Your council

Colchester: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Colchester Borough Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, East of England; within the county of ESS. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Essex County Council. ONS code E07000071.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Colchester for 2026–27: £231.15 of a £2,282.85 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 1 opened (1 new provision), 0 closed

The Willows — open; reason recorded: new provision, 25 September 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Colchester reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Colchester: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	−£2.8 million
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£3.9 million
Cultural and related services	£4.7 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£12.5 million
Planning and development services	£4.3 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£6.5 million
Other services	none budgeted
Total service expenditure	£29.1 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Colchester in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 200,222 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 39 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £24,738 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £613 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 22.3% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 3.1% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £297,824 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 8.3 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Greenhouse gas emissions: 3.9 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 82.2% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 90.4 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 7,815 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

51 seats in 2026. Run by: a coalition or arrangement of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Conservative and Unionist 18, Labour Party 12, Liberal Democrats 12, Reform UK 5, Green Party (E&W) 3, Independent / Other 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 51 councillors, by ward

Chris Pearson (Labour Party) — Berechurch
Dave Harris (Labour Party) — Berechurch
Martyn Warnes (Labour Party) — Berechurch
Amy Kirkby-Taylor (Green Party (E&W)) — Castle
Kemal Cufoglu (Green Party (E&W)) — Castle
Mark Goacher (Green Party (E&W)) — Castle
Daryl Swain (Reform UK) — Greenstead
Julie Young (Labour Party) — Greenstead
Tim Young (Labour Party) — Greenstead
Alison Jay (Liberal Democrats) — Highwoods
Simon Appleton (Liberal Democrats) — Highwoods
Sue Ettritch (Reform UK) — Highwoods
Lewis Barber (Conservative and Unionist) — Lexden and Braiswick
Sara Naylor (Conservative and Unionist) — Lexden and Braiswick
Sara Naylor (Conservative and Unionist) — Lexden and Braiswick
Andrew Ellis (Conservative and Unionist) — Marks Tey and Layer
Andrew Harding (Reform UK) — Marks Tey and Layer
Kevin Bentley (Conservative and Unionist) — Marks Tey and Layer
Carl Powling (Conservative and Unionist) — Mersea and Pyefleet
Martin Parsons (Conservative and Unionist) — Mersea and Pyefleet
Robert Davidson (Conservative and Unionist) — Mersea and Pyefleet
David King (Liberal Democrats) — Mile End
Martin Goss (Liberal Democrats) — Mile End
Venessa Moffat (Liberal Democrats) — Mile End
Kayleigh Rippingale (Labour Party) — New Town and Christ Church
Richard Bourne (Labour Party) — New Town and Christ Church
Sam McLean (Labour Party) — New Town and Christ Church
Fay Smalls (Labour Party) — Old Heath and The Hythe
Lee Scordis (Labour Party) — Old Heath and The Hythe
Michael Lilley (Labour Party) — Old Heath and The Hythe
David Linghorn-Baker (Conservative and Unionist) — Prettygate
Leigh Tate (Conservative and Unionist) — Prettygate
Sue Lissimore (Conservative and Unionist) — Prettygate
Darius Laws (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural North
Thomas Rowe (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural North
William Sunnucks (Conservative and Unionist) — Rural North
Claire Osborne (Labour Party) — Shrub End
James Child (Reform UK) — Shrub End
Sam McCarthy (Liberal Democrats) — Shrub End
Catherine Spindler (Liberal Democrats) — St Anne's and St John's
Natalie Sommers (Liberal Democrats) — St Anne's and St John's
Paul Smith (Liberal Democrats) — St Anne's and St John's
Jeremy Hagon (Conservative and Unionist) — Stanway
Lesley Scott-Boutell (Independent / Other) — Stanway
Mike Saunders (Reform UK) — Stanway
Paul Dundas (Conservative and Unionist) — Tiptree
Rhys Smithson (Conservative and Unionist) — Tiptree
Will Calverley (Conservative and Unionist) — Tiptree
Andrea Vaughan (Liberal Democrats) — Wivenhoe
Mark Cory (Liberal Democrats) — Wivenhoe
Sean Kelly (Liberal Democrats) — Wivenhoe

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.