cancel immediately its plans for the redesign of St. Botolph’s Roundabout in Colchester for the following reasons:

1. ECC’s track record for the delivery of major infrastructure schemes in the city (Northern Approach for Rapid Transit Service, Ipswich Road roundabout, coordination of roadworks generally) is very poor and the prospect of 18 months planned disruption followed by inevitable additional months of overruns will do enormous economic damage to our city centre which is just beginning to show signs of recovery post pandemic.

2. The public consultation process was flawed - it never asked the public if they supported a ‘leave well alone’ option.

3. As the stated aim of the scheme is to create good quality public realm and a gateway to the city centre and improved connectivity to transport networks, we believe the £14m budget should be redirected to create a purpose- built, off-road public transport interchange for local buses, long distance coaches and your Rapid Transit Service.  If repurposing funds is not possible, return the money and bid for funding from a different pot of cash.

4. The current Osborne Street bus ‘facility’ has been declared not fit for purpose and is the opposite of inclusive - routinely 46 % of buses are unable to serve their advertised stop creating a ‘bus stop lottery’ for the elderly, disabled and the ‘unfamiliar’ to wrestle with. There is widespread public support for the use of land in public ownership to the north of Osborne Street for this purpose. (64 % of 1117 responses to questionnaire - results are with County Cllrs.)

5. Spend a fraction of the £14m on restoring the walkway walls within the roundabout, installing new CCTV and improving drainage; it may not be pretty, but the current roundabout works - the same cannot be said of the Osborne Street bus ‘facility’, the improvement of which should be higher priority.