THE owner of Colchester’s Cowdray Centre has been urged to reveal its plans for the centre, after a masterplan for the area was unveiled this week F&C Investment is known to have been working on redevelopment proposals since July 2006, when part of the site was destroyed by a fire.

So far no official plans for the centre off Cowdray Avenue have been made public.

Colchester Council has just published a draft North Station masterplan, which suggests the Cowdray Centre should house a mixture of shops, offices, other businesses and homes.

At the moment, the centre is home to retailers and businesses such as car and bike repair firms.

One such is run by Martin Nunn and his dad, Brian, in one of the centre’s units Mr Nunn, of MOT-a-Bike, said he had a good relationship with his landlord, but was eager to find out what it planned to do with the site.

He said: “My father has been on this estate for about 25 years.

“He saw some first drafts a couple of years ago, but nobody has ever contacted us to ask if we would like a new unit.”

Mr Nunn said his business had fared well during the recession, but not knowing what the future held for the Cowdray Centre meant he couldn’t plan for the future.

He added: “We don’t know what we should do. Should we start looking for business premises elsewhere, or should we hold out and see what happens?

“At any time, F&C could give us six months notice to get out. That wouldn’t be much time to find somewhere new.

“We have a good relationship with F&C, but it would be nice if it has plans, to let us know and involve us.”

No one from F&C was available for comment on Mr Nunn’s concerns.

Council vision for north station area

THE North Station area masterplan sets out how Colchester Council’s planners would like to see the area develop over the next decade.

Plans for the Cowdray Centre include:

  • A new “square” as the setting for new community, retail and leisure uses
  • “Business incubation units” offering a supportive environment for new companies
  • A strip of green space running from High Woods Country Park, through the Cowdray Centre and down to Castle Park.

The masterplan also proposes major changes to roundabouts in the area, a new road crossing underneath the railway line, linking the station to Cowdray Avenue It suggest many more new offices should be built in the area, to create more jobs, along with hundreds of new homes.

The draft masterplan will be discussed at a Local Development Framework meeting at Colchester Town Hall on Monday, from 6.30pm.

County: Roundabout work not a waste

ESSEX County Council has defended its recent work to improve roundabouts in Colchester.

The North Station area masterplan suggests further changes – including scrapping some of the recently-upgraded roundabouts in favour of old-style junctions.

Last year, the county council upgraded the Essex Hall and Albert roundabouts, between Colchester’s town centre and North Station, as part of an £11.8million countywide set of junction improvements.

The Colchester work is thought to have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and now the masterplan suggests the Albert roundabout should be ripped up. It also suggests the Essex Hall roundabout be smaller, with more space for pedestrians and cyclists.

Michael Page, county council spokesman, said: “The masterplan is not about the recent junction improvement works conducted by the county council. They are delivering significant benefits in terms of traffic flow and journey times.

“We will work together with Colchester Council on its plans.”