Colchester City Centre Masterplan SPD

My plea is for a more imaginative use of the Vineyard Street car park site. I would like to see tall “sheds”, as at Borough Street market in London, above, housing a range of activities – music, markets, food fairs, street food, residents’ and traders’ bric-a-brac sales, children’s
events … all under cover.

There could be permanent market stalls (as at Borough), with the main space being used for other activities when they are closed.

This is a far better site for this than Britannia car park, which is off centre.

Some of the buildings on the Roman wall could be demolished to allow a clear view of what is going on, and the Roman wall would be appreciated rather than being hidden by homes.

Two sets of steps (one with a gentle ramp) could reach round from Osborne Street to join up with Eld Lane, giving a good pedestrian link between the south of the city and Lion Walk shopping centre.

Note how Altrincham centre has been revived by its food market.

Park and Ride
Park and ride was an outdated idea by the time Colchester got around to it. That said, it is here and we ought to maximise its use to offset the £1 million pa revenue subsidy. I have tried for years to get P&R direction signs put on the A12 from the west of J26/27 for eastbound motorists and north of J29 for south/westbound motorists – but no luck. This is red tape: the DfT imposing its will to the detriment of the taxpayer and the city and city centre in general. Can the masterplan do anything towards this?

Deliveries
I would urge Colchester to look at a city centre delivery service such as this, perhaps making use of a unit at the Sheepen retail park as a depot. Cargo bikes could be employed too.

Business rates
Councillors should lobby for business rates reform so that
out-of-town retail units (eg Asda, Tesco and those at Stane Park) over a certain square metreage have to charge customers for car parking. This would level up the playing field between OOT and the city centre.

Walk and wheel routes
I fully back the submission by the Colchester Cycling Campaign. This is the time to be brave. I support two-way working of Queen St/St Botolph’s St and High St. If Queen Street/St Botolph’s cannot be achieved (I think it can!) then the masterplan route to the west of that road should connect Arthur Street with Vineyard Street and Long Wyre Street and High Street (although levels are an issue).