Tag Archives: Martin Goss

A big thank you from Cllr David King

“A BIG THANK YOU!” said David King following his successful re-election on May 5th 2022. The Tory vote collapsed even further to a record low!

The results were:

David King (Lib Dem) 1,885 (66.3%) – up 1% on 2021
Tory 447 (15.7%) – down 3.2% on 2021
Labour 350 (12.3%) – up 1.5% on 2021
Green 163 (5.7%) – up 1.1% on 2021

David said “I am honoured to be re-elected again for a second term of four years to serve the great area of Mile End – where I live and work for all the community. It’s very humbling to achieve such a result!”

Your Mile End survey responses

We have been out knocking on thousands of doors in our area getting your views and feedback on Mile End.

Your priorities include the NHS (we fight for better pay & recruitment).
Climate change (we press Government to keep their promises. And do
all we can, from installing heat pumps & insulation, to tree planting)
Education and schools (where we press for better funding, a Personal
Education and Skills Account to help later life learning and
more apprenticeships). We also help schools directly with
grants towards gardens and forest schools and help with planners).

Locally you like what we do (thank you!) but ask we continue to chase the
County Council over road repairs and to help tackle litter. We do of course!

Trinity school update!

Great news that after a sustained campaign and lots of pressure from your Lib Dem team the Trinity school design plans have at last been lodged! Parents and pupils were let down by the Department for Education and their builders. But we now are underway.

David King and Martin Goss have met with DfE, and David has engaged Essex County Council and the Gilberd, to ensure everyone does all they can to deliver the new school at Chesterwell to the latest opening date of September 23. That will be tight. Contingency plans are being worked up.

But we will do all we can to ensure plans are passed in Colchester as swiftly as possible. And that DfE deliver to time. We will continue to chase and keep the pressure on all parties.

Shepherd Drive sign replaced

Small things matter, including correcting accidental damage caused by others.

For some reason an HGV delivering to the local Coop store on Nayland Road,
decided to take a wrong turn into Dickenson Road in August 2021, which
is a very narrow 20mph zone.

Martin Goss got onto the East of England Coop and after being pushed from pillar to post was eventually given details of the Manchester Coop who deliver for East of England Coop.

Martin said “I got the right contact after numerous emails and being pushed from pillar to post but tenacity pays off! The Coop insurers paid Colchester Council for a new sign and repair work where the verge was also badly damaged.

It has taken 5 months to sort this out but I am pleased to say the massive hole left and damaged sign have been repaired and rightly at nil cost to the taxpayer.

Residents are delighted with the new sign and repair.”

Mill Road youth shelter

Due to anti social behaviour at the Mill Road youth shelter, which has included
the smoking and dealing of drugs and late night noise, the sides to the shelter
have been removed to help discourage this behaviour.

The situation will be closely monitored and the police are aware of the issues.
If you witness or are concerned about any anti-social behaviour then please let us know.

Trinity School latest

The new Trinity School for Chesterwell is running late. We know delay and
disruption is a worry and have been working closely with the Gilberd and
Trinity Schools to reduce the impact and to keep parents up to date.

David and Martin have pressed the Department for Education hard to minimise
the delays and to keep parents informed.

We have been assured the new school will have to happen for September 2023. David will update when we have more news.

Northern Approach Road bus lane

The planning application for the Northern Approach Road bus and cycle lane has finally been submitted for planning approval by Essex County Council.

Colchester Council planning committee will be the final arbiters on the scheme approval. Cllr Martin Goss called the scheme in for their approval as some
concerns are raised about the design.

Although the bus lane has been known about since the inception and build of the houses on the Northern Approach Road development in 2003 the whole design has changed as it now includes dedicated cycle lanes.

Some of the main concerns raised include the noise levels which will exceed legal limits of 68DB in places. The entire 8 foot high acoustic fence will be moved within meters of housing blocking out natural light and over 60 London Plain trees will be felled which have over 20 years of growth.

Essex County Council also propose removing a crossing at the southern end of the Northern Approach Road.

All of these issues have been highlighted as being totally unacceptable.

To comment or views the plans please visit https://www.colchester.gov.uk/planning-app-details/?id=b61d4bf2-54f0-eb11-bacb-000d3ade7c07#ValidationSummaryEntityFormView

Turner Rise Mcdonalds

The Turner Rise Mcdonalds planning application was recently approved by the Planning Committee at Colchester Council.

We spoke against the plan on various grounds including transport and the
impact it would have on the area at peak times. Unfortunately Tory controlled
Essex County Council signed off the traffic assessment submitted with the
application which included traffic modelling for a Retail Park in Croydon!

Dunelm Mill also objected at the last minute citing the Retail Park in Croydon
where they also have a store was smaller than Turner Rise and the Mcdonalds
store they were comparing it too was also smaller!

The store will be built and open in 2022.

Now the store is approved we need to ensure the impact on the area including extra litter is minimised.

Election results in Mile End & Highwoods – a big thank you!

A big thank you Mile End!

The election was held on May 6th and both Martin Goss and David King were successful in their election results.

Mile End for the Colchester Borough Seat was as follows:

Martin Goss (Lib Dem) 1974 (65.5%)
CON 583 (19.3%)
LABOUR 328 (10.8%)
GREEN 139 (4.6%)

Mile End and Highwoods County Council seat was as follows:

David King (Lib Dem) 2221 (39.9%)
CON 1856 (33.3%)
LABOUR 946 (17.0%)
GREEN 387 ( 7.0%)
REFORM UK 162 ( 2.9%)

Thank you to everyone with a heartfelt thanks from Martin and David who voted to elect us to carry on the great work in Mile End and Highwoods along with Cllr Phil Coleman.

A huge thanks also to Anne Turrell who retired from being County Councillor with nearly 20 years service!

She will still be helping the team in the background.