City of Colchester

This article is about the local government district. For the urban settlement, see Colchester. For other places, see Colchester (disambiguation).

The City of Colchester is a local government district with city status in Essex, England, named after its main settlement, Colchester. It is, with 194,394 people according to Office of National Statistics estimate for mid 2022, the most populous district in Essex and also includes the towns of West Mersea and Wivenhoe and the surrounding rural areas stretching from Dedham Vale on the Suffolk border in the north to Mersea Island in the Colne Estuary in the south.

City of Colchester
Non-metropolitan district, borough, city
Colchester Castle in Colchester, the administrative centre and largest settlement
Coat of arms
Colchester shown within Essex
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East of England
Non-metropolitan county	Essex
Status	Non-metropolitan district, City,
Admin HQ	Colchester
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Colchester City Council
• Leadership	(No overall control)
• MPs	Bernard Jenkin Priti Patel Pam Cox
Area
• Total	128.64 sq mi (333.18 km2)
• Rank	115th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	194,394
• Rank	103rd (of 296)
• Density	1,500/sq mi (580/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [1]
• Ethnic groups	List 87% White 5.1% Asian 3.5% Black 2.9% Mixed 1.5% other
Religion (2021) [1]
• Religion	List 44.4% Christianity 44.4% no religion 9.1% other 2.1% Islam
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	22UG (ONS) E07000071 (GSS)
OS grid reference	TL997254

The district borders Tendring District to the east, Maldon District to the south, Braintree District to the west, and Babergh District in Suffolk to the north.

History

Colchester was an ancient borough with urban forms of local government from Saxon times. Burgesses were already established by the time of the Domesday survey of 1086. The earliest known borough charter dates from 1189, but that charter appears to confirm pre-existing borough rights rather than being the foundation of a new borough.^[2] The borough was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough.^[3]

The current district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, covering four former districts which were abolished at the same time:^[4]

• Colchester Municipal Borough
• Lexden and Winstree Rural District
• West Mersea Urban District
• Wivenhoe Urban District

The new district was named Colchester after its largest settlement.^[5] The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Colchester's series of mayors.^[6]

As part of the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II celebrations in 2022, the borough of Colchester was granted city status, confirmed by Letters Patent dated 5 September 2022, allowing the council to change its name to "Colchester City Council".^[7]

Governance

Colchester City Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Lesley Scott-Boutell, Independent[8] since 22 May 2024
Leader	David King, Liberal Democrat since 22 May 2022
Chief Executive	Pamela Donelly since 1 April 2022[9]
Structure
Seats	51
Political groups	Administration (14)   Liberal Democrats (14) Other parties (35)   Conservatives (19)   Labour (14)[a]   Green (3)   Independent (1)
Elections
Last election	2 May 2024
Next election	7 May 2026
Meeting place
Town Hall, High Street, Colchester, CO1 1PJ
Website
www.colchester.gov.uk

Colchester City Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Essex County Council. Parts of the district are also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[10]

Political control

The council has been under no overall control since 2008. Since the 2023 election it has been controlled by a Liberal Democrat minority administration with the support of the Labour Party and the Green Party on a case-by-case basis.^[11]

The first election to the borough council following the reforms of the Local Government Act 1972 was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:^[12][13][14]

Party in control		Years
	No overall control	1974–1976
	Conservative	1976–1986
	No overall control	1986–1994
	Liberal Democrats	1994–1998
	No overall control	1998–2007
	Conservative	2007–2008
	No overall control	2008–present

Leadership

See also: List of mayors of Colchester

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Colchester. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2000 have been:^[15]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Bill Frame		Liberal Democrats	2000	2002
Colin Sykes		Liberal Democrats	2002	2004
John Jowers		Conservative	2004	2006
Robert Davidson		Conservative	2006	2008
Anne Turrell		Liberal Democrats	2008	16 Jun 2014
Martin Hunt		Liberal Democrats	16 Jun 2014	10 May 2015
Paul Smith		Liberal Democrats	27 May 2015	6 May 2018
Mark Cory		Liberal Democrats	23 May 2018	26 May 2021
Paul Dundas		Conservative	26 May 2021	8 May 2022
David King		Liberal Democrats	22 May 2022

Composition

Following the 2024 council elections and subsequent party-resignations,^[8] the composition of the council is:

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	19
	Labour	14[a]
	Liberal Democrats	14
	Green	3
	Independent	1
Total		51

The next election is due 7 May 2026.

Premises

The council is based at Colchester Town Hall on the High Street. The current building was completed in 1902 on a site which had been occupied by Colchester's main civic buildings since 1277.^[16]

Most of the administrative offices are based at Rowan House, northwest of the city centre.

Elections

See also: Colchester City Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2016 the council has comprised 51 councillors representing 17 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, choosing one councillor for each ward at a time to serve a four year term. In the fourth year of the cycle when there are no elections to the city council, elections for Essex County Council are held instead.^[17]

Demography

Tiptree, one of the outlying settlements of the City of Colchester District

Great Horkesley, one of the many outlying villages of the City of Colchester District

According to the Office for National Statistics as of 2008, Colchester had a population of approximately 181,000.^[18] Average life expectancy was 78.7 for males. and 83.3 for females.^[19] By the time of the 2021 census, the population had risen to 192,700.^[20]

At the previous census, in 2011, 92% of the population was White (87.5% British, 0.7% Irish and 3.8% Other White), Asians were the second largest group making up 3.6% (0.8% Indian, 0.2% Pakistani, 0.2% Bangladeshi and 1% Chinese, other 1.4%), Black people constituted 1.4% (0.3% Caribbean, 1% African, 0.1% other), those of mixed race made up 1.8%, 0.6% were Arab and there were 0.4% from other ethnic groups.^[21] 57.7% identified themselves as Christian, while 31.4% had no affiliation to a religion. Of other religions, 1.6% identified as Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.6% Buddhist, 0.2% Jewish, 0.1% Sikh, 0.5% others, and 7.3% did not answer.^[22]

Parishes

There are 35 civil parishes in the district. The former Colchester Municipal Borough is an unparished area (subject to some adjustments since 1974 to that area's boundaries with neighbouring parishes).^[23] The parish councils of Wivenhoe and West Mersea take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes are grouped together to share a parish council: Abberton and Langenhoe Parish Council covers those two parishes, and the Winstred Hundred Parish Council covers the four parishes of Great and Little Wigborough, Peldon, Salcott, and Virley. The two parishes of Layer Breton and Layer Marney have parish meetings rather than parish councils due to their small populations.^[24]

• Abberton
• Aldham
• Birch
• Boxted
• Chappel
• Copford
• Dedham
• East Donyland
• East Mersea
• Eight Ash Green
• Fingringhoe
• Fordham
• Great and Little Wigborough
• Great Horkesley
• Great Tey
• Langenhoe
• Langham
• Layer Breton
• Layer de la Haye
• Layer Marney
• Little Horkesley
• Marks Tey
• Messing-cum-Inworth
• Mount Bures
• Myland
• Peldon
• Salcott
• Stanway
• Tiptree
• Virley
• Wakes Colne
• West Bergholt
• West Mersea (town)
• Wivenhoe (town)
• Wormingford

Notes

1. Including 5 Labour Co-op councillors.