When Colchester will get city status Royal visit

But we can expect a visit from a member of the Royal family to celebrate the occasion next year.

A total of 17 Essex MPs had joined together to support Colchester’s bid to be granted city status – at the fifth attempt.

Colchester Council submitted a bid last year for the borough to be named a city as part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

• READ MORE: Queen grants Colchester city status to mark jubilee

The Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition required applicants to demonstrate how their communities and identities meant they deserved to be awarded city status.

They were also required to highlight their royal associations and cultural heritage.

Usually, city status is made official during a royal visit, when the letters patent are presented to the mayor.

But in Colchester’s case it will instead become a city on September 12 without a visit from one of the senior royals.

Instead Colchester Council hope a royal visit will be bestowed on the soon-to-be city in 2023.

Colchester city status to be marked with Royal visit

Letters patent are legal instruments generally issued by the monarch granting an office, right, title or status.

Colchester will receive its letters of patent at a full council meeting in September.

A meeting of the council’s policy panel heard an update on the successful bid for city status.

Andrew Weavers, monitoring officer, told the meeting the status would be “formally conferred” by the awarding of letters patent authorised by the Queen.

“This is a formal handwritten document to which the great seal of state is also attached,” he said.

“It’s a pretty impressive document when we get it. The letters patent for Colchester are currently being prepared as I speak.

“We have agreed a special full council meeting on September 12.”

Following this meeting, another special full council meeting will be held to confer the first honourary aldermanship of the city of Colchester, which will be granted to former councillor Peter Chillingworth.

A civic reception will then be held to thank all partners and organisations which contributed to the successful bid.

A working group has been formed to establish ways of “maximising the benefits of city status” for residents and businesses and will include “community involvement”.

Mr Weavers said there would be no royal visit coinciding with the receiving of the letters patent.

He added: “We believe we will most likely have a royal visit in the Spring and that will form part of the celebrations of our city status.

“We’re currently liaising with the Lord Lieutenant’s office on that. More information will be made available as and when we know.”

Earlier this year, Southend’s receival of the letters patent was accompanied by a visit from Prince Charles.

What happens when Colchester becomes a city?

At the meeting where Colchester becomes a city a number of changes will begin.

The letters patent document will be formally received and the council will change its name with immediate effect from Colchester Borough Council to Colchester City Council.

Mr Weavers said: “At that point the borough and the borough council will cease to exist and the city of Colchester and Colchester City Council will come into existence.

“All rights [and] privileges of the borough will automatically be transferred to the new city.

“The extent of the city will be the same as the borough and includes all rural areas.

“Parishes and town councils will retain their status and will be unaffected, except thy will be a parish or town council within the city of Colchester as oppose to being within the borough of Colchester.”

At the policy meeting last week Pam Cox, councillor responsible for heritage and culture, took the meeting through plans to celebrate city status by promoting Colchester's historic Roman, Saxon and Norman attractions over the next 12 months.