Colchester

10°COvercast

• Today: 11° / 7° · 17% rain
• Tomorrow: 12° / 6° · Overcast

Source: WeatherAPI

Sunrise 06:58Sunset 16:21

9h 24m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

21US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: fine particles (PM2.5)

Source: WAQI · Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

• 7.1 µg/m³ average fine-particle (PM2.5) concentration
• 5.3% of adult (30+) deaths estimated attributable to fine-particle pollution

Lower is better for both figures.

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2024

142 reported · August 2026▼ 7% YoY

• Violence & sexual offences68
• Criminal damage & arson19
• Anti-social behaviour15
• Other theft10

5 stop & searches

Neighbourhood team: Colchester Town West · Essex

Source: data.police.uk (within ~1 mile)

321 reported road collisions (2025)

90 killed or seriously injured · 403 casualties · 16.7 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

500+ food businesses within 2 miles

• 403 rated 4–5 ★ (372 top)
• 4 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency · split of the nearest 500

• Nearest station: Colchester Town (2.9 km)
• 54 bus stops within ~½ mile

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

£294,210 average▼ 1.4% YoY

Across Colchester · to 2026-08

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

£1,197 average monthly rent▲ 2.1% YoY

• 1 bed £820
• 2 bed £1,063
• 3 bed £1,301

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-08

8.4× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 8.4 times median annual pay (9.0× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

2,652 property sales in the last 12 months

12 months to May 2026

A busier or quieter market is not by itself good or bad. Monthly counts are small and volatile, so only the annual total is shown.

Source: HM Land Registry UK HPI, 12 months to 2026-05

• Cheapest petrol: 168.9p · Asda (0.9 km)
• Cheapest diesel: 195.9p · Asda (0.9 km)

3 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

44 charging locations within ~8 km

• 13 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
• Fastest nearby: 300 kW
• Nearest: VendElectric Creffield Road Site (1.6 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

• Sports centres4
• Gyms2
• Swimming pools21
• Sports pitches51
• Playgrounds16

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

192,716 residents in Colchester · 587/km²

• Under 16: 19%
• 16–64: 63%
• 65+: 18%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

• Moves in from elsewhere in the UK13,676
• Moves out to elsewhere in the UK14,062
• Net moves−386

Residential moves between local authorities (counts of moves, not people) · ONS Internal migration, YE Jun 2025

Around the average in England

Ranked 168 of 296 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

2% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025

£2,283 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band B (27% of 86,510)

Source: VOA council-tax stock · MHCLG band levels 2026-27

89 schools · 31,964 pupils

63 primary · 12 secondary · 14 other

Ofsted: 28 of 32 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (88%)

80 inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Colchester

1,574 CQC-registered services

• Care homes408
• GP practices229
• Dentists312
• Homecare agencies474
• Hospitals & hospices40

CQC ratings: 88% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 17 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Essex

• Not in the Green Belt
• 39 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (England)

234 applications decided

84.2% granted · 197 granted, 37 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q2

Pam Cox

Labour

Colchester

Source: UK Parliament

Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition

• Lab 9
• Con 18
• LD 12
• Grn 3
• Ref 5
• Oth 4

Source: Open Council Data UK (CC BY-SA)

• Schools21
• GPs & clinics2
• Pharmacies3
• Supermarkets5
• Parks & greens4
• Restaurants & cafés7

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

8,710 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2026)

1,438 jobs advertised · £40,835 avg

e.g. Care Support Worker - Colchester, Consultant Psychiatrist - Eating Disorders, Section Engineer

Source: Adzuna

£767 median full-time weekly pay

3.2% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£24,738 disposable income per head (2024)

Source: ONS / Nomis (claimant count · ASHE) · ONS regional GDHI

53% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: C · 96,867 certificates

9.1% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

Source: MHCLG EPC statistics · DESNZ sub-regional fuel poverty

78% low-carbon electricity

Wind 46% · Gas 21% · Nuclear 20% · Biomass 11%

96 gCO₂/kWh · moderate intensity

Latest estimate for East England · National Grid ESO

Life expectancy: 83.8 yrs women · 80.4 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy (Essex): 62.4 women · 62.7 men

64% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

• Life satisfaction7.8
• Feeling worthwhile7.7
• Happiness yesterday7.6
• Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.2

Average rating out of 10 · ONS personal well-being 2022-23

4 GP surgeries · 5 pharmacies in CO3

• Ambrose Avenue Group Practice
• Winstree Medical Practice
• Tollgate Health Centre

Source: NHS Organisation Data Service

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Colchester:

• Change surrogacy law to recognise intended parents from birth249 local signatures · 113,305 nationwide
• Stop taxing Longer Separation Allowance on British armed forces249 local signatures · 22,219 nationwide
• Hold a UK-wide briefing on climate and nature risks214 local signatures · 127,144 nationwide
• Protect legal right to support for children with SEND207 local signatures · 111,357 nationwide
• Remove sentence reductions for guilty pleas in controlling and coercive cases196 local signatures · 105,832 nationwide

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-10-05

• 
  Lexden · 0.3 km

  Lexden is a suburb of Colchester in Essex, England, lying approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the city centre. It has a public house called the Crown. The parish church of St Leonard's is dedicated to Leonard of Nob…

• Philip Morant School and College · 0.5 km

  Philip Morant School and College is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located within the Prettygate suburb of Colchester, Essex. The school is named after Philip Morant, a local 18th-century histo…

• 
  Lexden Park · 0.8 km

  Lexden Park is an 8.1 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Lexden, a suburb of Colchester in Essex. It is owned and managed by Colchester Borough Council.

• St Benedict's Catholic College · 0.9 km

  St Benedict's Catholic College is a coeducational secondary school in Colchester, Essex, England. As the only remaining Catholic secondary school in Colchester, it is one of the top performing non-selective state scho…

• Alderman Blaxill School · 0.9 km

  Alderman Blaxill School was a secondary school with academy status in Colchester, Essex, and was the town's smallest secondary school. It closed in 2014.

• Colchester County High School for Girls · 0.9 km

  Colchester County High School for Girls is a selective girls' grammar school with academy status in Colchester, Essex. The school consistently scores highly in the league tables for the UK. It was joint first in the c…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)