LETTERS: GO4 vacating 'feels as if I am losing a family'

HAVING read your article on Priti Patel’s scathing attack on the town’s “rotten council”, I can only fully agree with Ms Patel.

I have tried today to raise objections to just one part of the Local Plan – South Colchester Middlewick Growth area.

You are unable to focus in one area but can only add your objections to general headings.

The maps are both unclear and the key provided inadequate.

No mention is made of the historic nature of the site that dates back many hundreds of years or the loss of public amenities.

The council has tried to scaremonger local residents into believing that the MoD wish to cover the land in 2,000 homes and that the council has managed somehow to get this figure reduced.

This is untrue. I have seen a letter from the Parliamentary Under-secretary of State and Minister for Defence.

Any land that is surplus is placed on a data base, this will provide an opportunity for Colchester Borough Council to express an interest in acquiring the site before it is placed on the open market.

The MoD will continue the process of detailed planning and necessary engagement with the council to determine the appropriate uses for the land including community facilities.

The MoD recognises that the Ranges currently provide public amenity and this is a key part of their discussions.

It is very clear from this that we as residents have been poorly informed of the true options available to the local planning team over this site and thisis further proof as to the rotten nature of certain parts of council.

The individuals concerned should resign and are unfit to hold public office.

Keep the ranges free of housing and preserve the public amenity use.

Brian Love, Braiswick

THE reply from a council spokesman “we have nothing more to add” to MP Priti Patel’s attack on the performance of Colchester council, confirms their attitude to public concerns – a law unto themselves – and is proof that they do not represent us, the voters.

The comment from this council spokesman is an affront to an elected MP. When officials hide behind layers of bureaucracy, and issue comments from “a spokesman” the public pose the question “What have the council got to hide?”

Julian Bowden, Wakes Colne

BORROWING for new towns is a worry Colchester and Braintree Councils’ Local Plans for “garden communities” will set the urban scene of north east Essex for the next 200 years.

Therefore they need to get it right.

There can be little confidence they will.

Drop-in sessions around the villages were full of posters talking about potential: potential jobs, potential infrastructure.

Little of substance and not a pound sign in sight. Costs were a dirty word.

And still a dirty word when Colchester Council’s leader Paul Smith addressed a large gathering at Marks Tey recently.

Challenged on social and transport infrastructure costs, he eventually blurted out £2.3 billion.

What is included here, he didn’t say. Contingency on this? Revealing his mastery of project finance, he essentially said choose any percentage number you like.

Major projects in industry would at this preliminary stage of definition typically carry plus 40 per cent.

It all felt like looking at a socialist realism poster from the Twenties, with Commissar Smith guiding the happy smiling peasants and proletariat of Marks Tey, Copford and Coggeshall to a new town glistening in the distance as the sun beckons a new dawn.

But reality is nothing on this scale has ever been done before by Colchester Council.

Where’s the £2.3 billion going to come from?

“We’ll borrow it” declared Commissar Smith airily.

Priti Patel, MP for Witham, who was in attendance, and didn’t get to where she is today by not being able to smell a looming problem, remarked: “I get worried when councils talk of borrowing money”. Quite.

Emma Haines, Rainbow Trust Director of Marketing and Fundraising

NOW that the summer holidays are here, parents (and grandparents) everywhere are hunting out activities to keep the children occupied – me included!

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity has launched a fun, simple, summer activity called the Summertime Picnic.

The idea is straightforward - host a picnic and ask friends and family to make a donation to Rainbow Trust.

It can be a picnic in the garden, the park or even inside on a carpet, weather depending.

The Summertime Picnic is about enjoying quality time with your family and Rainbow Trust understands just how precious time can be as we support families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness.

We match families with a family support worker who provides emotional and practical support amid the chaos of medicines, hospitals and endless appointments.

Rainbow Trust has a free online ‘Picnic Pack’ as well as ideas, recipes and games for a wonderful afternoon with friends and families.

Just visit rainbowtrust.org.uk/summertime-picnic to start planning yours.

Thank you for your support.

Lorna Wright, Colchester

For the last four years I have worked as a volunteer at GO4 Market Café based in Holy Trinity Church in the centre of Colchester.

I have met, and worked with, many wonderful people.

Pete Hope and his fellow directors set up this social enterprise for the often marginalised in our society such as ex offenders, those with learning difficulties, mental health issues, alcohol and drug problems so that they may be helped into employment.

Latterly, we have run the pay forward breakfast scheme, feeding the growing number of rough sleepers in Colchester.

In this way, GO4 is much more than a cafe with a market attached.

It is a thriving establishment which has held a mass of fun activities over the years and has helped many, many of the disadvantaged.

Unfortunately, every winter we lose trade because there is no adequate heating and lighting.

The grants GO4 has had from Colchester Council are cancelled out by the costs of trying to maintain this historic church.

Although the directors have submitted proposals to the council for improved lighting and heating, Colchester Council has shown a reluctance to invest in the internal fabric of this iconic building.

The funds required to refurbish the building are considerable and GO4 can no longer afford to keep the enterprise going.

We have no continuity of lease and footfall, due to the inhospitable conditions in the building during winter, continues to reduce.

Therefore, it is with great sadness, GO4 is closing at Holy Trinity Church at the end of this month.

For myself, personally, it feels as if I am losing a family.

• Editor’s note: GO4 Church has transferred its Pay it Forward scheme and cafe to the Recreation Ground in Old Heath.