A new bus station on the old Queen Street site would cost £20m to £25m, with no funding yet. Comments close 8 November; drop-ins are on 14 and 21 October.

Buses could go back to Painters Yard, the old bus station site off Queen Street. Essex County Council and Colchester City Council have opened a consultation on a new bus station there. It would cost £20 million to £25 million, and no money has been found for it yet.

The councils say the Osborne Street bus station is already running at more than twice the capacity it was designed for. On their forecasts, that reaches four times by 2041. The survey is open until Sunday 8 November, and there are two public drop-in sessions in October.

Why the councils say Osborne Street cannot cope

The old bus station at Painters Yard closed in 2013. Osborne Street has been the main city centre stop since then. The consultation guide counts what is there now:

  • six bus stops on Osborne Street
  • two bus stops on Stanwell Street
  • two layover stops on Osborne Street, where drivers wait or take a break
  • one coach stop on Stanwell Street

A 2024 study for the councils modelled the buses that planned growth around Colchester will add. It found the city needs up to 25 bus stops and five layover bays at an interchange by 2041.

The guide says Osborne Street is “currently operating at over 200% capacity”. If demand grows as planned, it puts peak use at 400% by 2041. Bus operators have raised concerns about accessibility. Passengers have raised safety, a lack of welfare facilities and anti-social behaviour, the guide says.

Bar chart of Colchester bus stops. Osborne Street has 6 bus stops today; with the 2 on Stanwell Street the city centre interchange has 8; the councils' modelling says up to 25 are needed by 2041.
Bus stops now against the number the councils say are needed by 2041. Chart by The Colchester Post
Share this chartFacebookWhatsAppX

Why Painters Yard

Six city centre sites were looked at, the guide says:

  • Osborne Street car park
  • Stanwell House
  • Painters Yard
  • St John’s car park
  • Britannia Yard
  • Vineyard Gate

Sites too small for the stops needed were ruled out first. The rest were compared on bus access, cost, links to the city centre, heritage and the environment. Painters Yard came out as “the most cost effective and deliverable”.

The site sits between Firstsite and St Botolph’s Priory, next to the Curzon cinema. Housing was considered for the remaining land, but the guide says those plans “were not found to be in keeping with the conservation area”. A community garden, the Meanwhile Painters Yard Community Garden, currently uses part of the site. The guide does not say what would happen to it.

The two layouts

Both options are early concepts, not final designs. The preferred design could follow one of them or mix the two. In both, buses would enter from a new junction on Queen Street, a little south of the current entrance. That would mean demolishing the old ticket office on the south corner of the junction.

Both layouts also include:

  • “drive in, reverse out” stops for most buses
  • a coach bay and a community transport bay
  • five layover bays
  • three on-street stops on Queen Street, two of them replacing the one existing stop south of the entrance
Layout one: public space Layout two: central hub
Where the stops go Split along the northern and southern edges Around a central island
Waiting areas Two One
Public space and landscaping More Less
Bus capacity No shortfall listed “Slightly lower overall”
Heritage Some buses closer to the Roman wall Some bus movements closer to the Roman wall

The guide lists the facilities the councils want in either case. They include toilets, sheltered and lit waiting areas with CCTV, real-time information screens, cycle parking and space for e-bikes.

How to have your say

The online survey closes on Sunday 8 November. The guide gives 9 November, but the survey page and the scheme page both say 8 November, so go by that. The scheme page also carries the two layouts.

Three sessions are listed on the consultation page:

Date Time Where
Monday 12 October 10am to 12pm Colchester Town Hall, Residents’ Panel meeting (sign up to the panel to attend)
Wednesday 14 October 2pm to 8pm Digital Hub, 43 Queen Street, drop-in
Wednesday 21 October 2pm to 8pm St Botolph’s Church, Church Walk, drop-in

You can also email colchesterinterchange@essexhighways.org, or write to FREEPOST ESSEX HIGHWAYS ENGAGEMENT TEAM.

What it means for you

Nothing changes at Osborne Street for now. The councils’ own timeline runs over three to five years, subject to funding. After this consultation they plan to:

  1. confirm Painters Yard and refine a single design
  2. seek funding, which has not yet been secured
  3. draw up a preliminary design and submit a planning application
  4. appoint a contractor
  5. start building

A planning application would bring a second, formal chance to comment. The guide says any detailed design “will undergo further consultation as part of a planning process”.

If you use buses in the city centre, the questions that matter most are in the survey: whether you want one waiting area or two, and whether more public space is worth slightly fewer bus bays. Bus routes would also change once an interchange opens, but neither the guide nor the scheme page says how.

Painters Yard is a short walk from St Botolph’s Circus, where the roundabout is being rebuilt until autumn 2027. Current closures there are on our Colchester roadworks page, and other schemes are on our planning news page.

What the councils said

Cllr Paul Dundas, Leader of Colchester City Council, said delivering a new bus station had been “one of the main motivations” for setting up Team Colchester, the two councils’ partnership, in 2022. “Many people will remember the former bus station and depot on the site and will have experienced the challenges we face with Osborne Street, so it is critical that we get this right,” he said.

Cllr Jeff Bray, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Heritage, said the next steps would see the proposals refined “and a business case developed for funding”.

Both quotes are from Colchester City Council’s announcement of 29 September. That release says the consultation launched on 28 September. The survey page gives the opening date as 29 September.

Sources