Colchester Residents hit with £375,000 tax bill for loss-making Council-owned company

Colchester City Council’s powerful finance committee last night [21st January 2025] demanded answers from the Liberal Democrat Group, which runs the Council, who failed to explain how council tax payers came to be saddled with a £375,000 tax bill for a loss-making council-owned company.

The senior Liberal Democrat Councillors in attendance at Governance and Audit Committee could not say how the blunder happened or who approved the transaction which led to the hefty bill.

Councillor William Sunnucks, Conservative resources spokesman and committee member, said: “This tax bill was wholly avoidable. The Conservatives remain baffled as to how any competent administration could allow this to happen on their watch. The Liberal Democrats who run Colchester City Council are asleep at the wheel.”

The committee heard that the tax bill was paid last month with council tax payers’ money and can’t be recovered.

The bill only came to light when the latest set of accounts for 2023-2024 for the now mothballed Colchester Amphora Energy Limited (CAEL) were published last week.

While CAEL has operated at a loss, it appears that the Council's Lib Dem Administration needlessly involved it in some complex financial transactions that resulted in a tax charge.

CAEL was set up to build and run a ground-source heat distribution network for the Council’s ill-fated Northern Gateway Development including new housing and a health centre on Mill Road.

CAEL dug two deep bore holes, valued at £1.05 million, which are still there, before being mothballed as unviable when the Lib Dem-run Council failed to build any of the houses that it had promised for the site.

Conservative councillors, who are not in control of the city council despite being the largest group, fear the hefty tax bill from HMRC inevitably piles on further pressure. This means more cuts to front-line services.

Garden waste charges were introduced, and the Castle Park toilets were closed last year in an effort to save cash. Many more cuts are already in the pipeline as part of a £4.7million cost-cutting drive, before this latest financial blow.

Residents who are enduring cut-after-cut to front-line Council services can depend upon the Conservative Group to ask the right questions about who took these crass decisions, and to quickly get to the bottom of this waste of public funds."

2025-01-21

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Devolution and Local Government Reform for Colchester

Before Christmas the Government announced in a White Paper its proposals on devolution and local government reform. Here's what that means:

DEVOLUTION: Shifting power from national to local levels, such as in public transport, most likely via an elected mayor.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM: Abolishing current councils and replacing them with fewer, larger ones.

The Government has invited proposals from County Councils in response to its White Paper, and these changes are expected to be rolled out nationwide.

Essex County Council voted on 10th January 2025 to propose to Government both devolution (to gain an Essex Mayor with new powers) and reform local government (to replace the 15 current Essex councils like Essex County and Colchester with 2-5 new ones). Parish and town councils are not expected to be affected. 

As a consequence of this decision, Government will probably postpone the Essex County Council elections scheduled for May 2025 and the Colchester City Council elections scheduled for May 2026, in expectation that these councils will be abolished.

Instead, the election of an Essex Mayor is expected to take place in May 2026 and shadow authorities for the new (unitary) councils elected by May 2027. The new councils would take full effect by 2028, with existing ones abolished.

Cllr Paul Dundas, Leader of the City Council Conservative Opposition said: "The Conservative Councillors at Colchester City Council support the principle of devolution and local government reform. There is no common sense to how local government is currently structured. We have a highly centralised Government but a sprawling local bureaucracy. It is a confusing set-up (for example: one council collects waste and recycling from your home, then another Council separates out recyclables and disposes of the remainder in land-fill or incineration)."

City Cllr Lewis Barber (Lexden and Braiswick Ward, and also Essex Constable Division) added: “This is an historic opportunity to bring more power to people and end the illogical two tier system of local government in Essex. It will be a challenging project but one that I believe we bring about real change to our communities.”

The proposals are not without risk. The transition period from County Council plus City Council to Essex Mayor and unitary authority is likely to be complex.  The potential postponement of elections may not sit easy with all residents, but postponements have often occurred during previous local government re-organisations.

There may be potential conflict between the spending plans of the councils being abolished and those coming into force during the transition period.  There may be disputes regarding the financial contributions to the new authorities and what powers and policy areas reside with the Government, the Essex Mayor and the new councils.

Conservatives believe that sensible re-structuring of councils across Essex, with more power devolved to a local level, can help boost productivity and our local economies, improve public services and be more cost-efficient for the taxpayer. It is also an opportunity for clearer responsibility for elected representatives and a move towards better democratic accountability.

2025-01-10

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Conservative Councillors write to the Health Secretary about insufficient doctors in Mersea

In October, Merseas's Conservative Councillors wrote to the Labour Heath Secretary, Wes Streeting, highlighting the unacceptable situation on Mersea, where it is now virtually impossible to register with a GP.

The Mersea Councillors asked the Secretary of State to urgently investigate the appalling lack of GPs serving the Island, and also to meet with Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary to exempt areas without adequate GP capacity from the government’s new house building targets.

The 1944 NHS White Paper produced by Churchill’s wartime government became the blueprint for the creation of the NHS. It set out a basic principle that everyone had free access to GPs at the point of need. This basic right is now no longer available to everyone on Mersea. That is why, as Mersea councillors we have written to the Health Secretary, asking him to intervene.

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes to try to find a local solution. Sir Bernard Jenkin MP has had urgent discussions with the Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board. They are responsible for providing enough GP in the right places.  We have an immediate crisis on Mersea, with some people unable to register with a GP. The island’s only surgery regrets that they they cannot safely take on any new patients due to the significant increase in patients on their lists as a result of the recent housing developments on the island.

Sir Bernard has also had meetings with the hard-pressed GPs themselves, but it is clearly not their fault their numbers are too few. Only action by the Labour Government will solve the problem, and it is unwilling to understand the plight of the residents of Mersea.

Councillor Robert Davidson          Councillor Martin Parsons

Councillor Carl Powling                County Councillor John Jowers

2023-12-21

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Challenging Colchester  Council's Climate Emergency

In July 2019, the City Council declared a Climate Emergency. The City Council’s all-party Scrutiny Panel recently reviewed the Council's progress on this Emergency over the past 5 years.

Cllr Darius Laws, (Conservative, Rural North Ward) Chairman of the Panel announced the results at its meeting on 12^th November: “We recognised commendable efforts such as tree planting, developing safe cycling routes and other efforts to reduce the carbon footprint and the Council's impact on the environment. We also discovered the very significant costs to retrofit our housing stock and estate to consume less CO2. Also there was little progress on reducing tail-pipe CO2 emissions from the Council’s vehicle fleet. This was attributable to the high cost and difficult technological realities around Electric Vehicles and their infrastructure that can't be overcome without significant investment.”

The definition of the word ‘emergency’ dictates that the Council should have allocated considerable resources and funds to address the major issues of a Climate Emergency. After 5 years, it  faces missing its own self-imposed objective unless significant capital budgets are identified to assist with major carbon reduction schemes.”

Cllr Tom Rowe, Conservative member of the Scrutiny Panel, added “We were scrutinising the Council’s performance following the original motion declaring a Climate Emergency.

The message from Scrutiny Panel report is very clear. The Council has successfully undertaken a wide range of small projects that are a positive on the balance sheet, but has avoided the larger more-complex and expensive projects that would make a real difference in a Climate Emergency.

I fully support the recommendation of the panel to ask the Council whether it wishes to fund the Climate Emergency properly, or alternatively to remove the alarmist language of an “Emergency”. This would set out for Council Taxpayers a position of honesty and financial prudence.

The report admits that, with the restricted allocation of resources, the Council can't deliver on many of the Emergency objectives. It would be better to be straight with the people of Colchester and make the objectives more realistic". 

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The Labour Government's Tax Policies: A devastating blow to Intergenerational Farmers, and to long-term sustainability of Rural Communities in Colchester

City Cllr Lewis Barber & City Cllr Darius Laws, who both representing Wards with rural Communities in the north of Colchester write: 

With the news of Labour’s tax rising Budget sinking in concerns amongst the custodians of our rural landscape, and the producers of our food, are now facing the nightmare that even small sized family farms will be split up and sold-off, akin to the death duties after the Second World War. Be under no illusion, this is a metropolitan-centric government who don’t understand, nor care to understand, what it means to be a small sheep farmer in Wales or a mixed livestock farmer in East Anglia. The Chancellor’s policies threaten not just the livelihoods of farmers, but also the very fabric of our rural communities and food security in the UK.

Farmers here in East Anglia work tirelessly to produce high-quality food, they face a system that seems to undervalue their contributions. Domestic production is good for our local economy, consumers are increasingly conscious of food miles and the quality and provenance of the food we eat. During the outbreak of the War in Ukraine the price of grass-fed beef in the fields outside Colchester remained static, whereas grain-fed beef prices elsewhere rose because of the sharp rise in grain prices.

Intergenerational farmers, who have invested years into sustainable practices and local knowledge, are key to ensuring food security. However, the current tax policies risk pushing them out of business, jeopardising both local food production and the rural economy.

East Anglia has long been an agricultural powerhouse, but recent developments have raised eyebrows. The proposed installation of pylons across the landscape, designed for energy transmission, has sparked concerns about the impact on farming operations and rural aesthetics. Red Ed’s obsession with Pylons and so-called ‘Green Energy’ transmission reflect a pattern where rural areas are sidelined in favour of what folks living in Islington town houses think best for the nation.

Moreover, the region appears to be losing out on essential infrastructure funding. We have key transport hubs such as the Port of Felixstowe, Harwich and Stanstead Airport but a virtual donkey track of a road to get to a major airport.

 At the heart of any thriving rural area are its communities. A busy primary school, a village shop, and a local pub serve as social hubs, knitting together the fabric of rural life. These institutions rely heavily on a strong local economy, which is supported by the agricultural sector. When farmers are thriving, so too are local businesses; when they struggle, the entire community feels the impact. Sustainable communities depend on a healthy agricultural sector that can provide employment, stimulate local trade, and maintain the landscape that defines rural life.

However, the new tax policies threaten this balance. Rising costs and diminishing returns for farmers could lead to a reduction in agricultural output, impacting local shops, schools, and pubs. Without robust support for intergenerational farmers, we risk eroding the very essence of our countryside—places that are not just about agriculture but about community, culture, and heritage.

The Labour government's Budget overlooks the unique challenges faced by intergenerational farmers in the UK. With food security at stake, and rural communities already grappling with inadequate infrastructure and investment, the government must change tack. The future of our countryside relies on recognising the vital role of farmers—not just as producers of food, but as custodians of our rural heritage and sustainable communities. If we fail to support them, we risk losing not only our agricultural capacity but the very soul of rural life in the UK.

Conservatives pledge to support rural communities with the same vigour as city-centre communities

2024-11-07

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Pensioners face a bleak winter in Colchester

At the Council meeting on 16^th October, Cllr Paul Dundas, Leader of the Conservative Group (Tiptree Ward), proposed in a motion that the Winter Fuel Payment has been a lifeline for many older people across the Colchester, and that the Government decision restricting its availability solely to those on Pension Credit risks leaving many pensioners in financial hardship.

Cllr Sara Naylor, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group (Lexden & Braiswick Ward) led the debate for the Conservatives: “Most city councillors are united in their condemnation of the Labour Government’s decision to axe the winter fuel allowance for many pensioners with no notice. I voice my deep concern over the plight of some of our most vulnerable residents In the Colchester City Council area.

They won’t now get this winter’s annual payment of up to £300 to help with their winter fuel bills, which have gone up from this month by 10 per cent on average.

It is really sad that it’s necessary for councillors to debate how this unbelievably bad decision to axe the winter fuel allowance will affect most Colchester pensioners, who now have a hole in their budget of up to £300. The most vulnerable people in my Ward of Lexden and Braiswick, and across the city, are the ones who can least help themselves and have been left out in the cold by this terrible decision.

Councillors were concerned that the decision would result in overwhelming pressure on the council’s financial advice team, which supports residents suffering hardship.”

The Conservative Motion was approved by 31 votes with just nine Labour councillors voting against.

Conservatives pledge to concentrate on the things that really matter to Colchester Residents

2024-10-18

Council sets aside £4m to cover expected short-term losses following the collapse of Cineworld deal at Northern Gateway Leisure Park

£4 million of taxpayers’ money has been set aside in a new Council reserve entitled “Turnstone” following the collapse and financial restructuring of the Cineworld Group, which pulled out of Northern Gateway Leisure Park Project.

Leader of the Conservative Opposition on the Council, Councillor Paul Dundas (Tiptree Ward) said: "The financial dangers around this project were evident and obvious. Whenever there was an opportunity, we asked questions publicly about the status of Cineworld as the anchor tenant in the Northern Gateway Leisure scheme.

But the Leaders of the Council have constantly stonewalled, and described Cineworld as “robust, well-financed and independent of Cineworld’s USA operations”. This turns out to be anything but the truth.

In fact, during the tenure of the current Lib-Dem Leader, Cineworld was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the USA. Its share price dropped from 26p per share, to 0.4p per share. Yet he did nothing to mitigate the loss until the High Court intervention on 28th August this year.

The fact that the council has been forced to set aside a whopping £4 million to cover potential short-term losses on this Northern Gateway project shows the magnitude of the problem.

