A CAMPAIGNING councillor has spent hundreds of pounds on lighting up Colchester’s Jumbo water tower in purple.
Darius Laws (Con), who represents Castle ward on Colchester Council, had previously slammed the authority for pulling out of lighting up the town’s Roman walls.
Council bosses decided not to pursue the project after a survey found it would cost up to £250,000. The council had initially budgeted to spend about £20,000.
Mr Laws, who has campaigned for more to be done to light up Colchester’s historical landmarks, used £500 - half of his councillor locality budget - to illuminate Jumbo for a week.
Studies have been carried out on what uses could be made of the famous water tower, which is a Grade II listed building, Mr Laws said: “I’m so happy to have done it.
“Within a few minutes of the lights being switched on people were walking past taking photographs of it.
“We had nurses come out from Balkerne Gardens sheltered accommodation and said their residents were really loving it because they have a real love for the building.”
He added: “I was so frustrated by the decision not to light up the walls, so I thought I would show them.
“We need to be thinking about the future of our heritage.
“It’s not just about putting lights up, it’s about being creative.
“We have a beautiful war memorial at Cowdray Crescent which isn’t lit up - why not think about projecting poppies on to it every November, or even in the immediate lead up to Remembrance Sunday?
“Why not project Humpty Dumpty on to Colchester Arts Centre?”
Some believe the guns which fell off the top of the tower were the reference for the character.
Mr Laws has permission to light up the Grade II listed Jumbo from owner Paul Flatman.
Mr Laws also believes the council should have used £200,000 to light up the monuments instead of giving it to charities through the Big Choice giveaway.
He added: “That’s a great thing, to give money to worthy charities, but let’s get ourselves sorted first.”
Jumbo will be lit up between 8pm and 1am until Thursday morning.
Colchester Council has already laid 22 state-of-the-art low energy LED lights under Balkerne Gate which lights up the site every evening.
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