Shopping scheme 'alien to Colchester'

2.14.45pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 12th Sep 2007

Section of St Botolph's which is due for regeneration

A proposed £250 million shopping scheme in the St Botolph's area of Colchester has been described by local MP Bob Russell as being "alien to the character of Britain's Oldest Recorded Town".

The scheme - put forward by Yorkshire-based developers operating under the name Vineyard Gate - is bigger than either of the town's existing shopping precincts at Lion Walk and Culver Square.

Having inspected the plans which are currently on public display, Mr Russell said: "The proposals are appalling.

"They are out of scale and out-of-keeping. Colchester deserves better than this."

The site stretches from Southway to the Roman Wall and from St Botolph's Street towards St John's Street. Scores of old buildings would be demolished plus the modern multi-storey car park and Gala Bingo Club in Osborne Street, a street which would cease to exist.

Mr Russell said that the so-called new Bus Station within the development had just nine shops, a significant reduction on the size of the former Bus Station.

But it is the sheer scale of the development about which Mr Russell has voiced his strongest criticism.

"In height and bulk, the proposed buildings will be massively larger than what is already there - and will be taller than the tower of the nearby St Botolph's Church.

"Several historic buildings within a Conservation Area are set to be demolished, and a bridge across Southway will destroy the setting of St John's Green and the former St Giles Church."

Mr Russell said that he did not blame the developers for wanting to "put a quart into a pint pot", but he was astonished that Council Officers and leading Councillors had allowed them to proceed to such an advanced stage without first consulting residents and the town's business community.

He added: "I recognise that there is scope for development at the Vineyard Street car park area, and for an uplift to the St Botolph's Street area in general, but the proposals from developers Vineyard Gate are out-of-keeping and out-of-scale.

"The Council and developers should go back to the drawing board and produce a more modest scheme, one which enhances - rather than distorts - the current shopping balance of the Town Centre, and one which will spare Colchester the loss of so many buildings which gives our historic town its own special identity."

He added: "The so-called Vineyard Gate scheme promotes the worst excesses of clone-town Britain - a throwback to the country's planning disasters of the 1960s, this scheme could be built in any town. Colchester deserves better than this."

Mr Russell said that he hoped informed opinion would persuade the Borough Council that the current scheme is not acceptable.

"I urge people not to be seduced by the glossy leaflets and persuasive silver tongues of those with a direct financial interest in the project.

"This scheme is not in Colchester's best interests."