This £4m of Colchester council tax payers' money will not be available to spend on front-line services including waste collection, parks, grass cutting and even Castle Park toilets because of the Council's unwise involvement in a speculative commercial cinema venture owned by hedge-funds in the Cayman Islands.”

The mess created by the Lib-Dems is going to be a very costly exercise for the council and for Colchester residents.”

Conservatives pledge to bring sound financial management to this shambles of a Council.

2024-10-11

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Leisure World pool attraction out of action during the Summer Holidays yet again

Conservatives criticised the Council’s Lib-Dem leadership for failing to keep open the immensely popular outdoor water slide at Colchester Leisure World during the 2024 summer school holidays.

This popular attraction has been closed again during the school holidays due to a “technical issue”. It temporarily re-opened for the summer, then was forced to shut until September after a “routine health and safety check.

Taxpayers now see an emerging pattern of poor stewardship of Council assets. The Middle Mill Weir bridge in lower Castle Park has been shut since the weir collapsed in December 2023 due to lack of maintenance. The ceiling of the Moot Hall at the top of the Town Hall is in danger of collapse because of the Council’s failure to keep the roof waterproof.

And now the children of Colchester are deprived of one of their favourite holiday attractions at Leisure World because of the Council’s incompetence.

Cllr Darius Laws, Conservative spokesperson on Heritage & Leisure, said: "Leisure World's iconic water flumes being out of action is bad at anytime but to be closed during the summer holidays is such a blow for children and parents from Colchester and surrounding villages.

Questions must be asked as to how we find ourselves playing catch-up with some of our maintenance obligations. The left-wing coalition running the Town Hall must do better".

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative spokesman on Resources, added: “The Administration's failure to get things done is now eating at the roots of the Council’s mission.  We need the determination to find the money and address problems promptly: but instead we get a bureaucratic cycle of reports and meetings while budgets are salami sliced and our assets degrade.  

It is scandalous that essential maintenance at Leisure World has fallen this far behind. And embarrassing that the problem was identified so late in the day, leaving the business without much of its summer income - and Colchester’s youngsters without healthy activities to enjoy over the holidays.”

Conservatives pledge to focus Council investment on those areas that really matter to all residents

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Conservative Councillors voice their concern over the Council’s Treasury Management Rules

Cllr Tom Rowe (Conservative, Rural North Ward) Conservative spokesman on Treasury Management, explained: “These are the rules about how the Council invests the surplus £30m of taxpayers’ money it holds in reserves.

The rules were introduced in 2008 after the Lib-Dem controlled Council unwisely invested £4m of taxpayers’ funds in an Icelandic Bank which subsequently failed."

Moody's, the credit-rating agency, had described Iceland's banks as "fragile". A study by Morgan Stanley concluded that Iceland's banks were 7.5 times more likely to default than their European counterparts. In July 2007, the International Monetary Fund published a gloomy report on Iceland warning about impenetrable ownership structures and murky lending practices. Analysts concurred that the Icelandic central bank was simply too small to support the debts incurred by its banking sector.

Despite these stark warnings, in August 2008, the Lib-Dem controlled Council still proceeded to invest £4m of Taxpayer funds in Icelandic Banks. All but £347k of the tax payers money was eventually recovered by 2011. But the lost interest was considerable, as was the cost of additional borrowing while the £4m was unreachable.

Cllr Rowe added “I see parallels with the Council's Icelandic bank fiasco. The Council is lending its spare cash to other UK Councils. Some of these are clearly not a good bet. In particular, it is a high risk to lend to those Councils that have issued a Section 114 Notice that they can no longer meet current or new financial commitments.

I demand that Taxpayer funds are properly protected by amending the Council's Treasury Management rules:

• to prohibit lending to any Council that is in Section 114 special measures, and
• to include in every loan agreement the requirement that, should the borrowing Council issue a Section 114 notice, it must immediately repay any loan from Colchester Council.

Conservatives pledge to properly protect the Taxpayers' funds held in reserves from unwise and risky investment.

2024-08-15

Colchester City Council Elections Thursday 2nd May 2024

Colchester's Conservative City Councillors will:

Colchester's Conservative Councillors do not believe that £9.4m cuts over the next 5 years, as approved recently by the Lib-Dem and Labour controlled City Council, would be necessary if the Council got a grip with costs across the board and dropped its grandiose projects. They are planning to cut key frontline services such as Street Care and Safety, Landscape Officers, the Countryside Team and Visitor Centres. In future years, they are planning to cut nearly £1m from Neighbourhood Services.

The Northern Sports Park, although a great facility, loses £1.87m a year in running costs and interest payments because it is managed inefficiently. It should be franchised, leased-out or sold.

The Lib-Dems and Labour want to expand the number of Councillors because the city's population has grown by 11% since the last electoral review, costing yet more money in Councillors' allowances, with less to spend on essential services.

We would halve the communications budget. The Lib Dem Council spends over half a million pounds on a communications department which issues propaganda telling you what a good job they are doing.

The Lib-Dem and Labour alliance have wasted over £3.6m of your money on an community energy project which has been abandoned, with the prospect that the Government grants will now have to be repaid at Council Taxpayers expense

The Lib-Dem have proposed spending £7.7m on a new road at A12 Junction 28 which will go nowhere, and even their own Councillors describe it as a “total car crash”. Axing this would save Council Taxpayers £775,000 in borrowing costs per year. A Conservative Council would sell the remaining Northern Gateway land eliminating in excess of £2.5m in debt interest each year. 

As a result, the Council would have no need to cut street services, grass cutting, cleaning, sweeping, waste collection, safety or any other frontline services. We could even reduce or eliminate garden waste collection charges and keep Council Tax lower.

It is your money; it is your choice. If you are unhappy with the streets not being swept and instead your money being spent on adverts for the Council and loss making white elephants, then change is needed now.

Paul Dundas   

Conservative Group Leader, Colchester City Council

Scandalous neglect of the maintenance of the Town Hall & Moot Hall

Colchester Town Hall is a magnificent Grade-1 listed building. The top floor is the Moot Hall, one of the best examples of a Victorian civic hall in the Country. It is very popular for concerts, weddings, formal dinners and meetings of a wide variety of clubs and societies from across the City that need capacity of up to 250 people.

Like many old buildings, the Town Hall need regular structural inspections by experts and a maintenance budget to ensure that it remains in good condition for future generations.

Cllr Paul Dundas, Leader of the Conservative Group (Tiptree Ward) said: “for years the Lib-Dem and Labour Alliance which control the Council has been woefully negligent in their maintenance of most of the Council's buildings and structures.

For instance, the historic Middle Mill Weir, in Colchester’s Castle Park, recently collapsed into the River Colne. According to the Council leaders, significant deterioration to the structure raised concerns about its stability. Nothing was done and it collapsed.

But even worse is the state of the Moot Hall. With no proper inspections of the Town Hall roof, splits in the lead-work went un-noticed, allowing the ingress of water. This eventually caused severe damage to the splendid ceiling of the Moot Hall, making the hall unsafe to use.”

Belatedly, the essential repairs to the Moot Hall roof are scheduled for April with the construction of an external scaffolding tower at front of the Town Hall. Following this, an internal birdcage scaffolding structure will be constructed throughout the Moot Hall to hold up the ceiling. This construction phase is expected to last 5-6 weeks. Currently we have no times-scales or exact costs for the actual repair of this historic ceiling.

The Moot Hall ceiling is a suspended fibrous plaster structure, susceptible to various types of damage, particularly moisture. It is expected that the entire ceiling will have to be glued back to the supporting lath-work.

The costs of the repair work is currently unknown, but best estimates are upwards to £3m, In stark contrast, the saving garnered by the Lib-Dem and Labour alliance, who control the Council, by axing the regular inspections was upwards of £7000. To say this was not a good deal for the Council Tax Payers of the City would be the under-statement of the decade.

And finally the law on listed buildings. Cllr Roger Buston, a local solicitor (Prettygate Ward) explained: “The responsibility for the care and upkeep of a listed building such as the Town Hall lies with the owner, in this case the City Council.  Furthermore, the owner of the listed building can, in some circumstances, be compelled by the Planning Authority (also the City Council), to repair and maintain the listed building and can face criminal prosecution as the defaulting owner if it fails to do so, or if it performs unauthorised alterations. Now there is an interesting conundrum”.

Conservatives pledge to take proper care of the City's community assets on behalf of Council Taxpayers, who otherwise will have to pay astronomic repair bills.

2024-03-29

Colchester Council has fallen seriously behind with production of its audited accounts

Like many councils Colchester Council has fallen seriously behind with the production of its audited accounts. The blame is variously attributed to a lack of appropriately qualified audit staff: and central government’s requirement that local authorities should be audited to private sector standards.  

This week marks the fourth anniversary of our Council’s last audited balance sheet.  Central government has consulted on a programme for catching up by 30 September this year. but the Liberal Democratic controlled administration’s response indicates that there is little realistic chance of it being met. Audit work has yet to even start on two of the three intervening years.

Does this matter?  So far, there is no suggestion of financial impropriety so is it of any practical importance?

I believe that residents should be concerned.  As the only Chartered Accountant on the Council, I am best qualified to assess authoritatively what material adjustments are needed to the Council finances before the Council can receive a clean audit report. This may sound very technical, but it impacts on how much money the Council has available to spend on front-line services. This potentially affects everyone.

For instance the Council has significant unknown financial exposure from its recent property investments at Northern Gateway, the details of which are secret, and from the failed district heating project. It has ceased operating its subsidiary companies leading to unknown financial impact on the Council.  It is clear that the Liberal Democrat Administration that controls the Council doesn’t understand and isn’t interested in these technical issues. But cash gobbled-up by these property deals reduces what the Council can spend on front-line services. Without audited accounts we do not know where we stand. 

I agree that the Council's finances are stronger than some other councils which have been forced to issue a s114 notice, the Local Government equivalent of bankruptcy. But the Council's deficit is increasing each year, and the time-frame to take action may be shorter than we think, because without audit accounts, the foundations for our budget projections are in disarray. 

In my view, the problems is capable of being solved, but the risks are growing with time and mustn’t be pushed forward or hidden under the carpet. It is important that the Lib-Dem administration and their Labour allies stop blaming others and starts taking responsibility now, not in six or twelve months time when the financial outlook might be even worse.

William Sunnucks, Colchester City Councillor and opposition spokesman on finance

Labour supports £7.5m of cuts over next 5 years in Lib-Dem Budget for Colchester

The Lib-Dem group controlling Colchester City Council, supported by their Labour allies, have proposed a whopping series of cuts in front-line services over the next 5 years totalling £7.5m per annum or 25% of our net expenditure on services.

The cuts come in two parts:  £4.7m broadly identified in the Fit for the Future programme and a further £2.8m of further unidentified cuts required because the budget still won’t balance.   

Fit for the Future is an elaborate programme intended to generate ideas for improved efficiency from the bottom up.  Committees will be formed and it will even have its own communications programme.  The largest areas identified for savings are:

• Increased charges for garden waste collection
• Assumed savings at the expiration of the ID Verde maintenance contract which we fear will reduce verge cutting and road sweeping.
• A corporate landlord model which will centralise property management, but may increase medium term costs as the backlog in repairs to Council assets such as the town hall is documented.

The impact on staff numbers has yet to be identified, and there is no redundancy provision in the forward projections.

Conservative finance spokesman, Cllr William Sunnucks (Rural North Ward) said: "We would take a very different approach.  Cost cutting can’t be done by committee: it needs leadership and a recognition that the Council’s sprawling activities should be focussed on what matters to residents. 

In our world a large portion of the savings would be achieved by rationalising the Council’s balance sheet as proposed in our budget amendments.  The remainder would come from rigorous benchmarking of activities against public, private and third sector equivalents.”

Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Paul Dundas (Tiptree Ward) added: "Council expenditure can roughly be divided into two categories: Frontline services which should be our priority, and Discretionary services which the Council can provide if it so wishes. The Council is locked into spending too much on discretionary services, often in an illogical & wasteful manner.

A future Conservative Administration pledges to get to grips with this problem and ensure that these savings are not axed from essential front-line services. We had hoped that the Labour Party would join us in condemning the way these cuts have been made, but apparently they too are now into axing front-line services.

2024-02-21

Conservative Group Budget Amendments February 2024

The Conservative Group tabled the following fully-costed budget amendments at the Council Meeting on 21st February. The Lib-Dem and Labour Groups failed to support these sensible amendments.

Our first amendment proposes changes to the capital budget and cancels the proposal from the Lib-Dems to cut frontline services such as road sweeping and grass cutting throughout the City.

That the capital budget at Attachment 1B be amended to exclude expenditure of £7.7m on Colchester Northern Gateway Enabling and that the consequent savings in interest and MRP be spent as shown on the table below:

Explanation

A. Savings

The Council has already spent a large amount of money and several years attempting to bring the Northern Gateway development to fruition. Since the Pandemic the office market has changed and the large area of commercial office space envisaged in the planning permission is unlikely to be viable. The original planning permission required extensive highways works due to the anticipated large increase in traffic, primarily generated by the commercial office space.

A new planning permission is expected to be sought, focusing more on 4 residential housing which is known to generate less traffic and will require less extensive highway infrastructure. Furthermore, it has been agreed by Cabinet that the Council’s appetite for financial risk is now lower and that the site will most likely be developed by a third party, possibly following a sale.

