onionbagblog

This piece was first published in the brilliant Colchester 101 magazine. Copies are available for free around pubs, shops and other public places in the town.

What makes a community? It is a question that is as simple as it is complicated. It is also a question that has been occupying Colchester Borough Council of late.

Concern has been raised that the area around the Hythe has no identity. The accusation is that a spiralling sprawl of a satellite town has been allowed to shoot up, yet no one knows exactly what is the point of existence for the Hythe.

If that sounds slightly existential, then it really shouldn’t. The Hythe has a proud industrial history connected to Colchester Dock. Now it seems it is simply a byword to describe either a stretch of buy to let properties, or a short cut for the B & Q roundabout.

When looking at what makes a local community co-operate together, Colchester is blessed as a borough with some rather wonderful examples. The Dutch Quarter manages to contain a unique historical perspective, whilst simultaneously living in the back garden of the centre of the town itself.

Wivenhoe is well known for the unique community spirit that has grown organically, not to mention slightly anarchically. Look beyond all the misguided bad headlines that the Greenstead attracts, and you can also find a genuine community spirit within.

But the Hythe is simply the Hythe. Manufacturing has long since been lost. In its place, the town planners have failed to manufacture a self-contained community in which to live.

It’s not surprising really - people constitute a community, not a collection of identikit one and two-bedroom commuter flats. The area has been allowed to over-build with buy to lets, with little or no thought as to the social infrastructure that is needed to support the locals.

The Pride wine bar has recently closed, leaving little optimism for the area around the Hythe that still remains underdeveloped. A worrying spate of ‘random’ fires have characterised the old industrial units in the past six months. Essex Fire Brigade is concerned about the ‘randomness’ of these incidents and is investigating further.

The irony of course is that the Hythe should be the perfect place in which to grow community activities. The natural riverfront could provide the perfect backdrop for a thriving mini-town within itself.

Instead we have a hangover from the industrial past, with neither the political, nor economic will in which to dredge the Colne. The Pooh Facotry downstream provides a constant reminder of the industrial euphemism in which Colchester Borough Council now holds for the Hythe.

And so what can be done to try and build a genuine community to match the matchbox housing that has appeared around the Hythe? The University’s Knowledge Gateway is going to add to the immediate local area over the coming couple of years.

Private residential accommodation is all part of the plan, hopefully bringing in some new energy and enthusiasm for the Eastern edge of Colchester. But for Colchester Borough Council to create a sense of community around the Hythe then people must be put first, rather than the profit of private developers.

A micro community does currently exist along the banks of the old Colchester Dock. The houseboats have shown how local folk can have a pride in where they live, if they are allowed to live the lifestyle in which they choose.

It’s not going to happen overnight, but bringing on board the experiences of the houseboat owners to the buy to let neighbours, is the first step towards bringing a genuine sense of community back to the Hythe.