle or use public transport to travel into the city centre. This is critical for reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality, and making the city a more pleasant place to spend time. This means re- connecting neighbourhoods to the city centre with attractive and easy walking and cycling routes; and improving public transport, particularly bus provision and including the new Rapid Transit System.

Reducing unnecessary traffic will mean that people who still need to travel into the city centre by car, will be able to do so more reliably. They should be able to park in safe and accessible locations, or be dropped off and picked up easily. Deliveries to and from businesses, by day and night, must be fully considered, along with improving the interchanges between different modes of transport.

map

Developing the Masterplan

The diagram overleaf outlines the structure of the Masterplan. The column to the left lists the five layers of the City Centre Masterplan, each corresponding to a theme from the Better Colchester Strategic Plan 2020-2023. The column to the right lists the ten urban design strategies that support the masterplan; each masterplan layer aligns with two corresponding urban design strategies.

In this document, the five Masterplan layers are separated onto their own pages: taken all together they form the City Centre Masterplan.

The masterplan layers take a wider view on the city centre, considering the connections between the city centre and its immediate wider surroundings.

The urban design strategies take a more detailed view, and focus on interventions within the retail heart of the city centre. The interventions shown in the urban design strategies also work towards achieving the objectives set out in their corresponding thematic masterplan layer.

Suggested interventions include both measures and changes that can be linked to a specific city centre geographical location, as well as those that cannot, but are equally as important for implementation to achieve the Masterplan objectives.

Actively respond to the climate emergency > Linking to the wider area, Environment and sustainability Provide a safe, healthy, active and accessible city centre > Public realm, open space and landscape; Permeability and connectivity Diversify city centre uses to encourage footfall > Land use strategy; Building heights, density and built form Support the city centre economy to everyone’s benefit > Diverse economy; Land assembly and delivery Make the most of Colchester’s rich heritage > Protecting and integrating with heritage buildings; Placemaking within the city centre

Actively Respond to the Climate Emergency

Masterplan Layer

This masterplan layer aims to reduce pollution and carbon emissions by providing ways for nearby communities to travel to the city centre by walking, cycling and public transportation. This includes providing spaces for residents to park their cars on the periphery of the city centre and switch to more sustainable travel options while moving around the city centre.

In the context of a heavily built up and historic city centre, the measures that can have the greatest positive impact on the environment while being least disruptive to the historic fabric are related to transportation and reducing emissions from motor vehicles.

Therefore, the first set of strategic moves relate to linking wider communities, providing sustainable modes of travel into the city centre. This includes defining city gateways, which serve as entry points into the city centre and allow for travellers coming by car, bus or rail to switch to more sustainable modes of travel.

The second set of strategic moves relate to environment and sustainability within the city centre. They aim to reduce congestion and emissions in the city centre, and provide modes of sustainable travel to get around the city centre.

Linking to communities in the wider area

  1. Encouraging active travel with high quality strategic walking and cycling routes
  2. Improving public transport and ensuring integration of the future Rapid Transit System (RTS)
  3. Defining key city gateways as arrival points
  4. Improvements to existing car parks


Environment and sustainability

  1. Implementing a car-lite city centre and a zero-emissions zone in the city centre
  2. Ensuring key north-south and east-west city centre corridors provide clear, legible routes for active travel.

What We Learned

  • Road traffic growth and significant congestion can occur during peak times on the limited number of routes in and out of the city centre
  • A large part of the city centre is covered by an Air Quality Management Area due to emissions from road traffic
  • A dispersed bus facility model in the city centre due to the its existing ring road configuration
  • The Colchester Rapid Transit System proposals aiming for a ‘trackless tram’ connecting east to University of Essex Colchester Campus and Tendring/Colchester Borders Garden Community
  • Pre-pandemic car parking data indicates up to 800 public car parking spaces available across the city centre during peak periods
  • Extensive network of walking and cycling routes in and around Colchester.

What You Said

  • Poor public transport options for accessing the city when travelling from outside of the city centre; the park and ride would be an alternative, but it is just as quick, easy and cheaper to drive and park in the city centre
  • Traffic is a big problem at most times of the day
  • There is an appetite for using car modes less and using alternative modes more.
The image is a map of Colchester showing the transport corridors with an insert key to the bottom left. A blue dotted line with an arrow shows the wider cycling routes and these are shown going down Military Road, off Southway towards Abbey Fields. Maldon Road, Crouch Street, West Stockwell Street towards North Station Road and Maidenburgh Street leading to Cowdray Avenue. A solid blue line shows the proposed Rapid Transit System (RTS) corridor, this is shown on East Street, Queen Street, St Johns Street, North Hill leading to North Station Road and the High Street. A green solid line with arrows show the city centre corridors, the north to south corridor is shown starting with an arrow pointing north at East Stockwell Street, crossing the High Street and continuing down Lion Walk to Vineyard Street, and towards Southway ending with an arrow pointing south towards the Abbey Fields. The second north to south corridor runs parallel with the previous and starts with a north arrow on West Stockwell Street, crosses the High Street, goes down Pelhams Lane onto Culver Street West and continues down Trinity Street onto Schergate Steps and ends at Southway with an arrow pointing south towards Abbey Fields. The east to west corridor starts at Firstsite and goes west through the city centre along Culver Street East and West, across Head Street and down Church Street to Balkerne Hill where it ends with an arrow pointing west towards Hilly Fields. The other east to west corridor starts with an arrow pointing east on Priory Street and runs along Eld Lane and Sir Isaacs Walk, across Head Street and down Crouch Street where it ends in an arrowing point west. The next inset key is the city gateways shown with a blue circle, one located at St Botolphs area, one located on Crouch Street and one located at the bottom of North Hill. The improved bus interchange zone is shown in blue horizontal lines where the existing bus station is located. Improvements to existing car parks are shown on the map in blue. These include Butt Road, St Johns Multi-Storey, Osborne Street, Priory Street, All Saints House, NCP High Street, Middleborough, Sheepen Road and St Mary’s Car Park. The proposed car-lite city centre and Zero Emission Zone is shown in turquoise and includes the city centre inside of St Johns Street, Priory Street, East Hill, along the High Street and parts of Crouch Street. A red dotted line circles the core city centre area and a grey dotted line marks the wider area. To the right of the inset keys shows a north arrow and a scale bar.
 