The inclusion of the £7.7 CNGS Enabling Works in the Capital Budget represents poor value for CCC and is not necessary as:

1. The eventual scheme will require less extensive highway works, so carrying out works designed for a scheme which by common agreement will not be built makes little sense.

2. It should be for the eventual developer to bear the infrastructure costs together with interest and MRP costs as with any other similar development, not Colchester City Council.

B. Additional Spending

The Greening and Street Care Service is considered a core service of the Council’s and one highly visible to residents. It is also frequently identified by residents as one they most value and one of the most complained about if performance falls below standards. The monetary reductions for this service in the draft budget amount to a cut of £1m per annum by 2026/27, which will have a noticeably detrimental effect on the service. This amendment restores much of the departmental budget. The amendment also restores the 1 x driver and 1.4x (FTE) operative to Neighbourhood Services or other 2.4x FTE roles as needed detailed as a salary saving in Appendix D. This will be welcomed by Ward Councillors.

As a commitment to the Environment and the Council’s declared a Climate Emergency, this amendment restores the 1 Full Time Equivalent role to the Countryside Team (Appendix D) increasing our capacity to delivery sustainability and biodiversity projects.

Finally, it is recognised by many that Colchester faces an infrastructure deficit, having experienced rapid housing and population growth in recent years with little corresponding infrastructure. This amendment restores a budget for an Infrastructure Audit originally placed in the 22/23 budget and subsequently removed. This will allow an evidence base to be established for required infrastructure in Colchester leading to better planning.

C. Budget Impact

This amendment results in a deficit of £29,000 in 24/25 which will require use of reserves but delivers an improved surplus compared to that in the draft budget of £288,000 in 25/26, £135,000 in 26/27, £132,000 in 27/28 and £128,000 in 28/29 leading to an overall nett positive financial position of £654,000 over the MTFF period.

Our second amendment proposes that it is time to exit Colchester's Northern Gateway South project. This has racked up over £30m of debt and delivered nothing but holes in a field. Colchester City Council has not got the cash to deliver it and has been trying, but failing, for years. This could free-up extra £2.5m to revenue budget next year. This would be enough to cancel the highly unpopular garden waste charges and even cut Council Tax or bolster frontline services.

That the capital budget in Attachment 1B be amended to include £35m sale proceeds for the Mill Road development land and that attachments 1A and 1C be amended with the consequential savings in Capital Financing Costs incorporated in to the MTFF Also that attachments 1A and 1C be amended to reverse the garden waste collection charges, as indicated in the table below. Such reversal to take place from 2025/6 and to be dependent i) upon the satisfactory sale of Mill Road and ii) no material cost over-runs in the 2024/5 operating budget. 

Explanation

The Council owns a valuable development site at Mill Road which already has planning permission and was to have been developed by Colchester Amphora Homes Limited which is now in hibernation. The rugby club which previously used the land has been relocated to the new sports park to the North of the A12. The development of the land has long been envisaged as a way to repay the high cost of the new rugby club and sports centre.

Amendment II proposes that now is the time to sell to a developer who will deal with the remaining issues and build it out more quickly than we could ever do. The developer will have to pay for the s278 works at Junction 28 and for the potentially high cost of a connection to the electricity grid, and the price we receive will be discounted accordingly.

The site covers 54 acres (21.8 hectares) of former sports fields, now cleared and improved with some ground source heat infrastructure and a paved walkway. The Rugby Club moved in 2020 and in 2022 the Council granted itself planning permission 190665. The sales price will be determined by the market, but £35m is a reasonable figure for budgetary purposes based on four sources of comparable information i) the TCBGC housebuilder appraisal ii) the TCBGC master developer appraisal iii) the VOA guidelines and iv) comparable evidence of land sales with full permission. The £35m budget price includes a substantial allowance for further infrastructure improvements including S278, S106 and 30% affordable housing. The present permission allows for a mix of uses including a village green, 350 houses, a health campus and 45,100sqm of B1a office accommodation.

That scale of office development (accommodating approximately 3000 desks) is unrealistic post Covid, and to get the best price the Council should indicate (as part of the sales process) that an application to change the use of that piece of land will be positively considered. The more freedom the Council can offer the developer the higher the price it will receive.

A Savings

The savings come from reduced financing charges – interest at 4.8% and minimum revenue payments. The Council has £31m of debt linked to the Northern Gateway and the proceeds should be sufficient to repay all of this plus £4m linked to Rowan House. In practice the debt wouldn’t be repaid, but repurposed to reduce the need for new borrowing at 4.8% current interest rates.

B Extra spending

Garden waste charges are unpopular and widely regarded as an extra tax. We assume that the £1.3m income stream disclosed in the recent scrutiny panel paper stops from 2025/6, conditional upon the Council’s success in delivering the full “fit for the future” savings and selling Mill Road.

C Budget impact

As well as allowing us to cancel the garden waste charges there will be sufficient savings to add c. £1m a year to reserves or reduce Council tax by 6.9%

Our third amendment proposes changes to the Housing Revenue Account to bring stability to the Council finances and certainty to our Council House tenants.

That Housing Revenue Account borrowing plans for 2024-2029 be cut by £43m, to be achieved by cutting back its intended purchases of market housing. The HRA operating budget in Attachment 1b table 5.2 to be amended as below and consequential changes to be made to the other tables.

Explanation

The budget includes £205m HRA capital programme which is widely acknowledged to be unsustainable2 and will probably have to be cut back sharply in the forthcoming HRA review. This amendment proposes that an immediate start be made on the most obvious measure: we need to stop buying market housing to use as social or affordable now. Such purchases do nothing to increase overall housing supply and make no economic sense. Borrowing at 4.5% to buy housing that yields 1.5% at best is clearly unsustainable. Every property it buys will decrease in value by 30-50%, and the deficit financing will prejudice the Council’s ability to build new homes and maintain its existing portfolio.

This amendment leaves the £100m investment programme in the existing 5900 homes untouched. The £13m Sheltered Accommodation investment remains, as does the £44m available for new build. The HRA debt will still increase by £92m, and the HRA review will probably have to make further cuts. The amendment is a modest but significant step towards balancing the HRA over the long term. The longer we leave it the more painful it will be.

B - Benefits

We believe the Council can reduce new HRA borrowing by £43m AND increase the availability of social housing by i) accelerating the development of Mill Road and ii) some management initiatives in relation to the existing portfolio.

C - Budget impact -

Debt Colchester’s long term debt has more than doubled since 2010 and will double again over the next five years if this budget is adopted. Under this amendment it will still increase by 62% but at least we will have made a start to controlling its growth.  

2024-02-22

Paul Dundas, Leader of the Conservative Group, explains the horrors of the 2024/5 Lib-Dem budget for residents of Colchester

At the Colchester Council’s annual budget meeting, the Conservative Group proposed some sensible, costed, approved, amendments which prioritised front-line services over rather risky commercial property ventures.

The Council, for what at the time might have been good reasons, established a House Building Company and an Energy Company back in around 2018. Now both are defunct and non-operational. No houses were built. No energy has been generated. With the best will in the world no one could call that a success.

As a result of these failed ventures, the Council is wilting under a debt pile of £35m it did not expect. The land in question at Mill Road under the original business plan was expected to be sold by 2022. This means the Council now has an extra annual interest bill of over £3m a year. This is money which can no longer be spent on the front-line services that residents expect.

This year’s budget as, proposed by the Lib Dems and voted for by Labour, spends another £7.7m on these property projects with

absolutely no guarantee they will go anywhere. Not unlike a gambler giving one last throw of the dice, more in hope than expectation. This reckless decision will add another £755,000 to the annual interest bill which, again, has to be taken from front-line services.

The Conservative budget amendments were simple: Do not spend the £7.7m. Let a property developer do that and let them pay the interest. Get on and sell the land like the Council always planned at a market price. As soon as possible pay-off the debt, which was originally going to be paid by 2022. This cuts the Council's interest bill by nearly £4m. So, rather than paying £4m a year to banks, spend it on front-line services. This may sound simple because it is.

Residents of Colchester pay their Council Tax to fund Council services, not to pay debt interest from commercial losses.

Front-line services are what the Conservatives are prioritising.

2024-02-29

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Fudge for the future with the Lib-Dems

Colchester’s Lib-Dem administration is launching its “Fit for the Future”, an austerity campaign to cut £4.8m from its budget over the next three years and reduce staff numbers by 25%. This is on top of the average £1.8m of cuts and savings needed to balance the budgets in each of the next 5 years.

Its 78 page strategy comes in four parts, creates a new committee and lays out elaborate processes.  But it gives little idea as to what savings will be made or what they will mean for residents.  Cllr Dennis Willets (Lexden & Braiswick Ward) described it as a “fudge for the future” and a “Sir Humphrey masterpiece”. The Conservative opposition is united in opposition to this strategy. 

Conservative Group Leader Cllr Paul Dundas (Tiptree Ward) said: “this is exactly the wrong way to do things.  We will have a long drawn-out bureaucratic process while staff morale declines.  Good people will leave and the reputation of the Council will suffer as services are left in tatters.  The Council desperately needs a stronger political leadership and it is frustrating that we can do so little from the opposition benches.”

Opposition finance spokesman Cllr William Sunnucks (Rural North Ward) said “Most of this programme isn’t necessary.  The Administration running the Council refused even to consider our budget amendments which would have saved £3.2m per annum AND accelerated the building of affordable housing. We have other ideas, but no opportunity to present them.  We are fed up with the way that problems are suppressed and sensible suggestions are swept away in a tide of politics and PR.”

Conservatives pledge to run the Council in a transparent manner, prioritising the frontline services which residents expect
and reducing exposure to property development schemes which are better handled by the private sector.

2024-02-27

Conservative engage in battle to keep Leisure World café open

Closure of the popular Leisure World café was hidden deep in the Council’s budget papers (page 200 of 202) presented on 23^rd January 2024 by the Lib-Dem controlled Cabinet. This was part of a Lib-Dem plan to review several Council facilities as part of their ill-conceived “Fit for the Future” strategy to cut services.

The proposed closure caused a massive outcry across the City. The Lib-Dem Cabinet totally failed to acknowledge the importance of the cafe to the Leisure World community, or recognise its value as a social hub and meeting place for families.

Cllr Dennis Willetts, (Lexden & Braiswick Ward), Conservative spokesman on the Council’s Commercial Services said: “The cafe is an integral part of the Leisure World Service.  If the Council is unable to run the Café, they should look for a private sector supplier, community partnerships or some innovative business model to keep the cafe open. That is overwhelmingly what residents want.

Cllr Paul Dundas, (Tiptree Ward) Leader of the Conservative Group, said: “If the Lib Dems are so disinterested in running Leisure World properly, they should hand over the entire Leisure World service to the private sector.

Following the public outcry, I understand that the Lib Dems admit that we were totally wrong and completely misjudged public opinion.

I urge Leisure World users to keep up the pressure on the Council to ensure there is no further under-hand attempt to close the café in the Council’s next financial report (on page 200 of 202) ”

2024-01-25

Cllr William Sunnucks, (Rural North Ward) Conservative spokesperson on Council resources, said that he was astounded that the Lib-Dem controlled Cabinet had agreed to spend £7.7m on a road development for which there was no plan or project appraisal.

It is difficult and risky for any Council to handle complex property schemes. The Council's Cabinet should not be acting as a commercial developer where it has no experience. The Council should be considering the sale this excellent site, letting a master developer remove the financial burden from the Council.

Cllr Paul Dundas, (Tiptree Ward) Conservative Group Leader, highlighted the challenging financial circumstances of the Northern Gateway project. The Council is  already encumbered with an additional £30 million of debt which it had anticipated would have been paid off by now.

The healthcare provider has lost interest in the site and proposals for a hospital have fallen through. The ground-source power supply project has collapsed due to lack of customers. There was no longer demand for the large-scale office space envisaged at the Northern Gateway. If a housing development were to be brought forward for more of the site it would generate less traffic and therefore the road works on the £7.7m scale may not be needed.

The Council should recognise that a project conceived in 2016 is no longer suitable in the changed circumstances of 2024 and that the Council did not have the skills or resources to deliver such a complex scheme.

It would be unwise for the Council to commit a further £7.7m capital funding on an ill-defined road scheme which might not be needed, and would expose the Council to potentially volatile market forces.

Conservatives pledge not to take these huge risks with tax-payers money.

Colchester Council staff numbers continue to drift upwards, despite its £5m annual deficit spending

Information released by the Council pursuant to the Government’s 2015 Local Authority Data Transparency Code reveal a continued upward drift in staff numbers.

Some staff work part-time, so their working hours are accumulated and converted into a full-time-equivalent to enable meaningful year-on-year comparisons.

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative Spokesman on Council Resources (Rural North Ward), confirmed his findings to a meeting of local business people on Saturday 6^th January: “the astounding issue is not that the staff levels have drifted upwards by 11.5 full-time equivalent people over the past two years, but that it should happen at a time when the leadership claims to be tightening its belt.  It is spending well beyond its means, and running down its reserves at an alarming rate.”

The Council’s deficit spending is running £5m per annum and the leadership doesn’t know how long its reserves will last – its last audited balance sheet was March 2020, nearly four years ago.

