Colchester's leader asks Full Council on Wednesday 14 October to demand the government repays every penny spent on the abandoned merger. All five motions, explained.

Colchester City Council will be asked on Wednesday to demand that the government repays everything the council spent preparing for a merger that has now been abandoned. The motion is on the agenda for Full Council at 6pm on Wednesday 14 October in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall.

It is proposed by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Paul Dundas. If it passes, he and the Deputy Leader, Councillor David King, will write to the Secretary of State “and demand that all costs incurred by Colchester City Council and its taxpayers be fully reimbursed for all we have done at government’s instruction, to no purpose, towards LGR”.

The letter would also demand “urgent and immediate clarity” on what happens next, “so this Council may begin to plan with certainty for the future”.

How much is at stake

Nobody has yet put a figure on it. The motion does not name Colchester’s own costs. It says the North East Essex area was awarded capacity funding of £950,000, and that this “is significantly less than the true costs to this and other councils”.

When we reported the withdrawal of the merger in September, the council’s own reorganisation panel had just been told its report carried “no financial implications”, and the cost of the programme was not on the public record. That is still the position. The council’s budget papers have described reorganisation as a pressure on this year’s savings, without separating it out.

The motion sets out the sequence the council says it followed in good faith:

  • December 2024: the government says it wants all of England covered by unitary councils
  • March 2026: ministers choose the “Five Unitary Option” for Essex and tell councils to work “at pace” towards new councils on 1 April 2028
  • 7 September 2026: Angela Rayner, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, pauses and reviews the programme “following updated and privileged legal advice”
  • Now: the status of reorganisation in Essex “is currently unknown”, which the motion calls “a wholly unacceptable situation”

Colchester, Essex County Council, Tendring and Braintree all worked on the plan up to 7 September, the motion says, “to preserve Colchester’s civic and city status, to get the best deal for North East Essex and to ensure continuity of services”.

The demand is not only Colchester’s. The Local Government Association published an open letter on 9 September, written on behalf of Reform UK-led councils, asking ministers to repay money spent on reorganisation. Colchester is Conservative-led. The motion will be debated and decided on the night, because it counts as a non-executive matter.

Four more motions on the same night

Councillors have 80 minutes in total for all five motions. Once the time is up, the Mayor moves straight to the vote on whichever motion is being debated.

Getting out of the stadium car park. Labour’s Councillor Tim Young wants a six-match trial that lifts the barrier from United Way on to Boxted Road for an hour after Colchester United men’s home games. The motion calls the JobServe Community Stadium “one of the worst stadiums in England to exit from its car park after matches” and asks for the trial to start before Christmas 2026, working with Essex Highways and the club.

Operation Vanguard. Labour’s Councillor Lee Scordis asks the council to tell Essex County Council to suspend its city centre security patrols until it has consulted the city council, Essex Police, local MPs and the refugee charity RAMA. The motion cites “the lack of evidence that asylum seekers are responsible for a rise in crime in Colchester city centre” and asks Essex Police to publish a year of city centre crime and anti-social behaviour figures. We explained what Operation Vanguard is last week.

Violence against women and girls. Councillor Cufoglu, seconded by Councillor Cory, asks the council to endorse a joint statement by the End Violence Against Women Coalition and more than 100 women’s groups, and to write to the Prime Minister and the county council leader. Among its demands: evidence of how many incidents of male violence against women and girls Operation Vanguard has attended, and that the county “revoke” the operation.

Food delivery riders on West Mersea. Councillor Kelly asks the Monitoring Officer to review the West Mersea Urban District Council food byelaws of 1952 and report on how they could lawfully be replaced. The motion is aimed at “delivery riders using bicycles and electrically assisted bicycles on pavements” and delivery bikes left blocking the highway. It asks officers to draft a modernised byelaw, within the limits of the Local Government Act 1972.

Also being decided

The same meeting adopts or rejects three recommendations and one policy change:

  • Colchester’s Economic Plan 2026-28, recommended by Cabinet on 2 September
  • the 2025/26 year-end review of risk management
  • a review of data protection policies, including a new data breach recurrence policy
  • changes to the taxi licensing policy. Drivers would be banned from driving a licensed vehicle fitted with 3D, 4D, “ghost” or sticker number plates, and fitting them to a licensed vehicle would be prohibited. The council licenses 637 vehicles. It consulted every licensed driver, vehicle owner and operator, and seven of the eight responses it received opposed the change. The officers’ report says raised plates can be legal on ordinary cars, but that the ban is about enforcement, vehicle traceability and public confidence in the licensed trade.

Apologies have been received from Councillors Harding and Smithson.

What it means for you

You can speak. Up to eight members of the public can address Full Council for three minutes each, on any item on the agenda or anything else that is the council’s business. You must register by emailing democratic.services@colchester.gov.uk by 12 noon on Tuesday 13 October, and supply a written copy of what you want to say.

Your council tax does not change on Wednesday. The motion asks for a letter, not a budget decision. Whether any money comes back depends on the government’s answer, and the motion itself admits the costs have not been added up in public. Our guide to Colchester council tax bands explains where this year’s bill goes.

The merger is off, not postponed. As we reported in September, the government withdrew its March decision rather than delaying it. Colchester City Council carries on, the May 2027 elections go ahead on the current boundaries, and bins, planning and parking stay where they are. See bin collection days and parking in Colchester.

We will report the result of the vote after the meeting.

Sources