Linking to Communities in the Wider Area

Urban Design Strategy

Interventions include:

  1. Active travel
    • Ensure safe routes into the centre and key activity destinations by walking and cycling
    • Improve cycling and walking routes from mainline station to the city centre, and from city centre to University campus and Tendring/Colchester Borders Garden Community
    • Wider cycling route connections (beyond those in LCWIP) - including those in Colchester Cycling Campaign’s analysis shallow gradient alternative to North Hill (route through Dutch Quarter) and the shallow gradient alternative to East Hill (Rosebery Avenue through to Britannia Yard).
    • Segregated cycle lanes along East Hill, North Station Road/ North Hill (narrow carriageway to 6m), and Lexden Road (upgrade from advisory to full segregation)
  2. Rapid Transit System (RTS) - Ensure effective integration in order to deliver accessibility, speed and reliability
  3. Buses
    • Enhancement of the quality of all bus infrastructure
    • Investigate opportunities to enhance night transport to support evening/night workers, as well as visitors
    • Improved passenger waiting facilities and provision of additional Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) screens to support increased bus use
    • Use of technology and traditional information wayfinding to encourage use of public transport
    • Investigate the potential to extend bus service timetables further into the evening and on Sundays to/from park and ride locations
    • Working with bus operators to identify opportunities for rationalising services to reduce bus congestion, whilst protecting levels of service
    • Potential use of land at or close to Stanwell House site as a means of expanding existing facility at Osborne Street, for bus stands to free up congestion within the city centre core
    • Investigate the potential to run a frequent shuttle service from Colchester rail station through the city centre.
  4. City gateways
    • Areas at major road junctions that serve as regional arrival and departure points that allow for interchanges between medium or long- distance travel modes (car, RTS, buses, Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), and/or rail) with last-mile modes
    • Priority city gateway: St Botolph’s roundabout
  5. Improvements to existing car parks
    • Implement flexible parking charges (pay on exit
      or a linear tariff)
    • Enhance car parking with attractive access forecourts and internal pedestrian routes
    • Integrate electric vehicle charging infrastructure
    • Expand the car club offer with additional allocated space at car parking and promotion
    • Index-link parking fees with public transport, park and ride and shared transport options
    • Support the use of park and ride through a reduction of long-stay parking options
    • Create satellite urban logistics hub at car parks with spare capacity
    • Ensure parking provision continues to meet demand when carparks earmarked for redevelopment are redeveloped
  6. Accessibility and inclusivity
    • Implement inclusive and accessible wayfinding focussed on movement between arrival points and places of interest
    • Ensure well-designed, accessible car parking at key locations.
Car sharing station, Bremen, Germany
 

The image shows a map of Colchester transport corridors with an insert key to the bottom left. A large dotted line with arrows shows the improved walking and cycling route, these include North hill leading to North Station Road and Magdalen Street. A blue dotted line with an arrow shows the wider cycling routes and these are shown on Military Road, off Southway towards Abbey Fields, Maldon Road, Crouch Street, West Stockwell Street towards North Station Road and Maidenburgh Street leading to Cowdray Avenue. A solid blue line shows the proposed Rapid Transit System (RTS) corridor, this is shown on East Street, Queen Street, St Johns Street, North Hill leading to North Station Road and the High Street. The city gateways are shown with a blue circle, one located at St Botolphs area, one located on Crouch Street and one located at the bottom of North Hill. The improved bus interchange zone is shown in blue horizontal lines where the existing bus station is located. Improvements to existing car parks are shown on the map in blue. These include Butt Road, St Johns Multi-Storey, Osborne Street, Priory Street, All Saints House, NCP High Street, Middleborough and Sheepen Road and St Mary’s Car Park. Car Parks earmarked for development are shown in blue with diagonal lines, these include Osborne Street, Vineyard and Britannia Car Parks. A red dotted line encircles the core city centre area. To the right of the inset keys shows a north arrow and a scale bar.

Environment and Sustainability

Urban Design Strategy

Interventions include:

  1. Car-lite access restrictions
    • Allows buses, taxis, goods vehicles and cycles only within the city centre central core (including High Street and St John’s Street), with access-only streets for private motor traffic
    • Can help connect green spaces, leisure, sport and community hubs through active travel, and would drastically improve the pedestrian and cyclist environment
    • Reducing motor traffic levels to volumes (500 vehicles per hour or lower) would meet LTN 1/20 standards for mixing cycling with motor traffic
    • Long-term goal: implement a Zonal Traffic Circulation plan to the wider-area to significantly reduce through-traffic in the city centre
  2. City centre Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ)
    • Reduce motor traffic volumes in the urban core to create a more pleasant environment for walking and cycling, and improve localised air quality
    • Can support modal shift towards zero/low carbon modes and sustainable travel and further provide interventions that will help to mitigate the negative impacts from private car use.
  3. City centre corridors
    • Key east-west and north-south corridors that aim to consolidate and extend pedestrian-friendly streets, create coherent active travel experiences between key sites and rationalise vehicular movement. Highest priority corridors are:
    • Balkerne Gate - Culver Street West - priority east-west corridor between St Mary’s Car Park to the west, the Mercury Theatre, through to Firstsite to the east
    • Red Lion Yard - Stanwell Street - priority north-south corridor from the Dutch Quarter through the core city centre, Vineyard Gate, the improved bus interchange at Osborne Street, down to the Roman Circus to the south
  4. Sustainable travel modes within the city centre
    • Implement a Digital Demand Responsive Transport (DDRT) service along city centre corridors - a flexible shuttle-bus that creates routes based on demand and data from users
    • Expand and enhance the existing shared micro-mobility offer (cycles for hire, e-scooters) within and around the city centre, including: integrating micromobility services / mobility hubs at car parks
  5. Delivery consolidation
    • Integrate parcel lockers on streets with high footfall, transport interchanges and car parks
    • Create a last-mile delivery hub near Colchester Town rail station
  6. Additional built fabric interventions
    • Retrofit at scale - seek adaptive reuse of existing structures where possible, to reduce embodied carbon impacts
    • New buildings to be built and older buildings to be refurbished with net zero in mind
    • Review opportunities for roofspace solar panels or green roofs
    • Long-term goal: zero waste zones within the city centre.

