Colchester City Council

A new space has opened its doors in Colchester City Centre 🌈 and it’s something pretty special! We’re delighted to welcome The Dragonfly Lounge to Long Wyre Street, bringing something new to the city's nightlife offering! Located in part of the former Co-Op, this once-vacant space has been transformed into a vibrant, inclusive venue for drag shows, cabaret, quizzes, bingo nights, and so much more. 💜 The venue includes a dedicated area for neurodiverse visitors, designed so everyone can enjoy the experience in a way that suits them. It goes without saying the space is LGBTQ+ friendly, and everyone is welcome - whether you're dropping in for a coffee, attending a show, or just curious to see what's new.✨ Let us know if you've been, and what you think!

We've been shortlisted for a national community engagement award! 🎉 The MJ Awards celebrate the stars of local government – so we're absolutely delighted that our Residents’ Panel (where those stars are YOU 🌟) has secured a place on this year's shortlist. The panel’s been running since 2022, with the goal of having more honest, ongoing conversations with local people about the things that matter most to them. Since then, nearly 400 residents have signed up, and over 100 have actively taken part in workshops and discussions over the past year. Their input has helped shape a wide range of work, including our waste strategy, city centre regeneration, and the future of local landmarks like Jumbo and Trinity Church. This shift to genuine two-way conversations - running alongside more traditional one-off consultations - has really widened our perspective on a number of issues, and given a stronger voice to residents who want to help shape local decisions. Building on that success, we’ve recently launched a Youth Panel and a Reading Panel, and we’re excited to keep listening, learning, and growing with the community 💬 🏆 Fingers crossed for June! Curious about the Residents’ Panel or want to get involved? 👉 https://lnkd.in/e7Y5X5Cq

We’re excited to share that we're just weeks away from hitting our goal of delivering 350 new council homes over a five-year period – with 346 already completed! 🏡🙌 These are high-quality, affordable homes for rent, owned by the council and managed by Colchester Borough Homes These homes have been allocated through the Gateway to Homechoice allocation process, helping local people right here in Colchester move to a secure affordable home. 💙 Of the homes delivered so far, 71 are brand new. The rest have been brought back into use through our buy-back programme, helping to get more people into good-quality, affordable housing as quickly as possible. 🏠 We're delighted to have been able to provide safe, permanent places to live for residents coming from temporary accommodation, those experiencing homelessness, people with mobility needs, and families looking to downsize - or find a larger home. In fact, 27 of the homes have been adapted to be fully accessible, and 53 have helped people move into homes that better suit their lives now. We’re so close to the finish line, thanks to the hard work and collaboration of so many. A huge thank you to everyone who’s helped make this happen. This is what progress looks like and it’s something the whole city can be proud of. ☺️

Genuinely, one of Colchester's best kept secrets 🤫🎶 This back garden music festival is turning 26 in 2025! Blues & Rock in the Garden is a brilliant day of live music, art, food and community vibes, all in the beautiful garden at Maitlands, Distillery Lane. near Old Heath. It’s a proper homegrown, feel-good event, and raises money for two great causes: Building Malawi & Rotary Colchester Centurion. 🌍💛 Expect an amazing mix of music (everything from jazz and soul to ska, flamenco and sea shanties), creative workshops, a mini art exhibition, and plenty of food and drink! 🎟️ Tickets are limited to 500 and they usually sell out – all profits go towards supporting fantastic work here and abroad.

🦉🕰️ Ever visited Colchester's Museums? Or maybe you haven’t yet - but you’re curious? Now’s your chance to have a real say in the future of these amazing local spaces 👀 We’re inviting residents to join a special set of conversations as part of our Residents’ Panel. We want your honest views - particularly on The Natural History Museum and Hollytrees Museum - whether you’re a regular visitor or someone seeing these names for the first time. We’ll be letting you know about our future plans (including an update on the work at the NHM) and chatting about things like: 🖼️ What’s working and what’s not 🏛️ What you’d love to see in future exhibitions 🧪 And some live testing of our museum website! You can choose how and when to join the chat. Same session, three different options: 🔹 Mon 31 March | 10am–12pm | In person at Colchester Castle 🔹 Tues 1 April | 6pm–7.30pm | Online via Teams 🔹 Thurs 3 April | 6pm–7.30pm | In person at Colchester Castle Want to come along? All you need to do is sign up to the Residents’ Panel - it’s free, flexible, and your voice genuinely matters. You choose which topics you take part in, and we’ll keep listening. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eSnWHzhy

Wonderful Wivenhoe! 😍 Proudly making The Sunday Times' Best Places to Live list once again, after winning the whole thing last year. This year, our neighbours down in Chelmsford make the best place to live in the East of England, reaping the rewards from huge investment in the city. Colchester City Centre is just starting that process. We reckon we'll be topping this list within a decade! 😉🤞 📷: Visit Colchester

🔴 Mars has landed at Colchester Castle! 🚀✨ Following the success of Gaia, we’re excited to welcome another stunning installation by Luke Jerram. For a limited time, come and see Mars up close! This incredible six-metre-wide artwork, created using detailed NASA imagery, gives you a unique astronaut’s-eye view of the Red Planet. Every crater, canyon, and volcano is on display in breathtaking detail – and with the Castle’s balcony, you’ll get a great view from almost every angle! 📅 Now open! Visit anytime between 20 March – 9 May 2025 🎟️ Included with Castle admission – no need to book

It's brown bin renewal time! 🤎♻️ If you signed up for our garden waste service last year, your subscription expires at the end of March. You'll need to renew to continue using the service when the new subscription period starts in April Thinking about signing up? Now’s the perfect time! Subscribe now to get a full year of collections for your fee. 🌱✨ 🔗 Find out more and renew here: https://lnkd.in/e7Ech437

🌟 What an Inspiring Day at Colchester City Council! 🌟 Today the Get Set for Work team had the absolute pleasure of delivering training on Unconscious Bias and Neurodiversity in the Workplace to the fantastic team at Colchester City Council. We were thrilled to see such a brilliant turnout, with 35 staff attending in person and 18 joining online. It was truly heartening to witness the enthusiasm and commitment to building a more inclusive and supportive workplace. A huge thank you to everyone who took part and contributed to the insightful discussions – your openness and engagement made the session incredibly rewarding. It’s always inspiring to see organisations taking proactive steps towards fostering inclusion and awareness. Well done to the whole team at Colchester City Council for embracing this opportunity to learn and grow together. Looking forward to seeing how these new perspectives shape positive change! 💙 #Inclusion #Diversity #UnconsciousBias #Neurodiversity #ProfessionalDevelopment #ColchesterCityCouncil Amy McManus Get Set UK Nishma Shah Anya Wooddissee

NEW! 🚨 We've expanded our business waste service ♻️ With new recycling regulations coming into effect on 1 April, we’re delighted to offer a brand-new, flexible, and cost-effective business waste service that makes compliance easy for you and your business ☺️. We now collect even more materials, including plastic, tin, glass, and food waste, with no extra weight charges and flexible rolling contract options. It’s a simple, hassle-free service! 👍 ✅ As your local council, you can be confident that our waste carriers are fully certified and that we ensure full legal compliance. What’s more, any profits go straight back into the local community! ❤️ ♻️ If you’re looking for a reliable, sustainable waste service that takes the stress out of recycling, we’re here to help. 📍 Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eDebw3h3