While the Lib-Dem group, which controls the Council with the support of Labour, dithers on what to do, Conservatives have a bold plan to significantly cut the cost of politics, concentrating on delivering core municipal services at the best possible quality, and remunerating staff at a more reasonable level so that the Council workforce can retain a higher proportion of excellent performers.

____________________________________________________________

Note: Headcount excludes subsidiary companies Colchester Borough Homes which employs a further 219 staff and Colchester Commercial holdings which employs a further 129 staff

2024-01-06

Conservatives demand faster re-letting of Council Houses

Cllr Darius Laws, (Rural North Ward) Chairman of the Council’s Scrutiny Panel expressed extreme concern at the time it is taking for the Lib-Dem controlled Council to re-let Council Houses.

The Scrutiny Panel reviews the targets and performance of the Council in all its key areas of service. The Panel discovered that the average time to re-let a Council House was 42 days, despite the Council having a target of no more than 28 days. 

He said: “In September the Council was providing 319 households with temporary accommodation in the city.  This may be families fleeing domestic violence, including children and other vulnerable people who suddenly find themselves homeless.

Children are living in this emergency accommodation yet there are Council houses which are empty and taking 42 days to turnaround.

I urge the  Council to strive for a much swifter turnaround times.  Not only will this provide better value for money to taxpayers, but also for the benefit of those whose circumstances cause them to be placed in temporary housing such as bed-and-breakfast’.

Cllr Laws stressed that the primary concern must be the welfare of human beings. but there is also a financial concern. “The cost of temporary accommodation in hotels and bed-and-breakfast is a burden on the taxpayer.

So on average, when a Council House is re-let we are losing 14 days more rent than anticipated, and losing 14 days of accommodation. Aggregated across the City’s council-house stock, a return to a 28 day target for re-letting would allow the Council to house several more needy families in proper fit-for-purpose accommodation.

 2023-12-12

Hibernation (liquidation) of the Colchester Amphora Energy company

 At the meeting on Wednesday 22^nd November, the Council’s ruling Cabinet (exclusively Lib-Dems) decided to formal “hibernate” the City Council's Amphora Energy Company and transfer its assets to Colchester City Council.

Cllr Paul Dundas. Leader of the Conservative Group said the decision was inevitable, but rather a long-time coming. The project budget has escalated by 100% to £8.5 million, and the customers had never materialised.

Cllr Dundas reminded Cabinet that there were consequences to their decision. A Government Grant of £3.5million had been received for the energy scheme. It was not clear whether part or all of this grant would have to be paid back, and if so what services would be cut in the council’s budget adjustment.

In addition, the Council had provided a loan facility to Amphora Energy of £2.25m from its own funds. So far, £1.35m had been drawn down. Would this be re-paid or would further cuts have to be made to Council Services ?.

The balance sheet for Amphora Energy shows assets of £1.2million of work under construction. As these are mainly holes in the ground owned by a defunct company, they now have zero saleable value. How is this loss to be managed?.

Taken together, these liabilities could make a huge hole in the Council’s revenue budget with a massive impact on the ability to deliver essential services. The taxpayers of Colchester deserve an immediate answer to these questions."

Conservatives believe in proper business case & financial management of major projects, with a coherent strategy in the public domain relating investment to the customer base for which it is intended.

2023-11-26

Colchester City Council axes its Amphora Subsidiary Trading Companies

At its meeting on Wednesday 22^nd November, the Council’s ruling Cabinet (exclusively Lib-Dems) decided to axe the Amphora trading companies previously set up in June 2017 by the then Joint Labour & Lib-Dem Administration.

Cllr Paul Dundas, Leader of the Conservative Group, the official Opposition at the Council, said: “despite being staffed by excellent people, the Council’s trading companies have never operated successfully. They did not know whether they were part of Local Government or the private sector. 

The Amphora Company’s ambitions have been driven by the cut-and-thrust of the private sector, but they have always had the dead hand of the Lib-Dem or the joint Labour & Lib-Dem administration holding them back. 

Very little of the profits forecast for past years have materialised into payments into the Council’s revenue account to support essential municipal services provided to taxpayers. The small dividends that have been paid come from management fees charged to the Council, a circular and tax inefficient flow.

It is now becoming clear that two of the three companies – the ones for housing and energy will have to be “hibernated”. The decision has now been made for the energy company without any understanding of the impact it would have on the Council’s finances.  It seems likely to us that much of the Council’s £1.7m loan to its energy subsidiary will have to be written off through the Taxpayers General Fund, the part of the Council’s finances which is in greatest distress.  We have asked, and await an answer.

While the Council uses the term “hibernate” so not to alarm tax-payers, it amounts to a disastrous end to what should have been a significant revenue-earning opportunity to support essential municipal services.”

Cllr Dennis Willetts, Conservative Spokesman on the Council’s trading activities. added. “The trading scope stipulated by the Council for the Amphora Companies was much too diverse. They were asked to build affordable houses, but the Council could not make sufficient funds available. The relevant assets were never transferred from the Council’s balance sheet and the schemes were still born.

They were asked to provide a green energy company for the Council’s Northern Gateway, but the Council failed to action the building of the hospital and the housing estate which would have been the Amphora energy company’s primary customers.

They were asked to run an events company, with the Council’s famous Grade 1 listed Moot Hall as its centre-piece. But the Council failed to maintain the roof in good condition, and the asset is now out of service for a further 2 years, wrecking the trading plan of the Amphora events company.

They were asked to exploit the Council’s CCTV duct-space across the town centre to provide a high-speed internet fibre-based service, but because of the strategic indecision of the Council, only 500 private customers and 80 businesses were signed up in what was described as a technically loss-making venture.

 It is a sad end to what could have been a star performer amongst Colchester’ businesses.

 Conservatives pledge never to take risks with the funds of the Taxpayers and Council tenants.

2023-11-14

Irresponsible Lib-Dem spending – and higher rents for new Council House tenants

The LibDem Administration at Colchester City Council is pushing ahead with its £100m debt-fuelled housing acquisition programme despite the higher interest rates which make it financially unviable.

It says it will insist that all tenancies for new acquisitions will be “affordable” rather than “social”.  The difference is important because affordable rent means a 20% discount to market rent, whereas “social rent” which means bigger discounts averaging 50%.

But the Administration is continuing with its other historic appraisal assumptions.  They assume that long-term interest rates are still at 3% rather than 5% and that rents will rise faster than costs – small percentages that make a big difference over 40 years.

Councillor William Sunnucks, Conservative spokesman on Council Resources, said: “The Council will run out of money if the Lib-Dems carry on like this.  They are charging tenants more rent to try to plug the viability gap. 

But they still haven’t come to terms with interest rate increases and they admit that they don’t understand the viability assumptions which they have just approved." 

2023-11-23

Colchester City Council publishes bogus information in response to the Government requirement for transparency (sample below)

Central Government requires Local Councils to publish information about their operations so that Councillors and taxpayers know what is being done with their money. This is known as "The Transparency Code".

One of the most important requirements of the Transparency Code is the publication of each item of the Council’s expenditure over £500. This provides Councillors with the data to hold to account the spending decisions made by the Council, and more importantly it provides taxpayers across the City with the same capability.

But when Conservative Councillors recently carried out an audit of files published by the Council on items of expenditure over £500 they were found to be populated with bogus data on which we can place no reliance whatsoever, see sample above.

Paul Dundas, Leader of the Conservative Group on the City Council said  ”Some of the data was completely wrong and grossly misleading,  For instance it showed values of £5m for grants to voluntary organisations which were in fact expenditure of only a few tens or hundreds of pounds.

We do not know who in recent times has accessed the statutory publication of the Council’s expenditure over £500, or for what purpose. Researchers from Government, universities, the national and local press may be blissfully unaware that the Council data on which they were relying was neither correct nor trustworthy."

The Conservative Group has demanded immediate remedial action, correction of the data, and the issue of a public statement from the Council explaining to the residents of the city why they cannot rely on statutory information published by the City Council.

2023-11-01

Liberal Democrats block move to adopt the 2015 Local Government Transparency Code

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative spokesman on Council Resources, explains why Colchester City Council is failing in its duty to fully comply with the 2015 Local Government Transparency Code: "Government's purpose in issuing The Code is to ensure that all background material and data used by Public Authorities in their decision-making is available to Councillors, taxpayers and members of the public. This transparency ensures that everyone can judge whether decisions are good or bad."

Colchester Council has a moderately good record on Transparency. But when tough decisions have to be made, the political groups currently controlling the Council are tempted to play games with the release of information and it needs a reminder of the 2015 transparency code."

So at the Council meeting on 19th October 2023, I proposed a motion to Council that "All data held and managed by the Council should be made public (except for that relating to private individuals) and that the 2015 Local Government Transparency Code should be respected in full"

Imagine my surprise, and that of my fellow Conservatives. when the Leader of the Council proposed an amendment deleting the words " the 2015 Local Government Transparency Code should be respected in full". This says it all. The Liberal Democrats do not believe in open government.

And this is my personal experience. I’m sick and tired of trying to get the information I need to do my job as Conservative Spokesman for resources: and I know other Conservative spokespersons have struggled with the same problem. Councillors shouldn’t have to submit "freedom of information requests" to get information from their own Council. 

The Liberal-democrat Administration talks at length about collaboration, but as soon as the questions get hard, the clam shell closes. Answers are promised, but never received. Next you get the "Sir Humphrey speak".  it sounds pleasant enough but you don’t actually get an answer. If you persist it turns political and someone else is blamed - auditors, Essex County Council, central government - anyone not there to answer back. 

Finally - and this happened at yesterday’s Governance and Audit committee - you will be told that the questions are not relevant to voters on the doorstep and you are made to feel silly for asking them. This is disrespectful: people do care about the risks being taken with public money and whether there is waste that causes them to pay more tax. Our questions are not frivolous or irrelevant:  they are about how the Council can be run better for the benefit of our residents.  

We are emphatically not asking for more work from Council Officers.  Quite the opposite. Please just open the books and give us the base information you already have.  There is no need to reshape it into long carefully sanitised reports - in one case we asked for a one-page financial appraisal which we know exists, and after six months got back two weighty reports -  but still no sight of the one-page appraisal.  

So why can’t we see the appraisal?  What is there to hide? My example refers to the Northern Gateway leisure development where it turns out that our residents bear almost all the risk.  Goodness knows what those reports cost in cash, officer time and energy. It would be so much easier if the Administration would give us the one piece of paper we really need. The press releases are ceaselessly positive but no one knows the likely damage to our accounts and the financial future of the Council.

The same applies wherever we get too close to the Council's risky decisions.  Over the coming months we will need to know what property assets we own and why the rental income is so low, how many staff we employ and what they are doing: and to have proper breakdowns of the accounts to enable us to prepare The Conservative Opposition budget.  

So please can we just open the books and conduct the Council’s business in an open way as required by the transparency code.  Let’s not get clever with the law or use information as a tool of politics.  Just share what we have so that, together, we can address the problems of Colchester City Council.  

2023-10-19

Northern Gateway Leisure Park: Lib-dem administration holds Northern Gateway financial changes secret

The development of the Northern Gateway leisure scheme includes a new cinema and hotel, and several fast-food outlets. It is being financed via a set of complex related deals between the Council, Canada Life Assurance Company, and the developer Turnstone Estates Limited.

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative Spokesman on Council resources, explains: "In fact the deal is so complex it is believed to be delaying the audit of the Council’s Financial accounts, necessitating advice from external financial consultants at considerable expense to Council Tax Payers.

In a recent secret meeting of the City Council’s Controlling Cabinet (exclusively Lib-Dem Councillors) the leisure park Development Agreement was modified.  The opposition Conservative group has not been allowed to see the legal report we have asked for, nor has it seen the financial appraisals or valuations. There is no good reason for this, especially as we have relevant expertise within our ranks.

It is now clear that this is a £65m loan masquerading as a lease, and it will have to be treated as such in the accounts.  We see few benefits arising from the complexity and believe it is a mistake for Councils to enter into transactions which few Councillors understand."

The Conservative Group considers that secret modifications significantly increases the risk to the City’s taxpayers. But we are prohibited by the Council rules from telling you how or why !!!!

2023-09-26

Council must put an end to “aggressive” beggars hounding people for money in Colchester city centre

Cllr Darius Laws, (Rural North Ward) chairman of Colchester’s statutory Crime and Disorder Committee, says the Council must put an end to  'aggressive' beggars hounding people for money in Colchester city centre.

“This behaviour occurs in the Centre despite the Council issuing a Public Space Protection Order banning people for begging for money.

Many residents residents, myself included, find the begging intimidating - especially after dark. I have even seen people being asked for money while sat in the outside seating areas of restaurants.

It is noticeable that begging is not tolerated in the private shopping centres off the High Street, but it is rampant on our High Street, despite having a Public Space Protection Order in place which says: ‘You shall not loiter and aggressively beg’.

Given the frequency with which these menacing approaches are made to members of the public, it should be easy for the Council Wardens to catch people begging in the act.”

Cllr Laws added  ”If these aggressive beggars do not heed the help, advice and guidance given to them. the Council Leadership must ensure that Street Wardens use their power to issue fixed penalty notices".

Conservatives pledge to cut out antisocial behaviour in the City Centre and make it an attractive place to visit.