Restricted vehicular access allowing for on street spill out, Exmouth Market, London

Zero Emission Zone in Oxford

The image shows a map of Colchester city centre showing the delivery and distribution locations, it includes an inset key to the bottom left corner. In turquoise the proposed car-lite city centre and Zero Emission Zone is shown and includes the city centre inside of St Johns Street, Priory Street, East Hill, the High Street and parts of Crouch Street. Lines in a darker turquoise show the City centre corridors. These include the High Street down to East Hill, Crouch Street along to St Johns Street and Eld Lane down to Priory Street. The Priority city centre corridors are shown in dark green. These run along Culver Street East and West and East Stockwell Street south through the centre to Londinium Road. The micromobility hub locations are shown in a circle shaded turquoise and are located in various locations around the city including, one on either side of Southway, one on Head Street where it meets St Johns Street, two on crouch Street, one on Balkerne Hill, One near the Mercury Theatre, one where North Hill meets the High Street, three on the High Street, one on East Hill, one on Queen Street and one on Priory Street. A circle outline shaded in a light turquioise shows the Parcel locker locations, these are located near the Town Station, Crouch Street, Balkerne Hill, High Street, East Hill and Vineyard Street. The last mile delivery hub is located near the Town Station and is shown in a dark green shaded circle. A red dotted line encircles the core city centre area. To the right of the inset keys shows a north arrow and a scale bar.

Provide a Safe, Healthy, Active and Accessible City Centre

Masterplan Layer

This masterplan layer is primarily focused on integrating improvements to the public realm with increased cycle access and enhanced pedestrian experience of the city centre.

The first set of strategic moves relate to improved pedestrian and cycle permeability into and within the city centre. This is supported by providing new and improved pedestrian crossings across large vehicular routes and ensuring new pedestrian routes as part of new developments.

The second set of strategic moves, which are related to public realm, involve creating a Roman Wall Park, animating the river Colne and improving the public realm around Southway in conjunction with the proposed improved crossing points.

Public realm, open space and landscape

  1. Roman Wall Park - new city park that considers the Roman Wall and its setting in its entirety
  2. Animating the river and using it to its full potential as a social and economic driver
  3. Public realm improvements along Southway
  4. Design vision for High Street and Head Street
  5. Design vision for St Bolotph’s Street, St John’s Street and Osborne Street

Permeability and connectivity

  1. Improved connection to Colchester mainline station
  2. Improved key junctions and introducing new pedestrian crossings
  3. Improved pedestrian connectivity with the Roman Circus
  4. Long-term aspiration of reinstating the Culver Street East and West connection

What We Learned

  • Stark pedestrian severance across Southway
  • Topography creates challenges for active travel
  • Disconnected and disjointed cycling routes
  • Health and disability deprivation primarily affecting residents within the city centre and areas to the east/southeast - opportunity to improve access to greenspaces.

What You Said

  • Conflict between pedestrians and cyclists/e- scooter users travelling on pavements
  • Public gathering spaces are important as they offer informal, low pressure environment for interaction
  • Concerns around safety in Crouch Street underpass
  • Wish for segregated, continuous and direct cycle lanes and safe cycle cycle parking distributed throughout the city centre.

The image shows the public realm and connections map of Colchester city and below the map is an inset key. A dark green line shows the Roman wall park, this circles the inner city, around Castle Park, Priory Street, St Johns Street, Balkerne Hill and back to Castle Park. The improved riverside public realm is shown in light green and follows the River Colne to the north of the city. Green horizontal lines show the public realm improvements along Southway. A green dotted line shows the High Street and Head Street design vision. A dashed green line shows the Queen Street/St Botolphs Street and St Johns Street/ Osborne Street design vision. A light green dotted line shows the improved connection to Colchester mainline station, this goes from Butt Road south of the city centre, through Head Street and down North Hill and North Station Road to the Mainline station. A mid green dotted line shows the improved connection to Roman Circus. This starts at St Johns Street and goes south the Roman Circus. A mid green arrow shows the reinstated and improved links, this includes a new link through the former Marks and Spencer Store. A green flower shape shows where the improved key junctions and new pedestrian crossings will be, these include St Botolphs roundabout, three locations on Southway, junction where Head Street, Crouch Street and St Johns Street meet. The Roman Circus to the south of the city is shown in a light green colour. The former Marks and Spencer’s store is shown in green with green diagonal lines. A red dotted line encircles the core city centre area and a grey dotted line marks the wider area. Below the inset key is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Permeability and connectivity

Urban Design Strategy

Interventions include:

  1. Accessible and inclusive city centre
    • Any new intervention should comply to the highest standard of accessibility and inclusion requirements
    • Implement inclusive and accessible wayfinding focussed on movement between arrival points and places of interest, including from Colchester and Colchester Town rail station to major city centre destinations
  2. High Street - Improved as a multi-functional, low-traffic public space which balances the needs of all users, rather than prohibiting vehicular traffic entirely - for more detail refer to Design Frameworks in section 3
  3. Improved connection to Colchester mainline station along North Station Road - Improved pedestrian environment including wider footpaths, cycling infrastructure, signage, etc.
  4. Connectivity, active travel improvements and public realm upgrade of the three city gateways in order to mark arrival and orient visitors towards the shopping core and key attractions
  5. New pedestrian crossings at Southway to improve connectivity with surrounding neighbourhoods
  6. Improved public realm and pedestrian crossing at Queen Street junction with Culver Street East
  7. Improve Head Street / St John’s Street / Crouch Street junction
  8. Improved pedestrian links
    • From Vineyard Gate to Eld Lane (including lift/accessible route)
    • Explore long-term feasibility of reconnecting Culver Street East and West with landowners
  9. Improved pedestrian connectivity with the Roman Circus
  10. Ensure new developments make provisions for new routes that enable sites to connect well to their surroundings
    • Ensure new developments include infrastructure that enables and encourages active travel.

