COLCHESTER Council has rubber stamped its budget for the upcoming year as the town looks to move on from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The money in the council’s pocket for the next year is £21.8million, with a range of ambitious projects being pledged.

But it expects to see nearly £100million become available in total when incorporating external funding, such as the £18.2million Town Deal fund.

Read more: Colchester Council reveals its landmark projects in this year's budget

Here are all the projects it has pledged to invest in during the coming year:

  • £94,000 to continue the Woodland and Biodiversity Project for a fourth year.
  • £30,000 to invest in and tackle issues at Lexden Lake.
  • £30,000 for new recycling containers for residents to enable them to easily separate materials
  • £40,000 for new CCTV cameras to expand the system to other areas and build the control room to maximum capacity.
  • £22,000 to continue beefing up planning enforcement to clear backlog and hold developers to account.
  • £10,000 towards increasing planning capacity.
  • £15,000 for a feasibility study for museums
  • £15,000 for a research project at Gosbecks Archaeological Park
  • £100,000 to develop a new town centre masterplan, including a view to construct a new bus station.
  • £140,000 to develop an entirely new borough design code to give each part of Colchester its own architectural identity and stop ‘identikit’ house building.
  • Up to £1.5 million investment into Eudo Road Tennis Centre, including external funding.
  • £34.6 million investment project into Greenstead, utilising the Town Deal fund, Estates Regeneration Fund and external funding.
  • £7.1 million investment into Wilson Marriage Centre, the digital centre in Queen Street, and super-fast broadband, with £6.2 million of this money funded externally.
  • Completion of the £2 million Stanway Community Centre; Completion of the £1.8 million Highwoods Community Centre.
  • £1 million invested in Townhouse Youth Centre; £170,000 invested into Stanway Youth Centre; £120,000 invested into Highwoods Youth Centre.
  • Investment in Balkerne Gate Phase 2, Holy Trinity Square, the former Essex County Hospital Site and Sir Isaacs Walk public realm totalling £2.7 million.
  • £1 million invested in Jumbo, with plans to obtain National Lottery Heritage funds
  • £370,000 in Holy Trinity Church to restore it, obtain heritage funds and eventually repurpose it as a permanent home for Community360.
  • “About” £250,000 to restore the Cemetery Chapel which has been derelict since 2003.