2023-09-22

An opinion piece by Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Paul Dundas,  on the Colchester Garden Tax proposed by the Lib-Dems, Labour and Greens

There has been much reporting of the £95 “Garden Tax” charge for kerbside green waste collections over the last few days, but residents could be forgiven for being confused as to where each political party stands on the topic, particularly with the multiple views emanating from Colchester Labour.

Colchester Labour, as part of the then ruling Lib/Lab Coalition at the Town Hall, conceived and approved the charges earlier in the year together with their Liberal Democrat partners and the Greens. However, in the last week we have heard that: some Labour Councillors continuing to support it; some staying in the middle by saying they don’t support it but aren’t really against; it and others enthusiastically distributing petitions in Highwoods against one of their own policies. No wonder everyone is confused.

Since the May 2023 local elections we have also had the question as to whether Colchester Labour is an opposition party or still part of the ruling coalition. Sometimes it seems as if even they don’t know themselves. They clearly did a deal in May with the Liberal Democrats. In return for Labour being gifted all the key Committee chairs, Labour would support the Liberal Democrat budget and policies. Based on Labour’s sudden forgetfulness this week on which policies they backed or not, the Liberal Democrats would probably be justified in requesting a refund.

The record is quite clear. Charging for collecting green waste, came to Full Council in February this year as part of the budget. Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens all voted for greens waste charges, and the Conservatives voted against (see voting record below)

This is a simple on-the-record fact. Labour cannot change history and if they really want to start opposing things, they need to become a proper opposition, cancel the deal with the Liberal Democrats, hand back the committee chairs and join the Conservatives on the opposition benches.

Cllr Paul Dundas
Conservative Group Leader, Colchester City Council

2023-08-26

Accounts still not audited since March 2020

The Council’s financial accounting has fallen seriously behind and the LibDem Administration is doing little about it other than blaming BDO, the Council's auditors. 

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative spokesman on Resources explains:  "BDO provides a tempting scapegoat: a private sector accounting firm struggling to understand public sector finance.  Unable to staff the audits they promised to do.  And so far either unwilling or unable to explain themselves.

But none of this takes away from the Council’s problems.  It hasn’t had an audited balance sheet since March 2020, more than three years ago.  Its 2022 draft accounts were quietly published in March 2023 and are clearly incomplete.  And its 2023 accounts haven’t been published at all.  The failure to produce accounts when other Councils have done so can’t be blamed on the auditors.

Worse still it will be very difficult for its new auditors, KPMG, to catch up when they take over.  They need confidence in the previous years because they provide the foundation for the current year, and it will be a big job for them to claw back to normality.

The LibDems need to get to grips with the problem and stop blaming others.  If accounting write-offs are needed they should be done now.  If extra strategic finance resource is needed, as recommended by the independent peer review, then they should find it."

The Conservative opposition will continue to push for transparency and for accounting to be taken seriously.  It will encourage the Council to focus its activities for the benefit of the Council taxpayer and avoid complicated property developments.

Continued public opposition to charging for Garden Waste Collections leads to withering attack from all sides

Yesterday, the City Council Scrutiny Panel considered the details proposed from the Liberal-Democrat Administration for the implementation of charges for the kerbside collection of garden waste.

The attack on the scheme was led by Highwoods resident, Paul Smith, speaking from the public gallery,  (not Lib Dem Councillor Paul Smith) who criticised the Council for ineptly introducing charges for Garden Waste collection at the time of a cost-of living crisis for many residents. His views were strongly supported by many of the Councillors present at the meeting.

Highwoods resident Paul Smith continued: “Furthermore, no consideration has been given to damage to the environment. Currently the City Council reports that 55% of all waste it collects is recycled. This is already considerably less than the best performing Councils in Essex who achieve over 70% recycling. The impact of the City’s Garden waste charging scheme will further reduce the Council’s overall recycling delivery to below 53%, which I suggest is shameful and unacceptable, and the Council needs to re-think its recycling polices."

The scheme started to unravel when questioning by Cllr Paul Dundas, (Tiptree Ward) Leader of the Conservative Group, revealed that the Council could not afford to purchase the wheelie bins needed for the scheme, and would have to borrow the money to buy them. Although the Council had announced that the mandatory wheelie bins would be on sale for £30 to subscribers, they could not actually be sold until the Council’s loan had been repaid over a 10-year period.

The position was made further complex when it was further questioning revealed that the Council was proposed to charge for the replacement of all recycling kit from April 2024, including wheelie bins and recycling bags.

Cllr Dennis Willetts, (Lexden & Braiswick Ward) described the business case and financial data presented to the Scrutiny Panel as incomplete and unconvincing. It reported only the net income from introducing charges, and did not give a profitability forecast, by combining income with the actual cost of staff, vehicles and maintenance needed to run the chargeable kerbside collection.

The current cost of collecting Garden waste from residents is £1.8m. In the second year of the charging scheme, subscriptions were forecast to rise to 28% of houses, and in the third year to 50% of houses. Yet the cost of delivering the chargeable service remained at an undisclosed level close to the £1.8m, despite making chargeable collections in future years from only 28% or 50% of houses. No private sector firm would permit such inefficient use of resources.

More worryingly, no assurances were forthcoming that the £55 annual charge for collecting garden waste would not be increased during the second and third year of the charging scheme.

Cllr Darius Laws (Rural North Ward) Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group & Chairman of the Scrutiny Panel, suggested that there was no clear consensus on whether the proposed implementation details of the charging scheme were realistic. On the partial information available, the members of the Panel decided against making any recommendations as none were likely to make the scheme more palatable to residents.  

2023-08-10

Labour scores an own goal over antisocial behaviour in Colchester

At the Council meeting on 19th July, Labour Councillors shot themselves in the foot when they proposed a motion on anti-social behaviour.

They pretentiously proposed:

“This Council notes the rising incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the historic city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods, which includes: damage to property; harassment and abuse of staff and customers in the retail and hospitality sectors; thefts from shops which harm businesses and which can heighten vulnerability experienced by retail staff and customers. Labour called on the City Council and local Community Safety Partnership: to develop and implement a new Anti-Social Behaviour Plan to tackle these issues.”

While they tried desperately to catch the headlines, Labour had not done their homework.

Statistics supplied by the Police and by the Crime Commissioners Office showed a very different picture:

While there is some crime and antisocial behaviour everywhere, the statistics for Colchester showed that for the year ending July 2023, Antisocial behaviour was 10.7% of all crimes reported in Colchester,

The total number of antisocial behaviour crimes was 4517, representing 11.6 crimes per annum per 1000 workday people. Colchester's anti-social behaviour crime rate was only 71% of the National Average.

The number of Colchester’s anti-social behaviour crimes, 4517, for the year ending July 2023 showed a decrease of 30.3% when compared year-over-year.

Cllr Andrew Ellis, Conservative spokesman on Housing & Communities, said: “There is always room for improvements in the reduction of crime. But the strategy of the Police and the Colchester’s Community Safety Partnership resulted in a significant decrease in anti-social behaviour crimes of 30.3% year-over-year to July 2023. Labour should be congratulating the Police, not hounding them.

Perhaps the Labour Group might like to take a trip to Blackpool (Labour controlled Council), where anti-social behaviour crimes run at 48 per annum per 1000 workday people, compared to Colchester’s 11.6, or to East London at 33 per annum per 1000 workday people.

Conservatives pledge their support to the police in their efforts to make Colchester a safe place to live and work

Conservatives call for Transparent Accounting

The Council’s Revenue expenditure, including pay awards, is leaping ahead of the ability of Taxpayers to pay.  Colchester City Council, like many Councils, is looking for revenue earning Capital investments that will provide sustained income to support the provision of front-line services in future. However, across the Country there have been some spectacular failures where the risks of these ventures were unacceptably high, and the projects have crashed leaving the local taxpayers to pick up the bill for decades to come.  

Cllr William Sunnocks, Conservative Spokesman on Resources said: "It is essential that Councillors and taxpayers know of the risk, and understand the consequences if things go wrong.

Colchester has one project in this category - the Northern Gateway. Very few of its financing details have been made public, other than it will cost £65m, with Turnstone Estates as the developer. The Liberal Democrat Administration and their Labour Party backers says it will retain the freehold of the site and have agreed a set of complex financial transactions to fund the development. This is the first danger signal. None of these transactions appear in the Council’s statutory accounts, and we don’t know what the impact will be. We do know that the cinema, which constitutes a quarter of the Northern Gateway development, is to be leased to Cineworld, an operator which has been in financial distress for some time following COVID.

It is clear that most of the risks and rewards of the development accrue to Colchester.  The developer’s job will shortly be finished and the funder, Canada Life, wants clean index-linked annuity income.  If the scheme does well, then so will Colchester.  But if it struggles then Colchester’s general fund will have to pay the shortfall on the lease payments. This shortfall will be deducted from the Council’s ability to provide front-line services."

Colchester’s Conservatives demand increased transparency: and improved financial discipline in relation to such investments to protect the interests of the City's taxpayers.

This article is one in a series of how a Conservative Administration would run Colchester Council more effectively and more efficiently.

 2023-07-21

Conservatives Beef-up Council opposition to Proposed Pylon Route across North Colchester

At the Council meeting on 19th July 2023, the Conservative Group tabled a motion to strengthen the Council’s resolve to defend North Colchester against the proposal by National Grid plc which will despoil the North of the area with a new pylon route

The proposed route of 50m high pylons would blight the villages of Langham, Boxted, Fordham, Great Horkesley, Little Horkesley, West Bergholt, Aldham, Marks Tey and beyond. Where it cuts across the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the cables would go underground in a trench 100m wide that would be completely cleared and left desolate in perpetuity.

Proposing the motion, Cllr Darius Laws (Rural North Ward) said; ”National Grid plc are seeking to transport electricity across East Anglia via pylons which would have a dramatic impact on our residents, especially those living in the villages of North Colchester.

These landscapes aren't accidental, particularly in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty where it has been preserved by the management committee, volunteers, Parish Councils and The Dedham Society.

Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex have some of the most beautiful landscapes in the UK, immortalised by painters such as John Constable RA, as such these 50 metre high pylons are incompatible with these landscapes and challenge our revered ‘big skies’.

Further negative consequences during the construction of these pylons could include damage to various habitats of wildlife including: trees, biodiversity, plant-life as well as also negatively impacting on regional tourist attractions and archaeology.

Therefore I propose to Council:

• Robust representations should be made, during and outside of consultation periods, to the Government decision-makers to oppose new pylons blighting our beautiful countryside.
• Collaborative working with other local authorities and MPs should take place to support calls for an offshore grid, including for the North Falls and Five Estuaries wind farms; in order to speed up delivery of green energy, cut its cost and protect the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and surrounding countryside.

North Essex and East Anglia shouldn't suffer so that energy can be transferred to London and I'm pleased all councillors unanimously agreed to fight these flawed pylon plans from National Grid plc."

Cllr Dennis Willetts (Lexden and Braiswick Ward) supporting the motion, added: “Recent publication of the detailed pylon sites proposed by Nation Grid plc reinforced the horrors of this development to residents across the North of Colchester.

For instance, over the proposed 180km route, the majority of the listed buildings within 500m of a proposed pylon are to be found in just one village: Aldham.  Yet with the insidious way National Grid plc carries out its consultation events, it is no surprise that the nearest consultation to Aldham was in Witham, some 12 miles away with no easy public transport connection, as was the case in many other villages.

Sensible-thinking people surely agree that the villages most affected in North Colchester all deserve their own consultation event in view the extensive bight to be inflicted on their communities."

Cllr William Sunnucks (Rural North Ward) explained the financial issues to Council: “If the industry is remotely interested in delivering net zero on time it will explore the offshore option with vigour. It won’t cost much more and it will avoid years of legal challenge and wasteful controversy.”

Colchester City Council's Green Waste Charging Proposals are unfair and poorly thought through

Colchester City Council has proposed charging residents for garden waste collection, but the plan has been met with significant criticism. It is unfair to charge residents for a service that was previously free, especially in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis when the council wastes so much tax payer money. 

Cllr Tom Rowe (Rural North Ward) and Conservative spokesman on Strategic Objectives said: "The council has not yet released a full breakdown of the costs and benefits of the proposal, making it difficult to assess whether it is the best option or not. Instead of increasing taxes, why doesn't the council look at reducing spending? Why doesn't  the Council look to save £200k by cutting the cost of politics? I would also suggest that the council could partner with local commercial partners to deliver the service more efficiently. Without these options on the table, how can the council make a decision on this important issue?

Those who follow council business know they have already made the decision to charge for green waste collection, this is a formality.

Only the Conservatives voted against the recent budget rejecting this Green tax. The proposal are likely to be debated in the council's scrutiny Committee before going back to cabinet in the coming months for a rubber stamp, whatever is recommended. 

The business case put forward by the council is unlike any I've seen. It does not include the overall costs of running the service, such as staff costs. It does however include the purchase of two new trucks required for wider use in the collection service that seemingly have nothing to do with Green waste demand. 

Whilst the council has so enthusiastically announced a climate crisis, why hasn't it announced these new trucks will be electric?