Improved junction and pedestrian realm

South End, Croydon, London

Segregated cycle path

Lyon, France

Narrowed carriageways and improved pedestrian environment on high street - Fishergate, Preston​​​

The image shows the City centre gateways and links maps of Colchester city. An inset key includes improvements along the High Street shown in green. A green dotted line shows the connection to Colchester mainline station. A green arrow shows the reinstated and improved links across the city, including new crossings on Southway, a pedestrian link through the former Marks and Spencers building, and along Queens Street. A dotted arrow shows paths through new developments, including Vinyeyard gate, St Botolphs and The Bus Depot Site. New pedestrian crossings are shown in a light green circle located along Southway and Culver Street/Queen Street. A darker green circle shows improved Head Street/St Johns Street/ Crouch Street Junction. A larger green circle shows the upgrade of the city gateways located on St Botolphs, Southway and the bottom of North Hill. The former Marks and Spencers store is shown in green with green diagonal lines. Key sites are shown in a red outline and include, Vineyard Gate, St Botolphs and the Former Bus Depot. A red dotted line encircles the core city centre area. Below the inset key is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Public Realm, Open Space and Landscape

Urban Design Strategy

Interventions include:

  1. Roman Wall Park - new city park that considers the Roman Wall and its setting in its entirety with joined up existing open spaces along the walls and walking routes as close to Wall as possible
    • Ensure new developments create public access to the Wall, work with landowners to link currently disconnected areas and increase public access to both sides of the Wall, improve public realm around the Wall to enhance its setting
  2. Develop integrated design for High Street and Head Street as a multi-functional public space which meets the needs of priority users and businesses
  3. Develop design vision for Queen Street / St Botolph’s Street and St John’s Street / Osborne Street that integrates public transport, cycling and walking and create attractive and safe streets at all times of day and night
  4. Develop design vision for Southway, integrating at-grade crossings, tree planting and pavements (also unlocks potential development sites adjacent)
  5. Continue to improve city squares and churchyards
  6. Continue to improve lanes within core city centre area as level surface streets to improve accessibility for pedestrian users, in particular people with mobility and visual impairments
  7. Develop riverside access and amenities - e.g. paddleboarding, swimming, canoeing
  8. Introduce public realm design code covering surfacing, lighting, street furniture and planting to ensure consistency and legibility - further explained in relation to city centre character areas in Placemaking Within the City Centre
    urban design strategy.

Tower of London Superbloom, London

High quality high street public realm - Eastgate Street, Chester

Transformation of a historic boulevard with a series of heritage installations along it - Princes Avenue, Liverpool​​

The image shows the Colchester city historical Environment and connections map. An inset key below shows a dark green line showing the Roman wall park, this circles the inner city, around Castle Park, Priory Street, along St Johns street, down Balkerne Hill and back to Castle Park. Green horizontal lines show the public realm improvements along Southway. A green dotted line shows the High Street and Head Street design vision. A dashed green line shows the Queen Street/St Botolphs Street and St Johns Street/ Osborne Street design vision. A green line shows the lane improvements through the inner city streets surrounding culver street. A grey area with diagonal lines shows the squares and churchyard improvements, some of these include Firstsite, St Botolph’s Priory, The Natural History museum and St Peters Church to name a few. Castle park is shown in green dots. A red dotted line encircles the core city centre area.

Diversify City Centre Uses to Encourage Footfall

Masterplan Layer

This masterplan layer and accompanying urban design strategies provide frameworks for future development in the city centre. With the appropriate land use and built form parameters, new uses such as housing can be introduced into the city centre in a contextually-sensitive and economically beneficial way.

In order to to establish a vibrant mix of uses that result in an active, sustainable city centre and support both an active daytime and nightime economy, the first urban design strategy relates to appropriate land uses of both ground and upper floors.

The accompanying urban design strategy relates to appropriate building heights, with a particular aim at informing the height and massing of any new city centre development, including new residential allocations as defined in the Local Plan.

Both urban design strategies use character areas to define appropriate uses and built form for each individual area.

Land use strategy

  1. Achieving an appropriate and sustainable mix of uses that activates the city centre
  2. Ensuring an appropriate balance of uses within the Primary Shopping Area.

More detailed development frameworks have been prepared for the following key sites:

  • Former bus station site
  • Britannia Yard
  • Vineyard Gate

Building heights, density and built form

  1. Ensure new developments are of appropriate city centre height and density.

What We Learned

  • Areas in and near the city centre have seen population growth in families with school-age children and older people
  • 55+ population will grow at faster rate than overall population during next decade
  • A challenge for Colchester is to encourage residents to visit the city centre throughout the week
  • Academic research on the estimated impact of working from home at the MSOA (neighbourhood) level indicates that Colchester city centre could be negatively affected by home working.

What You Said

  • There was concern from some respondents related to building additional housing in the city centre; this was mostly related to impacts on traffic and the historic environment, both of which need careful consideration.

