Colchester City Council’s services over the festive period

Residents are being reminded of the amended opening times of Colchester City Council services and venues this festive period. 

While key council services will continue operating over Christmas and New Year, the council’s main offices will be closed on:

• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day
• Monday 29 December 

The offices will be open at 9.00am on Tuesday 30 December. 

They will also be closed on New Year’s Day and open for normal business from Friday 2 January 2026. 

To find out more information about all the council’s services, visit our homepage. 

Residents wishing to access council services via their online account will be able to do so 24-hours a day over Christmas at www.colchester.gov.uk/online.

This is the place to set up a Direct Debit quickly and easily, check Council Tax, apply for a Single Person Discount and switch to e-billing. 

Housing Benefit recipients can also view their entitlement, check correspondence and the income on a claim. 

The key information and dates of council services over the Christmas period are as follows… 

Recycling and waste collections 

New Year's Week: Flats bin store rubbish collection scheduled for Monday, 22 December and Monday, 29 December will take place over the previous weekend. 

Christmas Week Collection Changes: 

New Year’s Week Collection Changes

There will be no garden waste collections between Monday 29 December 2025 and Friday 9 January 2026 to allow crews to focus on collecting Christmas recycling and rubbish. Please note that garden waste collections normally scheduled for Friday 26 December will still take place but will be collected on Monday 29 December instead. 

Resident’s calendars will show all Christmas and New Year collection changes. Find out more here: 

Information about Essex County Council’s Shrub End Recycling Centre opening times and items accepted can be found here. 

Recycle your Christmas tree

If you are looking to recycle your real Christmas tree following the festive period, you can ask St Helena Hospice to take it away for a small donation. Volunteers supporting St Helena will be out across Colchester and the surrounding areas between 9 January and 11 January to collect pre-registered real Christmas trees from the postcode areas of CO1 to CO9 and CO11 to CO16. More information can be found here. 

Helpline

The emergency alarm, response and monitoring service, Helpline, will operate 24 hours-a-day, as normal, during the Christmas and New Year period, providing support and equipment for elderly and vulnerable residents. Helpline users can contact the service or find out more at www.helpline247.co.uk or by calling 01206 769779. 

Colchester Fibre remains available for emergency response. For any urgent issues relating to corporate, Colchester City Council, Colchester Borough Homes, CCTV or Helpline connectivity, please contact the Service Desk on 03333 110003. 

If you have a named engineer for managed services, please contact them directly by their mobile telephone number. Installations and network build will be paused between 23 December and 9 January. 

Leisure World

Residents looking to burn off the extra calories consumed over Christmas, de-stress in the spa or who want to make the most of the school holidays will find plenty to do at Leisure World Colchester, Aqua Springs, and the Colchester Sports Park. 

These venues will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, but open every other day over the festive period. Leisure World Tiptree and Leisure World Highwoods will close from Wednesday, 24 December and will reopen on 2 January. 

Colchester Castle

Colchester Castle will be closed over the Christmas period from Tuesday, 24 December to Friday, 27 December. It will be open as usual from Saturday, 28 December and will close again for the day on New Year’s Day. 

More information can be found here. 

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum will be closed from the 24 to 27 December. We will be open on the 28, 30 and 31 December, and be closed on New Year’s Day. Open times are 10am–5pm, apart from 11am–5pm on Sundays. 

More information can be found here. 

Visitor Information Centre

The Visitor Information Centre and Hollytrees Museum will be closed from the 24 to the 28 of December. It will be open as usual from Monday, 29 December and will close again on New Year’s Day. 

Parks and open spaces

If you’re planning to blow away the cobwebs and take a traditional festive stroll on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day – Castle Park, High Woods Country Park and nature reserves across the city will be open throughout the holiday. 

High Woods Country Park Visitor Centre will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It will reopen on Monday, 29 December until 12.30pm and resume its usual schedule of being open seven days a week, except for New Year’s Day. 

Colchester Cemetery grounds and Garden of Remembrance will be open as usual on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The Book of Remembrance room will be open on all of the Bank Holidays, between 8am and 4.30pm. There will be restricted cremations and burials between Christmas and New Year. 

More information can be found here. 

Colchester Market 

Colchester Market will take place seven-days a week at St Nicholas Square, Culver St East and Culver St West until Tuesday, 23 December, with a selection of traders on Christmas Eve until 2pm. There will be late-night shopping every Wednesday from 10am to 8pm, up to and including 18 December. 

More information about Colchester Market can be found here. 

Parking

St John’s Car Park will be closed from 7pm on 24 December until 5am on 26 December and vehicles will not be able to enter or exit the car park during this period. Details of all the city centre car parks, can be found here. 

All other car parks remain open and will be operating as usual over the festive period and customers are encouraged to use MiPermit to make contactless payments. 

Further information about parking and travel in Colchester can be found here.

Colchester Borough Homes 

Office opening times are as follows: 

• 24-29 December: Closed
• 30-31 December: Open
• 1 January: Closed
• 2 January: Open 

The Greenstead Housing Office will close from 2pm on 23 December and will reopen Monday, 29 to Wednesday, 31 between 9am and 2pm. It will be closed on New Year’s Day and will reopen on Friday, 2 January. If you have an emergency when CBH is closed, please call 01206 282514. 

For anyone who finds themselves homeless or threatened with homelessness over Christmas, more information can be found here. 

Cllr David King, the Leader of Colchester City Council, said: “The festive season is a time for coming together as families, friends, and as a community. While some services pause briefly, many essential teams will still be working hard to keep people safe and connected. 

“I encourage everyone to look out for neighbours, enjoy our parks and local events, and make the most of what our city has to offer. On behalf of the council, I wish all our residents a joyful Christmas and a healthy, hopeful New Year.”