This is not the only odd decision in the council's Green tax proposals that need to be answered. Why aren't those on benefits exempt from the upfront wheelie bin cost or the annual collection cost? Why are those on existing estates with brown waste bins being required to pay for the cost of another bin?

The Council's green waste charging proposal is a controversial one, and it is likely to be debated for some time. It is important that the Council carefully considers all of the options before making a final decision. Currently I don't believe this work has been done and it needs to be considered in conjunction with the whole waste and recycling policy. 

Residents are facing many different cost pressures and they need this new tax like a hole in the head."

2023-07-18 19:19:05

Colchester’s Capital Spending Programme

Despite the recommendation of the Local Government Association Peer Review for an urgent re-appraisal of the Council’s £200m capital expenditure programme, nearly a year has passed and no visible progress has been made.  The Council was already borrowing £168 million as of March 2022, a figure which is set to double under current plans over the next five years. 

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative Spokesman on Council Resources, said: The capital programme review needs to achieve three different things. 

• Bring discipline to capital spending, with transparent financial appraisals and controls
• Find a way to spend the Town Deal and Levelling Up Grants on meaningful practical projects before the money is eaten away by inflation
• Find financially sustainable ways of housing those in expensive and unsatisfactory temporary accommodation.

There is no sign yet as to where the review is focussed.  The Council continues to take on debt to buy allocated social housing which would otherwise have gone to housing associations – no addition to the total supply.  Sometimes it buys market housing at an interest cost of 4.5% per annum to convert to social housing that yields just 1.5%. 

And it embarks on complex property developments such as the Northern Gateway where it ends up taking risks it struggles to understand."

 2023-07-15

This article is one in a series of how a Conservative Administration would run Colchester Council more effectively and more efficiently.

Waste and Recycling Strategy - where is the vision? Picture shows a fully electric waste collection freighter. Despite the Colchester Council's Climate Emergency Resolution, it will not commit fully to Electric Waste Collection Freighters.  Shame.

Colchester Council has proclaimed a waste recycling target of 70%. However, the Council has not yet answered a number of key questions about how it plans to achieve this target.  The Council under Liberal Democrats , with or without their Labour Party friends, is floundering with no strategic objectives to get beyond the mid-50% recycling rate.

Cllr Sue Lissimore, (Prettygate Ward) and Conservative spokesperson on Waste, Neighbourhood Services & Environment explained: "Recycling has hardly improved since food waste and garden waste kerbside collections were introduced many years ago, raising the recycling rate for 30% to 50%.  I'm unclear how the current Administration will help improve waste and recycling rates"

Cllr Tom Rowe (Rural North Ward) and Conservative spokesman on Strategic Objectives added "It is high time that the Council had a waste and recycling review. This would be an opportunity to address the lack of direction and develop a clear and achievable plan to reach its 70% recycling target. What are the best practices of other councils who have achieved much high recycling rates?, Should we implement co-mingling?. and how can we partner with the private sector?.

We have local experts, Colchester Skip Hire (CSH) who recycle at rates of 99%. I've spoken to CSH and they could help Colchester Council improve their rates and reduce costs to the taxpayers if the Council was willing to collaborate. I urge the council to get round the table and reduce the cost of waste and recycling while improving outcomes for taxpayers."

For too long Colchester has lacked a clear vision on how to achieve its public service ambitions. It is an organisation with limited resources that is likely to get more squeezed in the coming years.  It needs to focus and start to deliver for residents. Colchester Council can do better.

Update from Cllr William Sunnucks on proposed Tendring Borders Garden Community

Cllr William Sunnucks (Rural North Ward) and Conservative Spokesperson on Council Resources writes: Many residents will have heard of the “Tendring Borders Garden Community” project. But not many know precisely what it is and even fewer realise how it will affect them directly.

It would be tempting to think if you do not live near it then it doesn’t really affect you, but it does. Get the transport wrong and thousands more cars will be deposited on Colchester’s already gridlocked roads. Get the medical provision wrong and Colchester’s already overburdened Hospital, Doctors and Dentists will be even more difficult to access. Get the education provision wrong and thousands more people will be competing for rare school places.

In short, wherever you live in Colchester and even beyond it, it will affect you. It is huge - our biggest development - more than twice the size of Wivenhoe and Elmstead Market combined. And it will shape the future of our City.

The new community comes with many promises – but are these actually going to be delivered?  There have been many attempts but very few new towns of this size have actually been built since Milton Keynes in the 1960s. 

The signs aren’t good – our Councils have put a lot of time and money into creating a plan, but they don’t own any of the land, and they don’t have any legal agreement with those who do.

The promise of the link road between the A120 and the A133 to take the traffic away from Colchester has already been compromised. When the grant money ran out, we were forced to accept a decision to build it in two phases and there is a risk that the second phase won’t be built.  A half link road will be of no use to anyone.

The same risk applies to other infrastructure.  If the developer runs out of money will we get the schools, the surgeries, the rapid transit system and country park that we have been promised? 

The project has developed an impetus of its own.   A detailed plan is being rushed through but little attention has been paid to the money side - a mistake we will all regret.  Developers are not bad people but they are not Father Christmas.  Their priorities are different and we need over £300million of their cash for the necessary infrastructure. 

There is no contract, no memorandum of understanding and no legal structure to achieve this. 

Until June 25 there is a key public consultation available at https://talk.tcbgardencommunity.co.uk/. I would urge anyone and everyone in Colchester however far away you might be to look at it and respond.

There is only one chance to get this right and Colchester needs to make it clear that we need a practical plan not just a wish list.

________________________________________________________

Councillor William Sunnucks is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience in property development and finance.

2023-06-14

Liberal Democrats dump the Council's green agenda

As one of its first changes, The Liberal Democrat Administration which now controls the City Council, relegated the green agenda.

Announcing the Administration’s targets for its new strategic plan, the Council’s Scrutiny Panel heard that because of financial pressures and the need to divert resources into redressing the effects of “financial inequality” in the City, the climate emergency targets would be relaxed.

Cllr Sue Lissimore (Prettygate Ward) and Conservative Spokesperson on Waste, Neighbourhood Services & the Environment, said: “Three of the most cherished and important environmental targets are now in decline under the Lib-Dems:

• Firstly, the target for collection of residual household waste is being changed from 346kg per household, to 354kg per year, anticipating an extra 8kg of waste per household going to environmentally unfriendly landfill. This may seem small, but it amounts to an extra 640 tons of general waste going to landfill per year.

 I expect this to be a gross underestimation because many residents will be topping-up their black bags and general wheelie bins with garden waste now that the Council intends to charge for its collections.

• Secondly, the target for waste reused, recycled and composted is being reduced from 55% to 53%. Over the past decade the recycling rate has shown a trajectory of steady improvement, lifting Colchester from the bottom of the Essex recycling league table to the middle, but still nowhere near the 70% achieved by the best-performing Essex Councils.

  It is truly regrettable that the Lib-Dems are now letting the City’s recycling achievements slip downwards again.

• Thirdly, the Council’s target for Zero CO2 emission by 2030 has virtually vanished. The new target is to reduce the CO2 emissions by 100 tons (5200 to 5100 tons) in the second half of the year. This rate amounts to a 1.9% reduction, or 3.8% reduction in a full year, taking some 27 years to get down to zero. So zero CO2 will be achieved in 2050 rather than 2030.

 The CO2 target will be further stressed by the decision of the Lib-Dem Administration not to purchase electric vehicles for the new chargeable Garden waste Collection service.”

Cllr Dennis Willetts (Lexden & Braiswick Ward) and a member of the Council’s Scrutiny Panel, added: “It was most disappointing to be presented with the facts that, because of a shift of Council priorities, the environmental targets are being relaxed. Most residents of the City acknowledge climate change and want an improvement in the Council’s environmental standards, and a cleaner, greener more healthy City. The new Administration is going entirely the wrong way.

2023-06-08

Sue Lissimore on the Council's short-sighted proposal to charge for kerbside collection of garden waste

Cllr Sue Lissimore (Prettygate Ward) and Conservative spokesperson on Waste, Neighbourhood Services & Environment addressed the Council's Cabinet, saying:

I believe the introduction of charges for the kerbside collection of garden waste is short sighted due to the potential obligations Environment Act which the Government is currently implementing.  This Act stipulates that the Government are looking at introducing a statutory duty to collect garden waste and a consultation response is due any day.

So why try to implement charges for collecting Garden Waste, with all the costs involved, when it could be overturned in the very near future?

The Council suggests "home composting".  There is an art to this and there is a great difference between producing compost and producing a smelly sludge - if someone regularly just adds lawn clippings for example then this will not produce a compost.  Residents also need the room to do this.  You’ve added links to Essex County Council help pages but this will only show what you need to do to produce usable compost.  If you don’t have the materials to do that, compost is not going to magically appear.

The Council also recommends taking garden waste to the Essex County Council recycling centre.  That seems to be the standard answer to most issues here at Colchester City Council.  Let’s transfer the burden onto Essex County Council instead of ourselves.  Job done.  Well I’m sorry but that’s not job done.  We still have to pay for this service through our taxes and yet you are happy to just transfer that burden to ECC.  This also does not take into account the extra vehicle journeys - I though we were trying to reduce journeys?  This does not correlate with the greenest council that you say you are trying to promote.

There are still many residents who do not want, or who can not handle wheelie bins.  The Council is proposing to force a wheelie bin for garden waste upon residents when the Council has said many times in the past that you will not.  Where do residents store them?  How do residents handle them if elderly or disabled?  The Council should have continued offering an either/or scheme and kept the option of using the existing white sacks.  I know why - because the kerb-side collection operatives prefer wheelie bins.  But that is just turning the maintenance and carrying of the receptacle onto the resident.  They will now be cleaning them and moving them!

My genuine concern about this whole proposal for charging to collect garden waste is the issue of it being cost-effective.  There are so many ‘what ifs’ and whilst I like to see flexibility when it comes to residents, flexibility is not the friend of balancing accounts.  The Council says it need to so this to pay for the service and to generate income yet you have no idea what the take up will be.  This is reinforced by some comments in the report: there ‘may be’ offers but we don’t know when or how much;  

• the vehicle fleet will change ‘subject to speed of uptake and geography of growth; 
• The Council will have to hire vehicles in the growing season but not sure how many;
• the vehicles may not be of low admissions; There is the uncosted possibility promising by introducing Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil fuel to ensure the service has less emissions but this fuels costs more than diesel and as you have no idea how much money you will generate from charging for garden waste, that looks highly unlikely to go ahead.
• states that no profit will be made until 2025/26 - what happens if the Government then turn around and say you’ve got to offer it free anyway?  All that done in 23/24 and 24/25 would be a loss and would never catch up and be paid back. 
• The Council will be borrowing to achieve the balance you need.  So this council will be paying for this borrowing for many years to come.

I can not find any reference in the Council Report to those properties that do not have space for wheelie bins or who live in terraced housing and can not get a bin easily from the front to the back and vice versa.  Does that mean there is now no alternative for those households?  Wheelie bin or nothing?

I know what what the Council's answer is going to be - if we don’t do this then where else can we save money.  I understand that.  The majority of residents understand that.  However what you have here is a ‘finger in the air’ report that can not identify any surety that this will be cost effective, will have to borrow to deliver it and which may be scrapped anyway in the future due to implementation of the the Environment bill. 

In Conclusion, we are forgetting why kerbside garden waste collections were introduced in the first place?  To reduce the amount of garden waste going into black bags and therefore not being recycled.  Many residents will now just put their waste in the black bags and no where in this report can I see any budgeting for the increase in volume of black bags and the additional cost to clear up the fly tipping and bonfires.  However at the Council's Scrutiny Committee last night.  The Council is upping its estimate of average household waste going to land by an extra 640 tons.  The Council is also reducing its target on recycling from 55% to 53% as discussed last night.  How disappointing that when some Councils in Essex recycle 70% of their waste, Colchester is now set to drop to 53%, 

Conservatives believe that charging for the kerbside collection of garden waste is short sighted, too expensive and does nothing for this Council's green credentials.  

Colchester Conservatives call for full public disclosure of the circumstances surrounding an alleged breach of security affecting the data held by the City Council for thousands of residents.

Cllr Roger Buston, Conservative Spokesman on Licencing and Public Protection, said: “It has been alleged in the press that personal data relating to residents of Colchester has been put at severe risk by the poor security of a Council subcontractor. We demand a full enquiry and an apology to be given to every Colchester resident whose personal data was exposed.”

According to the press, in mid-April the Russian Black Basta ransomware gang attacked Capita systems, and threatened to make public their clients’ confidential data.

The incident was reported to the Office of the Information Commissioner. In the ensuing investigation in early May, Capita is reported in the press to have admitted that 655 gigabytes of customer personal data had been left exposed in an Amazon Cloud Service virtual disk since 2016 to anyone browsing the internet.

Colchester City Council, confirmed to the press that personal data that it had collected about residents was part of the 655 gigabyte exposure, and screenshots of the personal data seen by Council Officers show that data pertaining to Colchester City Council was on public view to anyone browsing the Internet.

However, the 655 gigabytes of content of the exposed cloud server were also captured by GrayHatWarfare, a searchable database that indexes publicly visible cloud storage, indicating just how difficult it is to undo the damage done by poor security.

