Colchester Olympic Boulevard bus gate remains inactive

Bus gate enforcement signs and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras were installed in Olympic Boulevard, Mile End, Colchester, in 2015.

Following a Freedom of Information request made by the Gazette, Essex Highways, which is responsible for enforcing bus lanes and bus gates, has confirmed it has issued no Penalty Charge Notices to drivers contravening the bus gate since 2015.

Critics of the bus gate, which is at the junction of Mill Road roundabout, have long complained because there isn’t a bus service serving the Rosewood housing estate.

Ironic - a car parked over 'bus only' road markings in Olympic Boulevard (Image: Newsquest)

What does Essex Highways say?

Highways bosses previously said the contentious bus gate was under review and the authority has now confirmed it will continue to be unenforced.

A spokesman for Essex Highways confirmed: “There are currently no plans to enforce the bus gate at this location.”

The signs and ANPR cameras were installed the year after the housing development was completed after residents were promised improved bus routes, but these have never been implemented.

Unenforced - a car passes through the Olympic Boulevard bus gate (Image: Newsquest)

Bus stops spanning residents' driveways and double yellow lines were painted outside homes in Olympic Boulevard in the same year.

At the time, developer Crest Nicholson said the double yellow lines follow a “pre-planned bus route”.

The bus stops remain today but with no signs of a new bus route they are often used as parking by residents, while the double yellow lines are no longer enforced due to their placement directly outside homes.

Resident Louisa White previously accused Essex Highways of “incompetence” for installing a bus gate on a road without a bus service.

Parking - cars parked in a bus stop in Olympic Boulevard (Image: Newsquest)

She told the Gazette she would not mind the bus gate remaining in place if an improved bus service was offered.

If enforced, the bus gate would mean residents would be forced to enter the road from Via Urbis Romanae and would prevent motorists from using Olympic Boulevard as a convenient route to nearby Highwoods.

'New bus routes could be coming'

Despite opposition from some residents, Mile End councillor Martin Goss remains hopeful the area will benefit from new bus routes in the future and insists the placement of the bus gate remains vital.

He said: “The bus gate was put in to stop the development becoming a rat run and that has not changed. It keeps traffic on Axial Way and Mill Road.”

Sign - the bus gate prohibits cars from driving between Olympic Boulevard and the Mill Road roundabout (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Goss confirmed it formed part of the planning permission granted for the housing development by Colchester Council.

“It was done for a purpose and that purpose has not changed,” he added.

“I’m sure there will be a bus route especially when one starts running through Chesterwell.

"Myland Community Council has previously looked at a community bus joining up places like Tesco and the hospital.

“We want to improve public transport so if the bus gate is ripped out it reverses everything that was already planned for.”