Local Plan Review
We are reviewing our adopted Local Plan. We are running a focused consultation on proposals to add more sites to our draft Local Plan.
We are inviting comments on these proposed additional sites which we have set out in our Focused Consultation Additional Sites (Regulation 19) Document.
The consultation period closes at 4pm on Thursday 8 January 2026.
If you made comments to the third stage of consultation, called the Pre-Submission Local Plan, in February/ March 2025 you do not need to submit them again.
About the consultation
We consulted on a full Pre-Submission Local Plan in February/March 2025, to meet our needs for development growth until 2041. Since then, it has emerged that we need to add more land for homes and employment use into the plan to meet future needs. This is because some sites in the adopted Local Plan have not come forward and some sites will not be built as quickly as expected.
Added to this, the government has greatly increased its calculation of housing need in Chelmsford.
These two factors combined mean that we do not have enough allocated housing sites to meet these needs, especially for the first five years of the plan.
We are consulting on 11 additional housing sites and expanded allocations for three housing sites and one employment site. We also propose some focused changes to the relevant policies.
These additional sites would be located in settlements that:
- are accessible to the local highway network
- are near to services and facilities such as schools and local shops
- accord with the Plan’s Spatial Strategy
We have updated our Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) to consider the new sites and related policy changes. We are also inviting comments on the IIA as part of the consultation.
Consultation documents
You can read the consultation documents. These documents are large in size. You may find it easier to download and view these documents on a desktop computer, rather than on a smartphone or tablet.
If you made comments to the third stage of consultation in February/ March 2025, you do not need to submit them again.
Before commenting
Before making your comments, we recommend you read the guidance contained in the following document:
This explains what "legal compliance" and "consistency with national policy" means in the context of this consultation.
You will need to include your name and address with your comments, whichever way you choose to respond. We are unable to take anonymous comments into account.
Commenting online
We have a specially designed consultation portal for Local Plan and other planning policy consultations.
If you register, you can:
- read and save consultation documents
- make your comments online
- receive alerts on future consultations
You can find out more about how to use the consultation portal.
You can also view our specific guidance on how to use the Portal to comment on this consultation.
Other ways to comment
We prefer receiving comments through the consultation portal. This ensures that your comments are recorded accurately and are processed quickly.
However, you can comment in writing, but you need to use our specially designed representation form.
Once you have completed the representation form, you can submit it:
- by email to planning.policy@chelmsford.gov.uk
- by post to Planning Policy, Chelmsford City Council, Civic Centre, Duke Street, Chelmsford, CM1 1JE
- via hand-written comments at our Customer Service Centre
We will then record your comments on the Consultation Portal, to make sure they are dealt with alongside the online comments.
You can download the representation form, or request a paper copy:
- in person from our Customer Service Centre
- by phone on 01245 606330
- by emailing planning.policy@chelmsford.gov.uk
If you have difficulties taking part in the consultation by email or post due to a disability, you can call us on 01245 606330.
We can make documents available in alternative format including large print, audio and other languages on request.
You can:
- view our What is a Local Plan? video
- download a copy of the frequently asked questions
- read our Newsletter for Focused Consultation (Additional and Expanded Sites)
- read our Newsletter for Integrated Impact Assessment Addendum
Exhibitions
You can view the exhibition panels online.
We will also be holding exhibitions so you can view the plans in person.
You can attend staffed drop-in exhibitions at the Civic Centre on:
- Thursday 11 December (6pm to 8pm)
- Friday 12 December (1pm to 3pm)
- Saturday 13 December (10am to 12pm)
You can also view the plans at our unstaffed exhibitions at:
- High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Exchange Way, Chelmsford, CM1 1XB (Monday 1 to Monday 8 December during opening hours)
- South Woodham Ferrers Town Council, Champions Manor Hall, Hullbridge Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CM3 5LJ (Thursday 4 to Thursday 9 December, 9am to 4pm weekdays and 9am to 3.30pm on Saturday)
We will acknowledge receipt of all ‘duly made’ representations to the consultation documents, but we will not enter into individual correspondence. We will record and publish all comments on the Consultation Portal.
We will send all comments to the Planning Inspector. This includes all the comments from this focused consultation, as well as the comments from the last consultation in February/March 2025. We will also send the Inspector a summary of the main issues raised and publish it online.
We have published feedback reports from the earlier consultation stages:
- Issues and Options ‘You Said We Did’ Feedback Report (May 2024)
- Preferred Options ‘You Said We Did’ Feedback Report (February 2025)
- Pre-Submission Regulation 19 Document Feedback Report (July 2025)
- Pre-Submission Regulation 19 Integrated Impact Assessment Feedback Report (July 2025)
Topic papers
We have produced several Topic Papers to set out how the review of the Local Plan has been developed. We will update these ahead of submitting the Local Plan, to ensure the latest information/position is available for the examination.
Topic Papers provide background information, but they do not contain any policies, proposals or site allocations. They will form part of the Local Plan evidence base which we will submit alongside the Local Plan for independent examination.
