Running until 4pm, 8 January 2026

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Chelmsford City Council is proposing changes to the new draft Local Plan and you can get involved.

The Local Plan is renewed every five years to make sure future growth across the district is properly planned. As part of the current review, we have identified a need to add extra housing and employment sites to ensure there is a steady supply of land read for development. Take part in the consultation to provide feedback on the soundness of the new draft Plan proposals.

Additional sites focused consultation

Chelmsford City Council is running a focused consultation on proposals to add several new and expanded housing sites to the Local Plan. There’s just over a month to go until the end of the consultation, so there’s still plenty of time to have your say before the deadline for responses at 4pm on Thursday 8 January.

You can find information about the proposals on the council’s website or visit an exhibition in Chelmsford or South Woodham Ferrers. All the details can be found below, but first, a quick explainer about the Local Plan and what this consultation is about.

Reviewing the Local Plan

The Local Plan is reviewed every five years to make sure future growth across the district continues to evolve in a sustainable way, and that development is properly planned.

During the latest review process, it became clear that the council would need to bring forward more land for development to meet the Government’s increased housing needs target and ensure a supply of new homes for the first five years of the plan.

The council therefore identified several new and expanded housing sites that can help deliver a variety of homes within the first five years from the Local Plan’s adoption, including the requirement of 35% affordable homes. These will help the council meet the housing needs target set for it by the Government and provide much needed affordable housing.

The consultation is an opportunity for you to review these proposals and share your comments ahead of the draft Plan being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

View the documents online

The full consultation documents can be found on the Chelmsford City Council website.

You might also like to sign-up to the planning policy consultation portal. Creating an account on the portal allows you to:

• read and save consultation documents
• make your comments online
• sign up for alerts

If you have any questions you can’t find the answer to and would like to speak to someone about the documents, you can call our team on 01245 606330 during office hours.

Visit an exhibition

To find out more in person you can visit one of our public exhibitions, which summarise the proposals. They will be available to visit at the following locations:

High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Exchange Way, Chelmsford CM1 1XB from Monday 1 December to Monday 8 December. Unstaffed exhibition displayed all day during opening hours.

South Woodham Ferrers Town Council, Champions Manor Hall, Hullbridge Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CM3 5LJ from Thursday 4 December to Tuesday 9 December. Unstaffed exhibition displayed 9am to 4pm on weekdays, 9am to 3.30pm on Saturday, closed on Sunday.

You can also speak to a planning officer about the proposals before you respond at one of our Civic Centre drop-in sessions. A number of drop-in sessions will be taking place at Chelmsford’s Civic Centre between Thursday 11 December and Saturday 13 December at the following times:

• Thursday 11 December from 6pm to 8pm
• Friday 12 December from 1pm to 3pm
• Saturday 13 December from 10am to 12 noon

If you’re unable to travel to one of these locations, you can view the same exhibition summary online.

Commenting on the focused consultation

If you’d like to have your say on the proposals, you can do so in a number of ways:

• Via our Planning Policy Consultation Portal
• By email to planning.policy@chelmsford.gov.uk
• By post to Spatial Planning Services, Chelmsford City Council, Civic Centre, Duke Street, Chelmsford, CM1 1JE.

If you took part in the previous Local Plan consultation, which happened in February and March this year, you do not need to resubmit comments. Responses made during this consultation have already been recorded in a feedback report and will be submitted in full to the Planning Inspector alongside the responses gathered from this focused consultation.

Find out more at chelmsford.gov.uk/lp-review
Contact us by phone on 01245 606330