The image shows the City Centre allocations and designations map, an inset key below the map shows a light brown area showing the city centre allocations as defined in the Local Plan. The dark brown areas show the new residential allocation as defined in the Local Plan, these include the ABRO site, the former Lexden Road Hospital and St Runwalds Car Park site. Yellow diagonal lines shows the character areas across the City including Castle Park. A red line outlines the key sites for development, these are Vineyard Gate, The Former Bus Depot and Britannia car park. A red dotted line encircles the core city centre area and a grey dotted line marks the wider area. To the right of the inset key is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Land Use Strategy

Urban Design Strategy

The aim is to establish a vibrant mix of uses in order to ensure an active, sustainable city centre, creating both active day time and nightime economies.

Prioritising identity areas around different uses within existing character areas to ensure a cohesive series of distinct areas are defined. The following uses within existing character areas are encouraged:

Retail and city centre uses, including restaurant, bar and cafe uses, cultural and community facilities, and other entertainment and leisure uses. Commercial or residential upper floor uses to be permitted, with residential use mix to be compatible with a city centre location.
Ground flood use class: E and sui generis
Potential for upper floor residential, use class: C

Retail centre uses should meet the requirements set out in the Local Plan:

  • Maintain a high proportion of retail uses on each Primary Street Frontage within the Primary Shopping Area (70%)
  • Within the Secondary Street Frontages support will be given for the continuing role of retail uses supported by other activity-generating city centre uses which enhance the vitality and activity of the area, including food and drink premises, non- residential institutions and leisure uses, at ground floor level (50%).

Potential for upper floor residential, use class: C

Predominantly residential with some active ground floor uses compatible with residential uses.
Use class: C3

New residential-led development with some active ground floor uses. Refer to site-specific strategies for recommended use mix

Predominantly cultural institutions with associated open space. Use class: F1 and sui generis

Predominantly commercial, business, service or community uses, with potential for commercial or residential at upper floors

Educational uses

Transport and car parking.

Integration of new with old, active ground floors with residential upper floors - Angel, London

Active corner in a new build within a historic urban fabric adding life to an evening on the street - Bermondsey, London

Active ground floors and outdoor seating supported by a high quality public realm - Shaw’s Road, Altrincham, Greater Manchester

The image shows the City centre land uses map and inset key. The green area shows the retail city centre uses which include the main centre of the city from St Johns Street to the High Street, North Hill and parts of Crouch Street and St Botolphs Street. A small area of Magdalen Street and Military Road is included. The retail centre uses that meet the Local Plan requirements are shown in green with diagonal lines, this covers the main city centre area from Head Street to Queen Street and St Johns Street to the High Street. The brown areas on the map shows the predominately residential areas, which includes large area behind the high street down to St Peters Street. It also includes areas south of Southway and parts of Military Road and Magdalen Street. The purple areas show the predominantly cultural institutions, and these include Firstsite, The Mercury and Jumbo, the Natural History Museum and St Botolphs Priory. The predominantly commercial, business, service or community areas are shown in orange and are located south of Southway and the Middleborough area. The grey areas show the Transport and car parking and include Osborne Street, Town Station and St Johns Street Car Park. New residential-led development is shown in red diagonal lines and include Britannia Car Par, Vineyard Gate and the old Bus Depot. To the right of the inset key is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Building Heights, Density and Built Form

Urban Design Strategy

The building heights framework uses character areas to determine zones of appropriate building heights. Maximum heights are determined by the prevalent building form within each character areas, the city centre’s topography and opportunities for potential new views and landmarks. Key views to existing landmark should be preserved and protected.

The heights strategy follows the following principles:

  • Consolidate taller scale around High Street / Head Street and within lower topographical areas which allow for screening.
  • Sensitive scale required within the Dutch Quarter and other low-scale residential neighbourhoods
  • Ensuring appropriate heights and built form that enhance the setting of heritage assets.

For height, density and built form with development sites, refer to Design Frameworks in section 3.

Key

1 storey

2 storeys

3 storeys

4 storeys

5 storeys

6 storeys

7+ storeys

Core city centre area

The image shows the existing building heights in the city centre map. An inset key lists the different heights, one storey buildings are shown in yellow and are mainly out of the city centre in the suburbs. Two storeys are shown in orange and are mainly surrounding the city centre. Three storeys are shown in darker orange and can be seen in the city centre, down the high street and main shopping streets. Four story buildings are shown in pink and are mainly the big car parks like St Johns Street and Osborne Street and also Debenhams and Fenwicks. Five storey buildings can be seen on the outskirts of town to the north and south. The only seven storey building that can be seen is Jumbo shown in black. A red dotted line circles the core city centre area.
Existing heights plan, extract from Appraisal Report

City centre residential housing with public realm and neighbouring listed church - Timekeepers Square, Salford

Award-winning residential development next to a historic water tower The Avenue, Saffron Walden

Mix of old and new with a range of heights respectful of existing character - Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London​​

The image is of the proposed maximum building heights map of the city. The inset key lists the maximum building heights across the city. A yellow colour shows the buildings with maximum 2.5 storeys, these are shown between Military Road and Mersea Road, around the Butt Road area, parts of Southway to the south. St Johns Street and Eld Lane are also shown in yellow along with a large area between the High Street and St Peters Street. An orange shade shows the buildings with a maximum of three storeys and they are shown down North Hill, along Culver Street east and west, along Priory Street area and at the eastern end of the High Street and East Hill. The buildings with a maximum of four storeys are shown in a light brown colour and are mainly along the High Street and Head Street, North Hill, along St Peters Street, the south side of Southway leading to Crouch Street and areas of New Town. Maximum of 5 storey buildings are shown in brown and are located in what is currently Brittania Car Park, the northern side of Southway and Firstsite area. A maximum of seven storey buildings are only located in the Middleborough area of the city. Key sites in the city are shown with a red line around them and include the former bus depot area, areas to the north of Southway, and two locations in the St Botolphs area. Refer to the design framework for more information on key sites. Existing landmark buildings in the city are shown with a black outline and include, St Botolphs Church, St Botolphs Priory, St James Church, The Natural History Museum, The Colchester Castle, lion Walk United Reformed Church, the Officers Club, The Town Hall, St Peters Church and Jumbo. The former Bus Depot site has a black star on it which refers to an opportunity for a new landmark building to be in this location. Dashed lines with an arrowhead are shown on the map as key views across the city. One key view is shown from North station Road pointing towards Jumbo and St Peters Church. Another view starts on the high street and points towards Jumbo. Another view starts at St James Church and points towards The Town Hall. Other views are shown pointing at Lion Walk United Reformed Church from Eld Lane and The Officers Club. A red dashed line is showing the core city centre area. Below the inset key is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Support the City Centre Economy to Everyone’s Benefit