You can still read the Pre-Submission stage consultation documents we published in Spring 2025, but you can no longer make comments on them.
These documents are large in size. You may find it easier to download and view these documents on a desktop computer, rather than on a smartphone or tablet.
We have developed a range of new and updated evidence to support the Local Plan review. We will publish the evidence base here as we develop it. You can search by name and/or category.
If you search by name or reference number, you can do this with or without choosing the category.
Alternatively, you can list all the documents in a category by choosing the category from the drop-down list and clicking on search.
We used several evidence base documents to support the adopted Local Plan, many of which are still relevant. Although they do not form part of this consultation, you can still view the evidence base for the Adopted Local Plan.
Preferred Options Main Documents
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Statements of Common Ground
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Prioritising sustainable and active travel
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Other useful information
We adopted our current Local Plan in May 2020. It guides growth and development across Chelmsford City Council's area to 2036. We need to review the plan at least every five years, to see if we need to update it. The review means that the Local Plan will now run until 2041.
First stage: Issues and Options (completed)
This was the first stage of consultation, which took place in 2022. Many people and organisations commented, and we have carefully considered all the responses, alongside updated evidence, national planning policy, new local priorities, and monitoring data.
You can read an Issues and Options feedback report which sets out the consultation feedback we received on the Issues and Options consultation and how we have taken the comments into account when preparing the Preferred Options Local Plan.
Second stage: Preferred Options (completed)
This consultation was the second formal stage in the preparation of the review plan, and involved residents, businesses, developers, and other interested parties.
We have published a Preferred Options feedback report setting out a review of the consultation activity, a summary of the representations we received, and how these comments have been used to develop the Pre-Submission Local Plan document.
Third stage: Pre-Submission (completed)
This consultation was the third formal stage in the preparation of the review plan. This consultation focused on legal compliance and consistency with national planning policy.
The consultation ran for a period of six weeks from 10am on Tuesday 4 February 2025 to 4pm on Tuesday 18 March 2025.
We have published a Pre-Submission feedback report setting out a review of the consultation activity, and a summary of the representations we received.
Fourth stage: Focused Consultation Additional Sites (in progress)
This consultation focuses on additional and expanded housing and employment sites.
The consultation runs for seven weeks, from 10am on Thursday 20 November 2025 to 4pm on Thursday 8 January 2026.
Final stage: Submission (still to come)
This is the formal Submission of the Local Plan. We will submit all plan documents, evidence, and comments to the Planning Inspector for an Independent Examination.
We will continue to assess the Local Plan as we review it, to make sure it contributes towards sustainability. We will assess the following aspects of sustainable development:
- Sustainability Appraisal
- Strategic Environmental Assessment
- Habitats Regulations Assessment
- Health Impact Assessment
- Equality Impact Assessment
The IIA assesses the issues and options against a range of social, environmental and economic indicators and helps to identify all the likely significant effects. The IIA advises on ways in which any adverse effects could be avoided, reduced or mitigated or how any positive effects could be maximised. This helps to ensure that the emerging policies, plans and allocations in the Local Plan are promoting sustainable development.
We use the Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) to assess sites nominated by landowners, promoters and developers. This helps us when researching and developing future Local Plans.
The SHELAA 2025/2026 is our latest published assessment. This assesses the sites put forward to us for consideration as part of the Local Plan Review. You can view the outcomes of that assessment.
The SHELAA is open all year round, meaning you can submit a new site or amend an existing site on a rolling basis. We aim to assess submissions yearly. We anticipate that the next cut-off point for submissions will be the close of the consultation on the Chelmsford Local Plan Focused Consultation Additional Sites (Regulation 19) Documents on 8 January 2026.
You can submit a site for future assessment, or amend an already submitted site, through the current SHELAA facility.
You can find out more about how to submit or amend a site, and see the latest assessment outcomes.
We have a specially designed consultation portal for Local Plan and other planning policy consultations.
If you register, you can:
- read and save consultation documents
- make your comments online
- receive alerts on future consultations
You can find out more about how to use the consultation portal.
We use the Local Development Scheme (LDS) to manage the plan-making process. It sets out our timetable for preparing the documents and for consulting on the Local Plan review.
We first adopted an LDS in 2006 and we have reviewed it regularly as we have made progress on producing our Local Plan.
This LDS is the tenth review. You can download the Chelmsford Local Development Scheme 2025-2028.
You can also download the ninth review of the LDS, which we published in November 2023. You can view the changes we have made since November 2023 in Appendix 1 of the 2025-2028 LDS document.
We are committed to working with other councils and key organisations on planning issues that cross council boundaries.
The organisations we regularly work with include Essex County Council, National Highways, environmental organisations and education providers.
We have to ensure that we properly co-ordinate strategic issues such as:
- land for new homes and jobs
- infrastructure
- providing schools
- mitigating climate change
We have adopted a Duty to Co-operate Strategy, which sets out who we will co-operate with and when, plus how we will do it.
You can download the Duty to Co-operate Strategy.