Have your say on Chelmsford’s development to 2041

A third and final consultation to update Chelmsford’s Local Plan begins today. The plan guides development in the district through to 2041. Over the next six weeks, residents and other interested parties can provide their feedback up until 4pm on 18 March. Following this third public consultation, Chelmsford’s Pre-Submission Local Plan and all representations made will be submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.

Planning law requires councils to review their Local Plan at least every five years to see if it needs updating. This is important because areas without a Local Plan can face speculative development, which can mean more homes than planned, in unsustainable locations.

Draft Plan and consultation responses sent to Planning Inspectorate

Chelmsford’s review process first started in winter 2021, with public consultations in 2022 and 2024. This final stage is about asking residents and stakeholders whether they consider the Local Plan is ‘sound’, and if not, what changes should be made. It presents the final draft plan the city council intends to submit for independent examination, based on the consultations that have come before it, and the refinements to the plan’s supporting evidence base.

Over the next six weeks, comments can be made through the council’s planning policy consultation portal to provide information specified by the Planning Inspectorate to determine the ‘soundness’ of the plan, as set out in national planning policy.

This consultation is not a referendum and there is no set number of representations that need to be made for further revisions to be considered. Representations received at this consultation stage are sent to the Planning Inspector, who will consider the merits of all unresolved objections. An independent examination in public will then take place, and the inspector will make recommendations to the council on whether the plan can be adopted.

Local Plans guide different aspects of an area's future growth

New housing targets and changes to the National Planning Policy Framework

Since the second Local Plan consultation was held in summer 2024, the Government has published a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This involves changing the numbers of houses each area is expected to build, including in Chelmsford. It also makes the new standard method for calculating housing numbers mandatory.

Chelmsford’s official new target for future housebuilding is higher than figures proposed in the Local Plan, but the city council is allowed to proceed under transitional arrangements for councils in the final stages of their reviews. This means the council is allowed to allocate sites for new homes for at least 80% of the new annual housing number rather than the full amount. Chelmsford City Council is proceeding under these transitional arrangements.

Housebuilding targets have been recently changed by the Government

Vision for Local Plan review

The vision for this review of the Local Plan is: “guiding Chelmsford’s growth to be a greener, fairer, more connected community”. Key aims are to act on the climate and ecological emergency, tackle the housing affordability crisis, and strengthen communities and the economy. 

For a greener community: 

• pushing for zero carbon developments
• boosting opportunities for active and sustainable travel
• requiring new tree planting, expanding natural habitats and biodiversity
• improving water efficiency

For a fairer community:

• maximising the delivery of affordable housing
• creating places which are easily accessible
• securing developer contributions to infrastructure
• providing many more jobs for residents

For a more connected community: 

• enhancing health and wellbeing and tackling health inequalities
• promoting active lifestyles
• providing new spaces for play, recreation and sports
• creating a network of great places and spaces which promote social cohesion

“

“This is the final opportunity in the Local Plan review process for residents to help shape Chelmsford. Updating our Local Plan is vital for helping to tackle the housing and climate crises to create a more connected community in Chelmsford and to support the creation of new jobs. If we don’t have an up-to-date plan, our growth could be determined by developers rather than Chelmsford City Council and the community.

“The comments we’ve received through the two previous consultations have helped us to refine the plan and get us to this final stage of the review. Chelmsford, alongside much of the UK, needs to build genuinely affordable homes, and with decent infrastructure, we can build communities, not just more houses. The Local Plan affects everyone in Chelmsford, so please look at the documents and have your say on Chelmsford’s future growth."

Cllr Stephen Robinson, Leader, Chelmsford City Council

The Local Plan considers the whole district

How to get involved

Our website

All the consultation documents can be found on our website at http://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/lp-review and our planning policy consultation portal is available to make any comments.

Creating an account allows you to: 

• read and save consultation documents
• make your comments online
• sign up for alerts to future consultations on the Local Plan

If you made comments on any of the previous consultation stages, you will be notified when the consultation launches.

Comments on social media cannot be considered as part of the consultation, so make sure to give feedback using the official channels.

Commenting on the Local Plan

The Local Plan sets out the overall number and locations for homes, jobs and businesses, along with the infrastructure needed to support growth in Chelmsford, but it isn’t a planning application. Comments made on the Local Plan should be made through our planning policy consultation portal.

The Local Plan allocates new sites and sets the principle for development. However, we do not control the timing of planning applications on these sites as developers sometimes submit planning applications before the principle for development has been established. There are some planning applications currently out to consultation which have been submitted by developers for sites connected to the Local Plan. If you would like to comment on individual applications (such as commercial development on land north of Sandon Lodge, ref 24/01768/OUT), please do so in the usual way on our public access planning portal.

Paper copies

All Local Plan documents are also available to read during normal opening hours at the council's Customer Service Centre at the Civic Centre in Chelmsford (Duke Street, CM1 1JE).

By phone or email

If you have any questions you can’t find the answer to and would like to speak to someone about the documents, you can also contact us by telephone on 01245 606330 or by email at planning.policy@chelmsford.gov.uk.

In-person exhibitions

To help people respond by 18 March, in-person exhibitions which summarise the Pre-Submission document and how to take part in the consultation will be available at Chelmsford’s Civic Centre on the following dates:

• Thursday 27th February 2025, 6pm - 8pm
• Friday 28th February 2025, 2pm - 4pm
• Saturday 1st March 2025, 10am - 12pm

Exhibitions at High Chelmer and South Woodham Ferrers

Un-staffed exhibitions will also be available to visit at High Chelmer shopping centre in Chelmsford city centre and at South Woodham Ferrers Town Council offices (Champions Manor Hall, Hullbridge Road, CM3 5LJ).) at the following times:

• High Chelmer shopping centre: all-day during shopping centre opening hours from Monday 24 February to Sunday 2 March
• South Woodham Ferrers Town Council offices: 9am - 4pm (except weekends) from Thursday 13 February to Tuesday 25 February.

If you are unable to travel to one of these locations, you can view the same exhibition summary online at www.chelmsford.gov.uk/lp-exhibitions.