TACKLING the cost of living crisis and boosting business and transport links in the town centre are priorities for Colchester Council’s new administration.

Speaking to the Gazette exclusively before the first meeting of the new administration’s cabinet on June 8, council leader David King said support will be provided to ease the pressures of the cost of living crisis.

He pledged extra funding and backing for groups which support those most in need, including the likes of NHS workers, volunteer groups and the foodbank.

READ MORE: Children 'near-on starving' in Colchester because of cost of living crisis

He said: “We’re going to do that smart, we’re going to do that by working well with people. We will confirm next week we are reinforcing the teams that help all of those partners.

“There’s no point having the pot, all polished up and with extra in it, if people don’t know where to go and don’t feel encouraged to go.”

The council is preparing a bid for £20 million of the Government’s latest round of its Levelling Up Fund.

The bid follows on from the securing of £18.2 million of cash from the Government’s Town Deal fund last year.

It will be focused on the regeneration of the town centre and the High Street, transport projects and cultural and heritage assets.

A report to go before the cabinet says the funding bid will be linked to the development of a new masterplan for the town centre, which is in development in partnership with Essex County Council.

Planning and infrastructure boss Andrea Luxford-Vaughan said £125,000 had been put forward to develop the masterplan, with a consortium now in place working on the details.

She said: “We’re about to lose Marks and Spencer, we’ve lost Debenhams – significant sites in the centre and we’ve got to look at how to fill those and still keep the town centre vibrant and working for everybody.

“One of the other things is a car parking strategy. If we want people to make a modal shift [in travel habits], we have to actually assess how many people drive into town, for work or for pleasure.

“It’s a complicated project but there’s a lot of different factors we have to consider.”

The money will also be used to make “significant improvements to the functionality and capacity of the town’s bus station”.

Ms Luxford-Vaughan added: “There’s no central point, if you’re near to town and want to catch a bus from Mile End to Wivenhoe – you’ve got to be a genius to work it out.

“We want to connect the town centre to the train station, where you can actually get out to Chelmsford and London.”

Deputy leader Adam Fox added: “The last administration talked about a bus station, but there’s no point building a big flashy bus station if you don’t have affordable, clean and green buses to run to it.

“We’ve seen locally that bus services have been cut yet again by the private companies and what we really need are services that work for people.”

Council leader David King said the move to a new administration involves “building on the best of what we had”.

“The last administration did this for us and it was really nice to see most of our agenda being carried forward,” he said.

“Here, there is no difference in the principle.

“We want high-quality advice and we want to work in partnership – everybody who has an interest in the town centre will have a voice.”