Masterplan Layer

This masterplan layer aims to guide the future economy of the city centre, creating a framework for diversifying uses away from a reliance on retail by strengthening the existing cultural, workspace and evening offer to re-energise the city centre’s economy.

This means ensuring that there are options in the city centre that aren’t only about shopping. These can include eating out, experiences, leisure, meeting friends, events, festivals, heritage tours etc. The strategic moves include strengthening the two clusters of cultural spaces at either end of High Street and ensuring strong links between them. Expanding the offer of cultural events, supporting the evening economy and establishing links with the University will aid in attracting and retaining a younger workforce. The local economy can also be supported through updates to the current outdoor market. Finally, opportunities for circular re-use should form part of the city centre’s future economy.

Diverse economy

  1. Uses and mix of uses along within the Primary Shopping Area to support the city centre’s role at the top of the centre hierarchy
  2. Support and strengthen the creative and digital clusters at either end of High Street and links between them
  3. Incorporate workspaces as part of new developments
  4. New uses for empty department stores
  5. Support links with the University of Essex Colchester Campus
  6. Support the evening and nightime economy.

What We Learned

  • Against comparators, Colchester appears to have more nightime, retail and hospitality businesses and jobs; 30% of the city centre’s jobs are in retail, hospitality, leisure and recreation - these are important for vitality but often experience low pay and poor job security
  • Strong and diverse arts, cultural, digital and creative sector
  • Despite a regular influx of students coming to the University or Essex, retention of young working professionals is low
  • A variety of new sectors such as ICT, media, creative services and engineering have appeared in the city centre in the last five years.

What You Said

  • Digital and creative sector struggling to attract high quality staff, despite availability of jobs
  • Wish for a larger variety of the city centre offer
  • Businesses would like to see increased spend as pat of post-Covid recovery
  • Closure of M&S and Debenhams are opportunities to introduce more local, independent businesses and community facilities
  • Independent shops are an asset to the city and should be supported and protected
  • Improved evening offer and concerns about the city centre atmosphere and safety at night
  • Young adults not feeling like there is an offer suited for them in the city centre
  • More activities for kids and teenagers in the city centre e.g. trampolining, festivals, concerts, sports facilities
  • Dispersed offer of weekly market, positive views on monthly farmers market.

The image is of a map showing the facilities and connections in the city centre. An inset key below the map lists the primary shopping areas, creative and digital clusters, existing and creative and cultural spaces within clusters, new development with SME workspace, enhanced links between creative and digital clusters, former department stores for adaption, wider links to the University of Essex and the evening economy areas. The primary shopping areas are shown in red diagonal lines, and cover from Head Street, High Street, Queen Street and St Johns Street and all within that area. The creative and digital clusters are shown as pink circles and includes the Mercury, The Odeon Cinema, The Arts Centre and the Sixth Form College. The second cluster includes Firstsite, The Colchester Castle, Curzon and the Natural History Museum. New development with SME workspace is shown with a red outline on the former Bus Depot site. Enhanced links between creative and digital clusters are shown in a pink solid line with direction arrows, and is found along the High Street. The former department stores for adaption are shown in a pink solid colour and include the former Debenhams store and the former Marks and Spencer’s. The wider links to the University of Essex are shown in a pink dotted line with direction arrows and are located along Magdalen Street. The evening economy areas are shown in a red vertical lines and are located along Crouch Street, St Johns Street, Head Street, the top of North Hill, the High Street and Queens Street. The core city centre area is shown in a red dotted line and the wider area shown in a grey dotted line. Below the map is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Diverse Economy

Urban Design Strategy

Interventions include:

  1. Diversify and enrich the city centre offer
    • Uses and mix of uses along Primary and Secondary Street Frontages to abide by Policy TC3 in the Local Plan in order to support the city centre’s role at the top of the centre hierarchy
  2. Support the evening and nightime economy
    • Licencing and public realm improvements to enable outdoor dining and outdoor pub seating
  3. Support and enhance the creative and digital economy and their activities in the city centre
    • Support and enhance creative and digital clusters at either end of High Street
  4. City centre activities that are suitable and accessible for families, older people
    • Event and community spaces with all-ages programming – linked to heritage, tourism, green and blue space
  5. Enhance the offer for children and young people
    • Activities within existing arts/culture spaces aimed at young people and to attract young workforce
    • Public spaces and activity spaces co-designed with and intended for teenagers and older children
  6. New uses for vacant department stores in order to diversify the economy and make it more resilient, cater to a range of age groups and contribute to the evening and nightime economy
    • Potential uses: co-working, market, leisure, hotel, food/drink, culture
  7. Support quality job creation and retention of graduates
    • Incorporating Small Medium Enterprise (SME) and co-working workspaces as part of new developments, including the Former Bus Station Site - see Development Frameworks for more detail
    • Apprenticeship and on-the-job training opportunities, especially linked to focus/growth sectors, BID organisations, major employers/anchors
    • Potential incubator workspace linked to the University of Essex and its programmes (eg. biotech, biochemistry) where people can test ideas and businesses after graduation
    • Training, apprenticeships and skills opportunities linking to tourism, hospitality, care, construction targeted at residents – potential for Colchester to act as a regional training hub for these sectors
  8. Enable sharing and circular economy to happen in city centre, with a potential focus on businesses whose main activities are repairing, reuse, upcycling etc. - potential location within railway arches
    • Potential for a green construction skills course or training, and/or a focus on retrofit construction skills
    • Demonstrator projects to enable transition to circular economy; could be related to food or textiles
  9. Updates to the outdoor market - build on existing markets (daily market and monthly farmers market) to bring in more/diverse stalls and market-day activities
  10. Reframe the importance of good, secure jobs as a business imperative, including wage charters for businesses to sign.