The personal data collected by Colchester Council was not even protected by a password, so the Russian Hacker certainly would not have needed to deploy their considerable hacking skills to obtain it. The data has since been secured, but that is rather too late in the day.

Conservative Councillors now demand an immediate explanation from the Leader of the Council on why the City Council did not regularly check the security standards of their contractors.

Conservative Councillors also demand an assurance from the Leader of the Council that every resident whose personal data supplied to the Council was in the 655 gigabytes on public display will be contacted immediately by the City Council with an apology and an explanation of what might have been revealed. We appreciate that this is a massive task because GrayHatWarfare imply that upwards of 30,000 customer records may be involved. But nevertheless it must be done.

2023-06-06

Cllr Tom Rowe says "Council’s Strategic Plan not fit for purpose"

The Council recently approved a new Strategic Plan, championed by the Liberal Democrats and Labour Councillors, but without gaining the support of the Conservative Group.

Cllr Tom Rowe (Rural North Ward) and Conservative spokesman on Strategic Objectives said “Colchester Council has a strategic plan with some very lofty and admirable goals. However, there is little-to-no connection between these objectives and how much any of it will cost, or how the council plans to spend taxpayers' money in a sustainable way to meet its objectives.

To deliver their strategic plan, the Council has put together an extensive list of Key Performance Indicators. These Indicators include, for instance, the percentage of council tax and business rates collected, a target for income collected from bereavement services and garden waste, and the "Pathway to net Zero".

Colchester Council creates an extensive list of financial accounts at the behest of the Government, but nonsensically hasn't linked them to its Key Performance Indicators. So there are seemingly no financial objectives or cost controls baked into its strategic plan.

Overall, Colchester Council's strategic plan isn't focused closely enough on what residents care about. It is not clear how the Council plans to achieve its goals, and it does not provide enough information about how taxpayers' money will be spent. With financial pressures on many households, and the Council raising taxes and reducing services, it is more important than ever that they spend our money wisely. Colchester Council must do better.

A Conservatives pledge to prioritize waste collection, improve town planning, and unleash our potential in the leisure and tourism sector.

Paul Dundas, former Leader of Colchester Borough Council has been appointed Leader of the City Council Conservative Group.

He has taken on the leadership of the Conservative Group in Colchester after being elected in the Tiptree ward on 4th May 2023

He succeeds Rural North councillor Darius Laws who has stepped aside on his appointment as Chairman of the Council's statutory Scrutiny Panel.

New Garden Town on the Colchester - Tendring Borders

Colchester Conservatives fight for housing infrastructure

At the City of Colchester’s Full Council meeting, held on Thursday 23^rd March 2023, Colchester Conservatives successfully proposed a change of direction to ensure future house building in the east of Colchester would come with a "plan for infrastructure". 

Inflationary pressures have significantly increased the cost of the vital Link Road between the A120 and A133. There is a real danger that initial Government fund of £99m might not be enough to complete the project. Colchester Conservatives support for the house-building in  the east of the City is conditional on a plan to resolve the funding shortfall before substantial house building is permitted.

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative Shadow Cabinet Member for Resources at the City of Colchester Council said: “I am determined that we substantially improve the prospect that infrastructure will be delivered so that our residents do not suffer from chronic traffic congestion. The creation of a new link road between the A120 and A133, as well as the provision of a Rapid Transit Project, has the potential to reduce ‘through’ traffic across Colchester itself.”

Cllr Darius Laws, Conservative (Opposition) Group Leader at the City of Colchester Council added: “The key is to capture land value to ensure we have funds to invest in essential infrastructure. The decisions on where houses are to be built must protect our well-established villages and communities”

2023-03-24

Colchester Conservatives oppose cuts to Saturday Drop-Off service for household waste across much of the City.

Despite a huge public backlash and a last-minute plea to the City Council, the controlling Labour & Liberal Democrat Coalition decided to axe the Saturday Drop-Off service for household waste across much of the City.

The scheme allows residents to bring small loads of household items to the council’s waste crews for disposal on specific Saturdays during spring and summer. But this service was to be axed. Colchester Council had estimated it would save more than £25,000 per year.

The move to scrap this useful public service was criticised by the City Council’s Conservative shadow waste spokesperson, Cllr Sue Lissimore. At this week’s Scrutiny Panel, she argued that axing the service would increase flytipping in Colchester.

The proposed decision was made without considering public consultation, which was contrary to the rules of the Council.

Cllr Lissimore told the Council’s Scrutiny Panel: “The impact of the cuts is real, but much of the financial savings are unlikely to be achieved. The consequences of increased fly tipping could very easily eat away at most of the savings. The Council will need a larger Neighbourhood Services Team to clear up the mess left by flytipping, and more enforcement officers to identify the culprits.

In fact there is a good case to increase the scope of the Saturday Drop Off service.  Demand for the service will definitely grow amongst vulnerable residents who do not own a car, and who cannot afford to pay for the equally ill-judged decision by the Council to charge for garden waste collection.

However, following Cllr Lissimore’s intervention, the Controlling Labour & Lib-Dem Cabinet decided to retain the Saturday Drop-Off services service in certain parts of the City, including Greenstead, Berechurch, Old Heath and the Hythe and much of the urban area, but confirmed it was axing the service in most of the rural areas.

Conservatives pledge to protect essential public services across all of Colchester

2023-03-18

Unpopular Queen St student flats and hotel planned by Alumno will not proceed

The Conservative Group welcomed the decision of Essex County Council not to provide its land in Queen Street for the proposed plan to build  336 student bedsits and a budget hotel. The developer Alumno had proposed a controversial scheme to build student flats, shops, a budget hotel, with new public space on land off Queen Street in the heart of Colchester’s Cultural Quarter.

Despite significant opposition for the local community, Colchester Borough (now City) Council had attempted to negotiate a 250 year lease with Alumno, giving the Council a one-off payment of £980,881 when planning approval was granted.

But Essex County Council, the original owner of the land, had the right to buy-back the land if the City Council did not use it for community purposes. As the City Council intended to facilitate the development of student accommodation and a hotel, the County Council decided to exercise its pre-emption rights to re-purchase the site. Alumno subsequently challenged the County Council's decision to regain the site in a judicial review in the High Court. The Alumno challenge was thrown out in December 2022.

The High Court held that Essex County Council has a pre-emption right to acquire certain land from Colchester City Council, that Essex County Council had not contracted to waive those rights, so Colchester Borough Council was not in a position to enter into a contract with Alumno in regard to land for which it did not have title or control.

Sir Duncan Ouseley, sitting as Judge in the Kings Bench of High Court of Justice ruled that: "Alumno’s claim was not reasonably arguable, and their statement of facts and grounds was deficient. The claim was made that a letter dated 25 January 2019 from Essex CC to Colchester BC contained a representation sufficient to give rise to a substantive legitimate expectation that there would be no exercise of the ECC right of pre-emption, in return for £200,000. The letter is quite incapable of having that effect. It was made in the context of property purchase negotiations. It was full of relevant qualifications. What Alumno experienced, is the lot of anyone dealing with land and taking chances before the contract has been formalised.

This is not really a planning case at all, and not a significant one either. This is in essence a private law dispute about contractual rights, and not amenable to judicial review. "

Essex County Council is now transferring the land to its ownership. Essex County Council Leader Kevin Bentley said: “We temporarily paused the legal work as the developer decided to challenge our decision to re-purchase the land in the High Court. Its claim was rejected by the High Court in December 2022 and we are now once again working with the City Council to transfer the land to Essex County Council.”

Darius Laws, Conservative Group Leader on the City Council added: "When I represented Castle Ward I know just how passionate residents were about seeing the site developed into something exciting and attractive. The ground floor of the previous scheme was an afterthought and not good enough for such an important location in historic Colchester. I am pleased The City Council and Essex County Council are now cooperating together on a new Master Plan for the wider area which will deliver a scheme that is acceptable to all the stakeholders and particularly to the residents of the city centre."

2023-03-06

Note 1:  the term "community purposes" as used above is defined as "an omnibus station and car park or for such other of the Corporation's (CCC) statutory functions as may be approved by the Council (ECC)". The full text and the details of the pre-emption clause can be found in Land Registry Title EX809745, Land on the east side of Queen Street, Colchester. schedule of restrictive covenants clauses 2 & 3.

Colchester Conservatives vote against proposal to introduce charges for collection of garden waste

At the City Council meeting on 22nd February, Colchester Conservatives voted against the proposals of the Labour & Liberal Democrat Coalition to introduce charges for the kerbside collection of garden waste, and scrapping of the household free drop-off service for receiving waste and recycling at strategic points around the City, all at a time of increasing council tax by almost 3%.

Unfortunately, the coalition of Labour & Liberal Democrats forced through the changes. We now wait to hear about the expected levels of charges.

City Council Lewis Barber told the Council: "Taxpayers feel that front line services should be protected and household budgets safeguarded, particular during difficult financial times for many residents.

Instead, we feel that the cost of politics should be reduced, such as by ending annual elections or reducing the number of senior councillors receiving special allowance payments."

Conservatives will focus on maintaining all essential Council Services, improving efficiency to deliver at the lowest cost.

2023-02-23

At the Council Meeting on 22nd February 2023, Colchester’s ruling Labour /  Liberal Democrat Coalition forced through a budget for 2023-4 which doubles the Council's debt, and has failed to release even draft accounts up to March 2022 so that Councillors can see that the budget is on a sound footing.

Cllr Darius Laws, Conservative opposition leader, said “We already have more debt than our neighbours and the budget is doubling it.  A Conservative Administration would understand the implications and get capital spending under control.”

Cllr William Sunnucks, Conservative spokesman on Resources said “All councillors need to see the accounts to fulfil their responsibilities. We are still working from a nearly two year old balance sheet and that is dangerous. The coalition Administration blames the auditors but that is a red herring.  We are not asking for audited accounts - pre-audited ones will do.  

Except for Colchester, every other Council in Essex has already released pre-audited 2022 accounts (Uttlesford is excluded because it is in special measures).  The Council's balance sheet is as important to understand as the operating budget.  There are examples of other local authorities who have run into severe trouble in this area. We have no reason to believe there is anything wrong at City of Colchester Council, but without the accounts we can’t be sure".

Conservatives believe in transparent treasury management, with the key financial records available to all Councillor and taxpayers.

 2023-2-23

Last night, Colchester Conservatives, who remain in opposition at Colchester Town Hall, voted against the Labour and Liberal Democrat plans to increase council tax and introduce charges to collect household garden waste.

Conservative Group Leader Darius Laws said: 'We want the City of Colchester Council to focus on our core municipal services, delivered to the majority of households. Only a Conservative-led Council will cut the cost of politics by freezing councillor allowances and save over £600,000 by ending the Annual Elections.

A Conservative-led Council will fight to improve infrastructure, invest in rural communities, Make Colchester More Roman and seek Local Homes for Local People."

At this week’s City of Colchester Council Scrutiny Panel and Cabinet meetings, Colchester Conservative Councillors demanded the immediate release of the overdue Accounts for the Financial year ending March 2022.

These accounts are essential to give Councillors a greater understanding and confidence of the challenges facing the Council’s finances in preparation for next year’s budget

Cllr Darius Laws, Conservative (Opposition) Group Leader said: “The City of Colchester Council, like everyone else, is suffering from huge financial pressure, particularly on staff pay. The initial budget proposals from the Liberal Democrat & Labour Coalition that controls the Council broadly consists of:

    - Increased direct costs, including staff pay, of £10.028 million, 

     -Other net increases of £0.864 million

  funded by:

    - Savings and increased charges for services of £4.661 million 

    - Drawing on Reserves of £6.231 million  

We welcomed the opportunity to have an input into the Administration’s future budget plans. But if we do not know the starting point, namely the Council’s Financial Accounts from 2021/2022, we cannot be sure that the budget is sound.

We note that Chelmsford, Braintree and Tendring Councils have all released their Accounts to March 2022.

Without sight of the Colchester Accounts and Balance Sheet we are uncertain of the extent of our balances and borrowing, we are therefore not able to make a comprehensive assessment of the Administration’s financial budget for 2023/2024, and if we do not have confidence that the budget is sound, we certainly cannot vote for its approval by Council.

Will Quince MP announces Colchester's success in the Levelling Up Fund

 I am delighted that, with the support from the Leader of Essex County Council, Cllr Kevin Bentley and the former Leader of The City of Colchester Council, Paul Dundas, I have helped secure £19.66m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund Round 2.

The City of Colchester Council (CCC) has announced the Cultural and Creative Events Fund will be returning for 2023/24

Applications are now open for micro grants of between £250-£1500 to help deliver creative events and activities across the City of Colchester local authority area between 30 April 2023 and 1 May 2024.  The fund is designed to help maintain and develop the city’s rich and diverse cultural landscape.

The available funding totals £30,000, made up of £20,000 from CCC and £10,000 from project partner: the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board. 

By linking up with the NHS, CCC is cementing its commitment to improving residents' health, wellbeing and quality of life through encouraging participation and engagement with cultural activities.

To be considered for funding, applications should demonstrate that the planned activity will achieve at least three of the following:

• Deliver a high-quality cultural experience to local audiences
• Develop or showcase local creative talent
• Celebrate, explore, and raise awareness of local heritage
• Encourage visitors to the City of Colchester
• Celebrate our diverse local communities

Projects should also demonstrate how they will be contributing to breaking down social barriers, help develop inclusive communities, and have a direct or indirect aim of reducing social isolation through fostering community within the boundaries of the city.

