A PROTEST will be staged on Crouch Street this Saturday as business owners take a stand against plans by County Hall to slash parking spaces.

Crouch Street, which is home to long-standing independent businesses, has 23 parking bays but Essex County Council plans to more than halve the number of spaces in order to introduce cycle lanes.

Business owners, including Kenneth Lo of China Chef and Alison Hudson of Faces hair salon, have campaigned against the introduction of the cycle lanes and argued the majority of customers travel to Crouch Street by car and not by bike.

Despite the objections, Essex County Council has argued a consultation on the parking spaces saw 65 per cent of respondents say they supported or were neutral about the plans.

Although a final decision on Crouch Street’s infrastructure is yet to be made, Friends of Crouch Street has planned a public protest in the area on Saturday, July 23, at 10.30am to highlight more publicly their concerns about the council plans.

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It comes after Lee Scott, Essex County Council portfolio holder for highways and sustainable transport, met with business owners last Tuesday to discuss the plans at Stanwell House.

In a meeting lasting an hour and a half, Phil Gunton, the owner of H Gunton grocery store, explained previous roadworks at the Ipswich Road roundabout had already had a knock-on effect on businesses in Crouch Street.

He said: “The reason people shop at the likes of Tollgate is easy free parking this is precisely what these plans will remove from Crouch Street and it will close us, and probably others.”

Essex County Council has said proposals were “extensively consulted on”.

A spokesman previously said: “This consultation found support for the east-west corridor proposals in Colchester was high, with 58 per cent in support versus 26 per cent against.

“The consultation on the TROs for Crouch Street in Colchester closed on June 3. Feedback from this consultation will now be analysed before the project moves to the next steps. We have had over 300 responses positive and negative. These responses will be consolidated and form part of the submission to the cabinet member to inform decision making.”