ACTION CAMPAIGN	FIRST DISCOVERY 1	UPDATES 2
UPDATES 3

ECS 19th September 2008, showing the latest thinking.

We, the tax payer are being asked to pay to have access to the site!

In January 2005 there was great excitement in Colchester when it was realised that archaeologists had discovered Britain's only known Roman circus; a race track for charioteers dating back to perhaps the 3rd century AD. Hundreds of people visited the archaeological excavations and open days and public lectures, to learn about what was being found. Week by week, more and more was being discovered and interpretations made.

Sadly, in true Colchester style, this remarkable find has been treated as a nuisance rather than an asset.

The latest treatment that it has received is for Colchester Borough Council to agree to the separation of the starting gates from the rest of the circus, just so that a bunch of residents can have a nice garden to enjoy. The green line shows the position of hedging and 8 foot railings that will be in place. Public access is to be possible - but for how long?

The people who own the land over which the circus lies, have shown no real interest in preserving it and have, instead, had to be forced to respect the archaeological remains. A 10 metre exclusion zone was declared by Colchester Borough Council to ensure that nothing was built on, or within 10 metres of, the remains. Again, in true Colchester style, permission was given to relax this to 5 metres and to enable car parks and roadways to go over the remains.

In 2007, the circus was declared a Scheduled Ancient Monument. One might have reasonably expected that the circus was now safe from the property developer and that it would become a site that could be developed for the good of the town, to encourage tourism, to educate, to celebrate our unique Roman heritage. To date, the location of the remains are unmarked and therefore unknown. They have had to be covered over to protect them, until such a time that they can be exposed to permanent view as a proper exhibition location. Despite a legal requirement to mark the location on the ground surface, in accordance with planning requirements, nothing obvious is to be seen, nor any signage. It is a disgrace!

The latest occurrence concerns the area of the starting gates, which very conveniently lie in an open area in front of the Sergeant's Mess in Le Cateau Road. The starting gates are perhaps the most interesting and important part of the remains and are therefore the best location for exhibition to the public. The property developers, Taylor Wimpey, realise this and are anxious to enclose them in a private garden that they wish to create, offering public access to the location in return for several thousands of pounds per year. They know that this would prevent any future interpretation of the site. So do we!

What was needed and asked for was for the land in question to be brought into public ownership.

What do you think? Please view Taylor Wimpey's plans at:

The chances of the general public being able to look in through the railings seems unlikely. These are the views in June 2008. You can be sure that bushes and trees will be grown to ensure the privacy of the garden. These railings must be removed and the land covering the starting gates must be made available for public viewing, 365 days a year. The deal has been done now. Taylor Wimpey have won. The people of Colchester have a hollow victory as our cost-cutting council will eventually kill the deal. Here follows a personal view of the proceedings of the Planning Committee meeting held on 2nd October 2008.

