Colchester's City Status Bid

Colchester has applied for City Status twice before: in 1999 as part of the Millennium celebrations and again in 2001 as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002. Earlier this year The Cabinet Office announced that there will be an opportunity for local authorities to apply for civic honours to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Local community and social interest group, Destination Colchester, led the bid. Having engaged widespread public support Destination Colchester also secured support from the local business community and put the bid together at no cost to the public purse.

In its history Colchester was once a city of course. As ‘Colonia Claudia' Colchester was the first Capital of Roman Britain, but lost this status after AD410 when Britain had effectively ceased to be part of the Roman Empire.

There are no specific criteria for applications, just a request for an entry comprising:

An introduction of no more than 5 pages highlighting why the area deserves city status

A profile of the area

Up to 50 photographs of permanent features of the area (rather than events or people)

Two maps, click here for map 1 and here for map 2

The closing date for entries was 27th May 2011 and Her Majesty's decision will be announced in 2012.