Office workspace in a previously dilapidated Edwardian department store - The Department Store, Brixton, London

Living wage pleadge on a shop front door
Victoria Park Village, London

The image is of the facilities and connections map of the city centre with an inset key below listing the following; evening economy areas, primary street frontages, secondary street frontages, existing creative and digital spaces, new development with SME workspace, former department stores for adaption, potential location for centre for circular sharing and economy, wider links to the University of Essex and a red dotted line showing the core city area. The evening economy areas are shown in pink and are located along Crouch Street, St Johns Street, Head Street, the top of North Hill, the High Street and Queens Street. The primary street frontages are shown in maroon and are located on Head Street outside the former Debenhams store, Culver Square, Culver Street West, the west end of the High Street, Pelhams Lane and Lion Walk. The secondary street frontages include Crouch Street, Head Street, the east end of the High Street, Red Lion Walk, Eld Lane, St Johns Street, Long Wyre Street, Priory Walk, Queen Street and St Botolphs Street. The existing creative and digital spaces are shown in red, these are located across the city, the largest locations are the Sixth Form College, Colchester Castle and Firstsite. New development with SME workspace is shown with a red outline and shaded pink on the former Bus Depot site. The former department stores for adaption are shown in pink with red diagonal lines and include the former Debenhams store and the former Marks and Spencer’s. Potential for centre for circular and sharing is shown with a red circle and is located in the railway arches at the Town Station. The wider links to the University of Essex are shown in a pink dotted line with direction arrows and are located along Magdalen Street. Below the map is a north arrow and scale bar.

Make the Most of Colchester's Rich Heritage

Masterplan Layer

This masterplan layer aims to uplift Colchester’s heritage assets by improving their setting and succeed in them being experienced as a totality. It also aims to ensure new development is integrated well into the existing historic city centre.

The first set of strategic moves relate to placemaking within the city centre. This includes defining design codes that reinforce character areas, in order to create a holistic experience of Colchester’s rich and varied heritage. This also involves ensuring that new development complements and integrates well with the historic fabric.

The second set of strategic moves has to do with protecting and enhancing existing heritage assets. This includes defining anchor clusters of assets and city centre thresholds, and improving the setting and connections between them.

The Roman Circus, a unique national heritage asset, should become a key city centre attraction and along with the Roman Wall Park, an anchor for the city’s Roman story.

Placemaking within the city centre

  1. Using character areas to manage change
  2. Defining design guidance for key sites in heritage-sensitive areas
square Protecting and integrating with heritage buildings
  1. Reinforcing anchor clusters of heritage assets that support pedestrian footfall across the city centre
  2. Reinforcing heritage significance of city centre thresholds
  3. Improving routes between anchor clusters and city thresholds, including to the Roman Circus
  4. Improving the setting of individual heritage assets and providing high quality public realm connections between them.

What We Learned

  • Colchester is one of the most important historic cities of England but, despite its long history, is less visited than more high profile cathedral cities
  • Heavy traffic and changing retail patterns are contemporary threats to the integrity and economic sustainability of Colchester’s heritage assets
  • Improvements to the public realm can help reconnect some of the fragmented parts of the city centre, allowing it to work as a unified whole.

What You Said

  • Make heritage a source of pride for the city
  • There should be a holistic approach to heritage, rather than focusing on bits and pieces
  • Heritage can be used to encourage people to come to the city centre, as it moves away from retail
  • There should be more of a focus on below-ground archaeology, such as the Roman Circus
  • Implement heritage signage
  • Good national examples where heritage is successfully marketed and is a large part of a city’s offer, eg. York, Chester.

The image is of a map showing the character areas and historical assets of Colchester city centre. An inset key below the map shows the character areas, heritage-senstive key sites, Anchor clusters of heritage assets, listed and locally listed buildings within anchor clusters, city centre thresholds, connections between anchor clusters. The city centre core area is shown in a red dotted line and the wider area with a grey dotted line. The character areas are shown in diagonal lines of light mauve, these areas are located on Crouch Street, North Hill, Behind the High Street sown to St Peters Street, St Johns Steet, East Hill, Priory Street and south of Southway. The heritage-sensitive key sites are shown in a red outline and are located on Crouch Street, Southway, Vineyards Street, High Street, the former Bus Depot site, Britannia car park and the Town Station. Anchor clusters of heritage assets are shown in mauve circles and are located at the east end of the High Street to include Colchester Castle, a second cluster includes buildings along Queen Street, a third cluster includes buildings along Trinity Street, a fourth cluster includes buildings along Abbeygate Street, a fifth cluster includes Jumbo and various buildings around it. The sixth cluster includes the Roman Circus and buildings surrounding it. The city centre thresholds are shown in a slightly darker mauve circle are located to the north of the city at the River Colne crossing on North Colchester Bridge, at the Crouch Street/Head Street/St Johns Street junction and at the Town Station. Connections between anchor clusters shown in a grey line, one is from Culver Street to Roman Circus, another is Castle Park entrance down the Town Station and on is from North Colchester Bridge to the Crouch Street/Head Street/St Johns Street junction. Below the map is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Placemaking Within the City Centre

Urban Design Strategy

Placemaking within the city centre with a high degree of consideration for existing heritage should be achieved through an overall design code/design guide for the different character areas. These have been defined through mapping by building period which allows for connections and disjunctions between parts of the city centre that have a similar character.