As planned, I attended the Planning Committee meeting at the Town Hall last night to discuss the planning application submitted by Taylor Wimpey to segregate the starting gates from the rest of the circus outline. As predicted, my point of view was rejected in favour of the Taylor Wimpey/Clly Higgins scheme. Here follows a transcript of my 3 minute slot - for your information: Address to Planning Committee - 2nd October 2008 I have read in the local newspaper that a deal has been struck with Taylor Wimpey whereby they will lease to us for a period in excess of 100 years, a plot of land that lays over the starting gates of the only Roman circus known in Britain. This will apparently give the public access to the land for 365 days per annum. It will also require us, the local taxpayer, to employ somebody to open and close the site, mornings and evenings. The sum, I understand, would be around £12,000 per year. Colchester does not need another financial burden like this. Our cemetery has been left exposed due to a lack of money. The same thing would eventually happen here. Taylor Wimpey knew the implications of archaeological findings, when they bought the land at a very cheap price. Now that they are the unwilling custodians of a Scheduled Ancient Monument, they cynically want us, the tax payer, to pay them to acquit themselves of this responsibility. It simply is not on. The revised application that appears on the council's website, concerning public access, is unspecific. Great for developers, shrubs, bats and wildlife - bad for our future generations and tourism. Whilst a deal of some sort is needed, this is a secret deal, struck without public consultation or agreement of this committee. It is not my idea of democracy. What I and many fellow Colcestrians whom I have spoken with, want is that this piece of land be given into public ownership, in return for the grant of planning for building works that are wanted. We don't want any strings attached. We don't want to pay for the privilege of getting access to this Scheduled Ancient Monument. We are disgusted by the suggestion that local taxpayers should pay for access to such an important historic site - and for only 100 years!. By all means let us, as owners, lease the land to the new residents so that they can use it as a garden in exchange for them policing it and maintaining it accordingly. But what must happen is that we must own it. There are other precedents in Colchester. Perhaps the biggest being the Gosbecks Archaeological Park, given to us by the then landowner, in return for permission to build housing on part of the site. That site has a Romano-Celtic temple and one of our two Roman Theatres. This Roman circus site, and especially the starting gates, are by far the more historically important, by comparison. One day, Colchester will wake up to the golden egg that it sits on. Money will be found to do further archaeological excavations and to build education stations to explain our unique heritage to Colcestrians and to our visitors. At the moment, that money is clearly not available but, one day, Colchester will fully wake up to the importance and wealth creation that tourism can bring to our town. When that day comes, we need to be in full possession of these sites, so that we don't have to go begging for access. We ask you to throw out option 2, or to renegotiate it as we are suggesting. Alternatively. please can we insist that option 3 is the only truly acceptable answer to this problem. Thank You! I understood Option 2 as being an agreement whereby TW would retain ownership of area but would lease to CBC for £4000 approx. (as printed in local newspapers, referred to as a 'peppercorn' rent last night by Alistair Day) per annum for 134 years. CBC would then be responsible for employing somebody to open and close the site morning and night, every day, at an estimated cost of £6000 per annum. Added to this would be maintenance costs and the responsibility for the maintenance of the SAM. My estimate was therefore £12000 per annum. After 134 years was up, who knows! By implication therefore, CBC or anybody else, could not do anything with the site to interpret the archaeology that lay beneath. Also, and to my mind the saddest part of this horrible plan, the existing railings would stay and substantial hedging and vegetation would obscure vistors looking in - or out. This means that the visual impact of being able to stand at the starting gates and look down the full length of the circus would not be possible. Option 1, I think was that TW would retain ownership but allow the public 4 days a year access. They would be responsible for looking after the SAM. Option 3 as mentioned, my preferred option was, to quote, 'To remove the existing railing to the front garden of the Sergeants Mess and a new set of railings installed further back separating the garden from the property. This would ensure privacy of the residents and make the garden a truly public space'. It would also have allowed the whole length of the circus to be viewed, an invaluable tourist feature. Cllr Chillingworth, supported by Cllr Gower were the only two to comment from the committee to the effect that I needed to get into the real world. This was, apparently, the best deal possible. Cllr Chillingworth immediately brought up the subject of cost cutting as he clearly saw the waste of time and money that presented itself with the opening and shutting situation, if only a few visits by the public were made. Cllr Higgins spoke to justify her position over the secret deal and the cost to the local tax-payer and to pour praise on TW for doing such a wonderful job. A representative from TW spoke to rebuke me for my presentation. No other councillor spoke on the subject. All voted unanimously for approval of TW's application. They included (for the record): Councillors - Mary Blandon, Peter Chillingworth, Barrie Cook, Mark Cory, Stephen Ford, Wyn Foster, Ray Gamble, Chris Hall, Sonia Lewis. All of these people have responsibility for what will follow. There were several items on the agenda that affected the circus, the other items concerned buildings that overlay other parts of the circus outline. In all cases, the maps used to show the plans omitted any detail of the position of the circus. This speaks volumes, to my mind, as to the council's attitude to the circus and, who knows, to our heritage in general. What next? What I would like to see now is a bit of sense applied to this unsatisfactory outcome. I would like to see a corridor opened up to give a full view of the full lengthy of the circus. Also, I would like to see the 365 day matter reduced to weekends only but with our town guides or specific groups/schools, etc, given a key to access the site at any time of week. Any comments? Could I please thank those of you who have supported us with this short campaign and to those of you who attended the Town Hall last night to hear the proceedings. Jess Jephcott

Please write to your MP, your borough councillor, Colchester Borough planning department, the press, etc. to make your views known.

Apathy has already won the day for faceless Taylor Wimpey, who are only interested in profit. Colchester's heritage is a minor consideration for them. Where were all those people and organisations who wrote to the press? Presumably they are happy with the deal that we have now. Colchester has long needed a heritage strategy that makes it absolutely clear how it values its heritage and what developers like Taylor Wimpey must comply with when submitting plans. The present system allows the developer to call the shots and us to defer to them. It is not the way to do things in our opinion.