North Station Road to join Colchester conservation area

Colchester Council’s local plan committee has approved a bid to extend a conservation area to include North Station Road and the surrounding areas.

Speaking before a vote at a council meeting last week, High Steward of Colchester, Sir Bob Russell, said North Station Road is the “most cosmopolitan street” in Colchester.

“If you go down there now it’s all lit up with convenience stores,” the former MP said. “You can have a different meal for a fortnight from 14 different establishments.

“Obviously there are historic buildings down there but I’m still trying to come to terms with the notion of a conservation area which has got three tyre replacement and exhaust centres in it.”

Stalwart - Sir Bob Russell

He welcomed the council’s lengthy report into the proposed extension of the conservation area but raised concerns about the Riverside Office Centre, where work to convert offices into flats has stalled.

He explained: “I’m trying to get to grips with the fact that 1960s office blocks which have started being converted into residential and stood idle with nothing happening can be in a conservation area. I just find that difficult to comprehend.”

Residents became concerned after work at the site off North Station Road appeared to stop in the second half of last year.

City centre councillor Steph Nissen thinks extending the conservation area is an “overdue, positive step” and is hopeful things are moving in the right direction with the halted housing development.

Flashback - North Station Road in 1971 (Image: Alan Murray-Rust)

Hopeful - city centre councillor Steph Nissen outside the Riverside Office Centre (Image: Steph Nissen)

“North Station Road gets a bit of a raw deal with criticism but it’s actually quite beautiful,” she told the Gazette.

“It’s part of a really beautiful history in our city which I’m all in favour of recognising and protecting.”

Ms Nissen and Anna Bolton, chairman of the CO1 North Residents’ Association, met with the boss of Convivia, the site owner, last week and have been assured work will start again by the end of March.

Despite the extended conservation area giving the council greater control over plans to convert commercial units to homes, planning boss Simon Cairns told the committee the council can’t take enforcement action against Convivia if work does not resume.

Residents have now had their say on North Station Road becoming a conservation area.

Speaking previously, Richard Taylor: "I'm glad to see North Station Road finally getting some attention but Bob Russell is so, so wrong on his opinion of this street.

"Drug dealing is rife, more drunks are sitting at the bus stops than there have ever been, the shops are constantly leaving bags of food and rubbish out, the pavements are awful, hardly cosmopolitan."

Molly Rose, 28, who lives just off North Station Road, said: "I love where I live and I recognise that I live in quite a historical part of Colchester, but I wouldn't really say it feels all that historical anymore. 

"So, I just don't really know why it needs to be added to the conservation area."