Archive

  • £130m Colchester schools plan in chaos

    COLCHESTER’S £130million secondary schools shake-up is on the verge of a collapse. Lib Dems on Colchester Council voted not to hand over a piece of land crucial to the plans. The cabinet voted four to three in favour of not allowing

  • Council rejects homes forecast

    HOUSING projections, which include increasing the number of homes in Colchester by 34,000 over 20 years, have been described as “madness” by Essex County Council. County Hall has delivered a fierce rebuttal to a report, by the East of England Regional

  • Building society closes two local branches

    THE Colchester and Clacton branches of the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society are to close after a cost-cutting review. Bosses are shutting a total of ten out of their 56 branches, blaming the “dismal” condition of the financial markets for hitting

  • Blur plaque unveiled at railway museum

    THE East Anglian Railway Museum, at Chappel, is where a Colchester-based group called Seymour played their first gig 20 years ago. Later they became Blur and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, the building has been presented with the Performing

  • County picks IBM to help slash its costs

    COMPUTER giant IBM has been chosen by County Hall chiefs to try to save taxpayers £200million a year. Essex County Council announced yesterday that the American firm had been picked to try to save money from backroom operations and spend it on frontline

  • £130m education fund could hinge on D-Day decision

    TODAY could be D-Day for plans to reorganise secondary school education in Colchester. It has been claimed the whole £130million project could hinge on whether planning permission is granted to build a new access road to Philip Morant School. That

  • Hospital trust faces public anger in Colchester

    THE mother of a young woman who died from cancer has voiced concerns about her treatment. The speed cancer patients are treated in Colchester has been one of the concerns raised by the health watchdog Monitor. Leala Milleare died in June, aged just

  • Mid-Essex hospitals 118th out of 146 for hazard to patients

    HOSPITALS in mid-Essex are among the most hazardous in the country for patients, the new Dr Foster report claims. But Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust says it can’t understand how it fared so badly. The trust runs sites including William Julien

  • Boss vows to raise NHS standards in north-east Essex

    A NEW health boss has vowed to improve efficiency and services. Dr Paul Watson is due to take over as chief executive of the NHS North East Essex in the New Year. The doctor will be replacing Dr Paul Zollinger-Read, who is standing down after three

  • Hospitals warned student nurses might be pulled off their wards

    STUDENT nurses and midwives could be taken out of Colchester’s hospitals because of concerns about care standards. Their professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, has warned it may remove students studying and working on Colchester Hospital

  • Troubleshooter starts work at Colchester Hospital

    THE man brought in to improve Colchester Hospital has spent his first day in the hotseat. Sir Peter Dixon started his first day at Colchester, on Monday, with two long phone conversations with the trust’s chief executive, Peter Murphy. He says he is

  • Students says Playboy Mansions night is 'sexist'

    A CLUB night that encourages young women to dress as glamour girls has been branded sexist by students. Scores of students at Essex University have reacted with outrage over the Playboy Mansions event, which is due to be held on the Wivenhoe Campus this

  • Minister demands action at Great Tey school

    SCHOOLS Secretary Ed Balls has ordered a school to set up a proper complaints procedure, after a youngster was tied up and whipped by fellow pupils. Mr Balls said he had “serious concerns” over Great Tey Primary School’s handling of Scott and

  • MP attacks trust in the House

    A “BOX-TICKING” Government agenda is behind the decline in standards at Colchester’s hospitals, Lib Dem MP Bob Russell has claimed. Mr Russell made his comments in the Commons, as he asked Health Secretary Andy Burnham to make a statement on Monitor’

  • Will your child ditch GCSEs for new diploma?

    TEENAGERS will get the opportunity to see if their studies give them practical experience in the workplace with a new qualification. Diplomas are coming to Tendring’s secondary schools from next September at GCSE and A-level. They aim to take students

  • Union leader defends action in bus strike

    A SENIOR union rep has defended his actions after bus drivers across the country voted in favour of striking in the run-up to Christmas. Steve Linger from Unite said members had voted democratically and denied not passing on any pay offers. Drivers

  • Swifts slide to narrow defeat

    HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS were beaten 2-1 by VCD Athletic at Scraley Road, in Ryman League division one north. Luke Hammond and Leon Antoine both went close for Swifts early on, while Russell Malton and Ricky Griggs also tested VCD keeper, James Tedder

  • Drivers struggle to beat the floods

    MOTORISTS were caught in traffic chaos as floodwaters covered roads in and around Colchester. Traffic piled up yesterday around Hythe Hill, Hawkins Road, Military Road, Cowdray Avenue and Mersea Road as people tried to get into the town centre. Flood

  • Boothroyd: sluggish start cost U's

    Aidy Boothroyd admitted a sluggish start cost his Colchester United side dearly last night. The U’s were beaten 1-0 at Brentford at Griffin Park to lose for the first time in six matches and drop to fourth place in the Coca-Cola League One. Charlie

  • Keeper crisis at Ipswich

    Richard Wright is set to be sidelined for four months, leaving Ipswich Town in the midst of a goalkeeping crisis. Wright was injured during the 2-1 victory at Cardiff City on Sunday and, having undergone a scan on his knee, the prognosis is not good.

  • The last goodbye: Jailed driver speaks out

    More than three years after a family holiday ended in tragedy, three Essex men are serving time in jail. Yesterday Julian Harrington, who was driving the car which killed a Cypriot teenager in 2006, condemned the three-year jail terms Luke

  • Customs nabs 3,000 litres of illicit booze

    CUSTOMS officers seized almost 3,000 litres of illicit booze after searching four shops in Colchester. The raids were part of an HM Revenue and Customs clampdown on illegal alcohol sales in Essex. Officials visited four shops – three