Additional strategies should also support placemaking:

  1. Ensure building heights, density and built form of new developments in key sites follow character area design guidance
  2. Signage and wayfinding
  3. Shopfront design strategy
  4. Lighting strategy
  5. Public art strategy including temporary commissions and installations.

The character areas within Colchester city centre are:

Medieval and post-Medieval/early modern
These are areas where timber-framed buildings are highly prominent in a mix of building styles and fabrics.

Areas of mixed historic fabric up to 1914
These are areas where no particular style or period predominates. They include a range of buildings from Roman and Medieval to modern.

Castle Park and environs
This space consists of the castle and its parkland grounds. It is a considerable contrast to the urban fabric adjacent and the two complement each other.

Predominantly post-1945
These areas are largely post-war in character. This varies from neo-vernacular to Modernist housing and slab commercial blocks.

Sixth Form College and environs
The education campus is its own enclave and largely hidden from public view.

Character areas are described in more detail in the Appraisal Report and Heritage Report appendicies.

Bespoke signage within a sensitive historic setting
Zadar, Croatia

The Wood Street Altarpiece public artwork celebrating local places and stories gathered from the community - Eleanor Hill, Waltham Forest, Credit: rca.ac.uk

Lighting a historic structure and surrounding public realm
Visby Square, Sweden

The image shows the historic areas of Colchester centre. An inset key below the map lists the medieval and post-medieval/early modern, areas of mixed historic fabric up to 1914, Castle park and environs, predominantly post-war, Sixth Form College and environs, heritage-sensitive key sites and the core city centre area shown in a red dotted line. The dark pink areas show the medieval and post medieval/early modern areas and these are shown along North Hill and surround North Colchester Bridge, behind the High Street and down to St Peters Street, Culver Street East and down East Hill, Priory Street and surrounding St Botolphs Priory, St Johns Street and the southeast part of Southway. Areas of mixed historic fabric up to 1914 are shown in a light pink and are located along St Botolphs Street and Osborne Street, the west side of Head Street, the High Street and St Peters Street. The Castle Park is shown in a pink shade with diagonal lines across. The predominantly post-war areas are shown in pink with a cross hatch pattern and is shown to the north of the city and to the east side of North Hill, along Culver Street East and West, Firstsite and surrounding areas, to the north of Southway and Britannia car park area. The Sixth Form College and environs is shaded in pink. The heritage-sensitive key sites are shown in a red outline and are located on Crouch Street, Southway, Vineyards Street, High Street, the former Bus Depot site, Britannia car park and the Town Station. Below the map is a north arrow and a scale bar.

Protecting and Integrating Heritage Assets

Urban Design Strategy

Interventions include:

  1. Reinforcing anchor clusters of heritage assets that support pedestrian footfall across the city centre; this includes new heritage-focused route from Colchester Town station through St Botolph’s Priory to Castle Park
  2. Reinforce heritage significance of city centre thresholds at North Bridge, Southway/Butt Road/Head Gate junction and Colchester Town train station
  3. Public realm approach and improved connectivity with the Roman Circus; short term improvements plus long-term vision and management strategy
  4. Improved setting of St Botolph’s Priory within the city centre, including how Britannia Yard contributes to this - see Design Frameworks for more detail
    • Consider opening up to frontage of St Botolph’s Priory from St Botolph’s Street
  5. Proactively work with property owners to find viable and sustainable new uses for buildings at risk and disused heritage assets
  6. Consider the Roman Wall and its setting in its entirety - commission seperate study on the potential of a Roman Wall Park with new public realm alongside
  7. Many of the public realm interventions would also have a positive benefit to heritage assets - particularly looking at the churchyards as public spaces - see Public Realm, Open Space and Landscape urban design strategy
  8. Consider mini heritage action zone approach for run down streets eg. East Hill
  9. Update existing Conservation Area Appraisals and Management Guidelines to aid development control and set design quality expectations.

Creating a park and public space around the old city wall
Bergamo Heritage Park, Bergamo, Italy

Food hall in a historic market building
Altrincham Market, Greater Manchester

Heritage-based events and public space activation
Jorvik Viking Festival, York

The image is a map of Colchester centre showing the historical assets. An inset key below the map lists the anchor clusters of heritage assets, city centre thresholds, connections between anchor clusters, including towards the Roman Circus, St Botolphs Priory, Buildings at risk and disused heritage assets, listed buildings, Roman Wall Park and the core city area shown in a red dotted line. Anchor clusters of heritage assets are shown in mauve circles and are located at the east end of the High Street to include Colchester Castle, a second cluster includes buildings along Queen Street, a third cluster includes buildings along Trinity Street, a fourth cluster includes buildings along Abbeygate Street, a fifth cluster includes jumbo and various buildings around it. The city centre thresholds are shown in a slightly darker mauve circle are located to the north of the city at the River Colne crossing on North Colchester Bridge, at the Crouch Street/Head Street/St Johns Street junction and at the Town Station. Connections between anchor clusters shown in a grey line, one is from Culver Street to Roman Circus, another is Castle Park entrance down the Town Station and on is from North Colchester Bridge to the Crouch Street/Head Street/St Johns Street junction. St Botolphs Prioory is shown on the map in mauve with diagonal lines across and is highlighting that this area is proposed for improvements. Buildings at risk and disused heritage assets are shown in dark purple and include the Old Odeon Cinema on Crouch Street, St Peters Church and an area along Eld Lane. Listed buildings are shown in light purple and are scattered around the city centre. North Hill, East Hill, Crouch Street and Trinity Street have the largest clusters of listed buildings. The Roman wall is shown in purple. Below the map is a north arrow and a scale bar.

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