COLCHESTER was once a proud garrison town. We were renowned for our Military Tattoos, Army days on Abbeyfield, carnivals and parades with marching bands attracting many visitors to the town.

Large areas in and around Colchester were occupied by the Army and were mostly off limits to the public.

The MoD made cuts to our Armed Forces and barracks, parade grounds, training areas, military hospital and extensive grounds (what a great asset that would have been for our town at this time) were all demolished to become housing estates, which increased the already growing population, adding to severe problems locally with traffic, doctors, schools, and hospitals.

With 9,000 homes due to be built close to town, student flats and numerous sites earmarked for building, our town is at its limits.

More than enough MoD land has been allocated for housing, albeit mostly brownfield sites, but to concrete over an area of natural habitat that remains as nature intended is a travesty.

It is time the people of Colchester were considered and listened to.

Middlewick Ranges has been owned by the MoD since 1857 and used as a firing range and training area, but open to the public when not in use.

It is not a brownfield site, but has evolved naturally resulting in an abundance of wildlife, including many rare species of birds, insects, flowers and plants.

The area designated for building has always been the annual nesting site for rare skylarks and nightingales and is a haven for people living beside very busy roads.

Old Heath Road/Abbot’s Road and Mersea Road are nearest to the Wick and already have non-stop traffic with heavy plant lorries from 6am and vehicles on average every 6 to 10 seconds, with frequent gridlock causing high levels of exhaust and noise pollution until late evening.

Despite street lights the speed limit is a joke.

These roads cannot cope with the extra traffic that 1,000/2,000 houses would create.

I feel concern for the schoolchildren who have to pass the queues of cars twice a day and inhale the exhaust fumes.

The Paras trained on Middlewick Ranges and were recently deployed to Afghanistan to do their duty for Queen and country.

Thousands of young soldiers must have been trained for many conflicts on Middlewick Ranges since 1857 before going to war on foreign battlefields, jungles, deserts and in filthy mud trenches, some paying the ultimate sacrifice, others returning home with lifechanging injuries.

The Middlewick Ranges should be preserved as a lasting memorial and dedicated to their courage and bravery. A small piece of the country they fought and died for to include a field of poppies in their honour.

They deserve more than plastic poppy wreaths once a year and housing estates with streets named after wars, battlefields and war leaders (Colchester has more than enough of those already).

We, the people of Colchester fought our own battle against Covid in 2020. Confined to our homes indefinitely in constant fear of illness and loss of loved ones, it became a way of life we had never known.

I met families on my daily walk during isolation and to see children running and laughing enjoying the Wick was uplifting and evoked many happy memories for me.

I am sure many locals would agree the Wick has given us all welcome relief mentally, emotionally and physically over the last 18 months.

The only green open space left to us should remain.

Save the Middlewick!

Janet Rayner

Abbot’s Road, Colchester