Funding applications will be welcomed from registered charities, constituted voluntary and community organisations as well as not-for-profit groups.

Applications must be submitted online, by 6 February 2023, through CCC’s online portal which can be found here: www.colchester.gov.uk/cultural-creative-events-fund

Conservative Opposition Group Leader Cllr Darius G Laws said: “The Conservative opposition group at the Town Hall recognise the core retail and service function of the historic centre of Colchester has changed beyond all recognition, impacted most notably by the arrival of the internet.

We have been pressing the Coalition Council to ensure Colchester remains vibrant, be it making more of Colchester’s unique Roman history or ensuring destination experiences and events to draw people to the centre.”

Dr Ed Garratt, Chief Executive, NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board, said: “It’s well known that involvement in creative and cultural activities has a positive effect on an individual’s wellbeing, as well as giving a boost to our communities. “From the success of last year’s fund, we know that Colchester is bursting and flourishing with creative energy, and hope that 2023 will see even more new projects come forward.”

Conservatives pledge to make Colchester a more attractive and interesting place to visit

Council agrees to explore the possibility of City Council elections every 4 years

Currently the term of office of one-third of the City Councillor expires each year, with County Council elections in the 4^th year. So over a 4 year cycle, all councillors have to stand down or seek re-election. The cost of running annual elections is significant and can be upwards of £100,000 a year.

So at its December meeting The City Council voted to explore the possibility of modifying its current electoral system in favour of “all up” elections every four years,

Conservative Group Leader Councillor Darius Laws (Rural North Ward), who jointly proposed the motion with the Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders, said changing to just one election every four years could save hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Cllr Laws said "the City Council has a very difficult task in balancing the books against a backdrop of rising costs, with a potential budget gap of £5m. Savings from a more efficient election  system would be most welcome.

Colchester Conservatives favour efficiency savings and exploring shared services across local authorities, as opposed to large increases in council tax. Inflationary pressures of the current magnitude are unknown for a generation and we look forward to seeing what the administration at the City of Colchester Council propose.”

Conservatives pledge to cut the cost of running the Council and divert funds into front-line services

2022-12-02

Local Government Association Panel carries out a peer review of Colchester Borough Council

The Local Government Association (LGA) recently carried-out a wide-ranging peer review of Colchester Borough Council by an expert panel of Councillors and Senior Officers drawn from similar sized Councils from: Torbay; Watford; Malvern Hills; Scarborough; Hastings; and New Forest District Councils.

While much good practice was noted at Colchester, the LGA Panel was critical of some aspects of the Lib-Dem and Labour controlled Council, and recommended:

1. CBC needs to reset and realign its organisation to reflect resource pressures and significant changes in working arrangements to support residents effectively, as Colchester’s communities grow.
2. CBC quickly needs to come together to discuss and agree what City Status means for Colchester
3. Get a grip on the Capital Programme
4. As a matter of urgency, implement changes to improve planning, prioritisation, management, oversight and delivery of all capital projects and programmes.  Consider implementing a benefits realisation approach to monitor the outcomes that projects and programmes deliver
5. CBC has too many priorities and needs to urgently get a grip on this.
6. Develop a strategy to link and prioritise projects and programmes, ensuring a direct link with a new strategic plan – be clear on which partner is leading to avoid duplication
7. Develop a new 4/5 year strategic plan, engage members, officers, and stakeholders in its development
8. Create an annual delivery plan, that includes projects and programmes
9. Resources and capacity are stretched – refocus on delivering services
10. Review your Waste Service
11. Be more proactive in dealing with equality and diversity issues
12. Lack of clarity amongst staff of the new values, and what hybrid working will mean when Rowan House (the Council’s Offices) reopens. Define what hybrid means for CBC and provide a clear definition and communication of where the council aims to be.  It could explore a range of options
13. Colchester is not alone with its recruitment and retention challenges. Shared services discussions with other Essex councils should be pursued, and the agenda around devolution could be used as a route to look more strategically at the issues.

Councillor Darius Laws, Leader of the Conservative Group and the official opposition, said: We welcome the impartial review of performance by an expert panel from outside of Colchester. The experts found much good practice but raised some areas which need attention: cutting the cost of politics by reviewing our election system, opportunities posed by City Status, reviewing the waste service and the capital programme was identified as needing urgent attention.

The Conservative Group expects that these sensible recommendations are implemented as a matter of urgency, so that Colchester is as well managed, and taxpayers get the same quality of service and value for money as other Councils of a similar size.”

2022-09-30

MP Will Quince supports Levelling-up bid to Government for £20m

The Conservative Government has invited Colchester to bid for a further £20m from the Government’s Levelling-Up Fund to support improvements to Colchester’s city centre.

The bid, by Essex County Council in partnership with the Borough Council, will boost the local economy.

The focus will be on several high-profile projects to improve the feel of the city centre, attract more visitors and increase footfall by redeveloping the St Botolph’s area. The bid will kick-start a series of works to improve public safety and create a new public realm space that helps build a traffic-free route from St Botolph’s Priory to Colchester Castle and Castle Park,

The bid also proposes to complete the existing Town Deal kerb-less route from Head Street to Queen Street, and to support businesses to improve shop fronts in the St Botolph’s area.

Conservative Group Leader on the Borough Council, Cllr Darius Laws said: "This is a superb opportunity to obtain £20m of Government funding that will support the Town Centre Masterplan proposed by the previous Conservative Administration, and deliver a long-term boost to the borough’s economy and create jobs,

Will Quince, MP for Colchester, who supported the Levelling Up bid application, added: “I am delighted to support this bid for £20m of funding that will build on work already done in the city centre and help regenerate key areas of Colchester, such as St Botolph’s. Levelling-up is about ensuring that everyone, no matter where they live, has the same life chances as everybody else, and this bid is an integral part of that for Colchester. City centres are changing, and this bid will help ensure that more of Colchester’s heritage and public realm is celebrated and enjoyed by residents, businesses and visitors.”

Conservatives pledge to rejuvenate the town centre after years of neglect by the Liberal-Democrat and Labour Coalitions that have run the Borough Council in recent years

2022-08-09

Government Confirms Colchester's town deal funding of £18.3m

The Conservative Government has today confirmed that Colchester has been awarded the full £18.2m from the Town Deal fund to invest in projects that will directly benefit residents across the Borough.

Another £1m in Town Deal funding for ‘accelerated' schemes at Balkerne Gate and St Nicholas Square was awarded by the Government in September 2020.

The first instalment of £5.8m, for 2022/23, will be directed towards a range of projects developed by engaging residents to identify their priorities. Over 1000 people submitted their views last summer. These opinions were used by “We Are Colchester”,  comprising Essex County Council,  Colchester Borough Council, local businesses and voluntary organisations, to decide on priorities. The list includes:

• Creation of digital working hubs

• Transforming facilities for young people

• A digital skills hub at the Wilson Marriage Centre

• Public realm improvements in the town centre, including new public space fronting the housing development at the former Essex County Hospital

• Restoration of Holy Trinity Church in Lion Walk

• The first phase in restoring ‘Jumbo’

• Improvement to community facilities in Greenstead

• The accelerated introduction of 5G digital broadband infrastructure

• Improved walking and cycling links

Conservative Group Leader at the Town Hall, Councillor Darius Laws, said:  “It is wonderful news that the Conservative Government has confirmed £18.2m of much-needed investment in Colchester, via the Towns Fund scheme. The Conservative Group will be closely monitoring the delivery of these projects to ensure the Community gets maximum value from the investment.

Cllr Lesley Wagland OBE, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Renewal, Infrastructure and Planning, said: “The Government announcement of £18.2m to go into the town improvements for Colchester is excellent news, and Essex County Council is thrilled to partner with Colchester Borough Council on the implementation of these ambitious plans. “The fund will be vital in investing into Colchester’s vibrant heritage assets, promoting tourism into the economy. This fund has come at the perfect time, following the announcement of Colchester’s well-deserved awarding of City Status.”

Conservatives pledge to rejuvenate the town centre after years of neglect by the Liberal-Democrat and Labour Coalitions that have run the Borough Council in recent years

2022-08-09

Conservative Group response to the National Grid’s EAST ANGLIA GREEN proposal for a pylon route

The Colchester Borough Council Conservative Group is strongly opposed to National Grid’s East Anglia Green pylon scheme across the north & west of the Borough. The Group states that:

• The proposal will have significant and lasting detrimental impact on residents, communities, landscape, environment and quality of life.
• It stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the affected communities and Parish Councils along the route of the National Grid proposal
• It demands that the development instead focuses on a sea-link solution negating the need for an overland based option.
• The route as given to us comes almost as fixed, without the necessary evidence or
  engagement in pre-consultation, hence this consultation itself is considered
  premature and misguided.
• All options moving forward should be the subject of extensive consultation before parts of the Lexden & Braiswick Ward, Rural North Ward, Marks Tey and Layer  Ward are blighted for the indefinite future by this proposal.

In addition to its statutory role, CBC has a wider leadership role in protecting and promoting the interests of the communities, residents, businesses and environment across the entire Borough, which we consider to be utmost importance.

The Group recognises the challenge of achieving net-zero as set out by Government, both to meet the ongoing energy security concerns and to recognise the need to contribute to the government’s climate change objectives, But National Grid’s East Anglia Green proposal would, by nature of its size and extent, have substantial, long-lasting lasting and seriously detrimental impacts on the residents, communities, businesses, infrastructure and environment of the north and west of Colchester.

The Group’s seeks a coordinated, off-shore approach to deliver the Nation’s electricity transmission network reinforcement objectives, minimising on-shore infrastructure and the associated impacts on the Borough communities and the wider environment. While the off-shore lifetime cost is some 2.8 times the cost of a pylon route, The Group perceives it to be highly unfair for the cheaper solution to be imposed at the cost of planning blight and reduced capital value and saleability of numerous residential properties in the north and west of the Borough.

The sheer scale and extent of this proposal as presently proposed should not be underestimated. As presented, it will have a lasting impact on Colchester for generations to come. Hence The Group fails to be satisfied that the East Anglia Green project represents the most appropriate nor a sustainable solution to the electricity network reinforcement objectives it is intended to address.

2022-06-30

Local Plan - Middlewick update Conservatives are the only Party to vote against the development

 At the Borough Council’s Local Plan Committee on 13th June 2022, Colchester Conservatives were the only party NOT to support the allocation of 1,000 houses on Middlewick.

The ruling coalition of Greens, Labour and Lib Dems on the Local Plan Committee all voted together to push forward plans for 1,000 homes on Middlewick.

The Conservatives are now the only party to stand against unsustainable development on this important green space.

Cllr Lewis Barber, Conservative spokesman on the Local Plan Committee said: “The Conservatives support sustainable and affordable development, with good transport links, that protect our green spaces by focusing development onto brown-field in the first instance.

The Green, Labour and Lib Dem coalition’s plans for 1,000 homes on Middlewick go against everything we stand for. It will simply add more congestion and concrete over more valuable green space."

The Conservatives pledge to work to protect Middlewick and ensure our climate and housing emergency is addressed

2022-06-15

Conservative Opposition Group Leader Cllr Darius Laws and his councillors have requested the Mayor of Colchester to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Council.

The purpose of the meeting would be to press the new Lib/Lab/Green coalition to implement its election promises.

Cllr Darius Laws explained: “The Colchester Conservatives remain by far the largest single party on Colchester Borough Council.

But we have to accept the smaller parties collectively now have more seats.

We are in opposition and it is therefore our duty to hold the coalition to account – especially after the chaos it presided over last time.

During the recent local elections, I noticed they promised they would freeze Council Tax so we will hold them to that.

The Green Party also want an Ecology Officer for the Borough, so it is only right that Council meets to consider implementing this pledge."

Alumno Student Flat Scheme dead?

Cllr Darius Laws, Leader of the Conservative Group has been a long-standing critic of the Alumno student flat scheme in the town centre.

He reports on the current status.

A series of complex legal wranglings arose from the inept handling of this entire project by the previous Lib Dem & Labour controlled Council. But fortunately, Essex County Council has indicated it might buy the site so that it can be developed as a strategic part of the historic town centre.

Cllr Laws added: "The rainbow coalition council had a piecemeal approach to urban regeneration in the historic centre of Colchester. Their public consultation on the Alumno scheme was substandard and woefully inadequate.

I'm pleased Essex County Council is stepping in to ensure we have serious joined-up thinking on regeneration. We need a proper bus station, significant improvements to St Boltophs Circus and a coordinated approach to regeneration in Queens Street and in nearby sites in the heart of Colchester.

Firstsite is here to stay, and the land around it is a huge opportunity, especially given its strategic location next to the Colchester Town railway station. We need conversations around air space, about more people living in the town centre, about tackling air quality, about reducing congestion, more urban trees and make Colchester Roman's tourist opportunity the best it can be. This is a huge task and must never again be done piecemeal.

In coming months we will argue the imperative of taking a holistic approach to development in the Town Centre. Such an approach is essential to ensure it survives and thrives."

2022-08-12 07:19:46

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