Where to live in Colchester and how is it

[Sakshitayal]

Hello everyone, me and my husband are new to UK. I have got a job at University of Essex. My husband works near Liverpool station in London. We have decided to move to Colchester. But we are not able to comprehend how is the area. Many links say it is not a safe area. Also, where should we live so that it is easy for my husband to travel to London and myself to University.
Thank you

Why is it not safe?

GoFiguire, you can go on police.uk for stats.

OP, are you looking to live in Colchester itself or in-between the City and Colchester?

Hmm, the one thing I know is that GPs surgeries are really stretched, and mental health support is poor. A friend of mine lives in Colchester and has had much disability support/funding withdrawn, struggled to get a GP appointment within a fortnight, and has had next to no assistance with MH issues.
This may of course be their particular part of the town.

It has a huge drinking problem in the town at the weekends.
I hate how aggressive the driving is in the town.
I visit my adult son who lives there and it’s striking how the driving changes as you get towards the town.

The mh services are dreadful also.

Have you considered wivenhoe? It's where the university is based. It has a train station for your husband to travel in to London, it's nice and quiet but with enough shops/amenities to not feel entirely secluded.

I have searched on Google and found very mixed reactions

Colchester is alright. It's a milder version of Essex than Chelmsford or Brentwood IMO. It can be a bit rowdy at weekends as you have the barracks but they keep their soldiers in order generally.

If you lived in Chelmsford and commuted to Colchester, you'd be going the right way for traffic, and the commute to Liverpool Street is a doddle from there too, only 35 mins. You could also look at villages between Chelmsford and Colchester. I lived in tiptree for a few years and that was nice enough. I lived in Chelmsford for five years before that.

In terms of GPs and MH support, its poor across the UK really. I would say that Suffolk (where I am now) is marginally better, particularly the west, but it is a much longer commute from here. More like 90 mins to Liverpool st and a 40 min drive to Colchester.

Lexden is nice, the villages (wivenhoe and rowhedge) are lovely. Avoid greenstead and the hythe. It's fine as areas go!

We’ve got friends in Colchester a itself. They’ve got little children as really like living there. Have you stayed in Colchester yourselves? Might be an idea to stay for a week and see what you think.