Proposals for the £250m redevelopment of the St Botolph's quarter have been heralded as creating a Covent Garden for Colchester by a leading council officer.

But traders at a Colchester Town Centre Forum meeting last night described initial designs released last week as 'neo-brutalism', 'a 1930s football stadium' and 'a paradise for skateboarders and bikers'.

Ian Vipond, Colchester Council's head of environmental policy, emphasised that the drawings currently circulating were only a suggestion of how the area could look.

"This is potentially a possible way of delivering what the council is looking for in St Botolph's," he said. "These are artists' impressions, and these artists are not architects."

Beyond the aesthetic criticisms, concerns were expressed by police and traders about the Vineyard Street proposal.

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Published Wednesday, January 26, 2005

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