ST JOHN'S
SAYS NO

Welcome to the campaign home page. For any and all information about the St John's Residents Association's campaign to prevent the development on St John's fields, see below.

FIND OUT MORE

COMMUNITY QUIZ NIGHT

6th March 2026

£10 per person

19:00

St John's Community Hall

Join us for another fun fundraising event at St John's Community Hall (next to St John's Church). This time we'll be doing a quiz night, with maximum teams of 6 and an exciting prize of £100 cash! Please bring your own nibbles and drinks.

To request tickets please email stjohnsfieldsra@gmail.com stating how many tickets you require and the name of your team (click the button below to send your email request). We will direct you to our GoFundMe page. Once paid we will issue your tickets.

REQUEST A TICKET

LOCAL PLAN COMMITTEE MEETING

11th February 2026

17:45

Town Hall, Colchester High Street

This meeting has been brought forward and a summary of the responses and a "revised" plan will be presented to the Local Plan committee. They will be voting to either progress the plan to the next stage (Section 19) or will vote against and require further work be undertaken by the planning department. This is anticpated to be a close vote, considering the upcoming elections in May. We will be making representations during the "Have Your Say" section and pushing for delay but we need as many local residents to be there to show the Local Plan Committee the depth of feeling of St Johns Residents. If you can come please be outside the Town Hall on Colchester High Street at 17:45.

CONSULTATION PORTAL

RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

The council's public consultation is now open for your input, click the buttons below for the consultation portal (left button) and our instructions page for more help (right button). The consultation closes on the 14th of January 2026, so get your comments heard before it's too late!

CONSULTATION PORTAL

RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS

PUBLIC CONSULTATION NOW OPEN!

UP TO 2000 HOUSES

Every five years, councils must publish a Local Plan – deciding where thousands of new homes will be built.

Colchester City Council recently invited landowners to put forward sites (Call for Sites) for potential development. At first, the arable fields around St John’s (near Bullock Wood) and Welshwood Park were not considered. But due to pressure from successful campaigns elsewhere in the city, these fields are now at risk.

Planners have admitted there will be a housing shortfall from 2026, and our councillors have warned that unless we act, our green fields could be allocated for up to 2,000 houses.

The Local Plan is expected to go to public consultation in December 2025. Residents will have just six weeks to raise objections. Welshwood Park Residents’ Association has already commissioned a professional planning consultant to prepare their case. We must do the same.

To stand any chance of protecting our precious fields, we need expert backed evidence. That’s why we are raising £10,000 to fund a specialist planning consultant. This will give us the strongest possible voice in shaping the council’s decision. The likelihood is that this will be a battle lasting more than just this year, so we will need continuous fundraising to support this battle.

We have set up a GoFundMe page in support of this campaign and would be incredibly grateful to any and all contributions, big or small.

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