Essex council area

Selling Land in Chelmsford

Chelmsford has built more homes than the government asked of it, yet with its 2020 plan now more than five years old, its latest statement shows less than five years of housing land. Its replacement plan was submitted for examination in June 2026, and the hearings open on 10 November 2026.

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The City, South Woodham Ferrers and the Villages Between

Chelmsford City Council covers the city itself, the town of South Woodham Ferrers, and a wide rural area of villages such as Great Leighs, Broomfield, Boreham, Danbury, Bicknacre and East Hanningfield.

Building above target. The council delivered 2,650 homes against a requirement of 2,420 in the Housing Delivery Test 2025, a result of 110%.
Yet short of five years. Its May 2026 statement shows 4.74 years of deliverable housing land.
Green Belt in one part only. The Metropolitan Green Belt covers about 34% of the council area, in the south and west. A separate Green Wedge, kept open for flood management and recreation, covers about 3%.
A plan to 2041 under examination. The Chelmsford Local Plan Review plans for at least 22,990 homes between 2022 and 2041, and two inspectors will hold hearings from November 2026.
Growth led by garden communities. The largest proposals are the Chelmsford Garden Community north east of the city and a new garden community at Hammonds Farm to the east.

Two thirds of the council area lies outside the Green Belt, and the supply shortfall bears on all of it. With the plan now before inspectors as well, the months ahead matter more than usual.

Chelmsford in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
110%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Homes built against homes needed
2,650
of 2,420 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
May 2020
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Local Plan review under examination: hearings start 10 November 2026
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Ahead on Delivery, Short on Supply

The 110% result and the supply shortfall measure different things. The delivery test looks back at three years of completions, and the council's own housing report measured its building against the adopted plan's 805 homes a year. The five-year supply looks forward, and on 28 May 2025 the adopted plan became more than five years old. From that day national policy required the council to measure its supply against the government's standard method instead, a much higher figure.

Source: Chelmsford City Council five-year housing land supply position statement, May 2026.
May 2026 statement	Council's figure
Standard method need	1,448 homes a year
Five-year need with a 5% buffer	7,602 homes
Deliverable supply, 2026/27 to 2030/31	7,212 homes
Result	4.74 years

What the Shortfall Does for a Site

Under the August 2026 framework, a council's failure to show five years of deliverable land is evidence of unmet housing need, which is one of the routes in policy S5 for homes beyond a settlement's limits. The land must relate physically well to that settlement and be served by existing or planned infrastructure, and S5 does not apply in the Green Belt. Inside the city and the villages, policy S4 already leans towards approval whatever the supply position.

Why Three Housing Figures Appear in the Council's Papers

The examination papers mention 1,210, 1,433 and 1,448 homes a year. The first is the submitted plan's requirement. The second is the standard method figure the council gave the inspectors in September 2026, which it calls the April 2026 figure, and the third is the one in the May 2026 supply statement. The standard method is recalculated as new data appear, so small differences between documents are to be expected. Measured against either figure, the supply in the May statement stays below five years. What matters is that supply is measured against the higher government figure until a new plan is adopted, and that the plan proposes less.

The Plan the Inspectors Will Examine

The submitted plan groups its growth into three areas. Figures here come from the council's pre-submission topic paper of February 2025:

Growth area	What it proposes
Central and urban Chelmsford	About 4,450 homes, over 3,000 of them on brownfield land in the urban area, with extensions to the west and east of the city.
North Chelmsford	Over 7,200 homes, led by the Chelmsford Garden Community, with further allocations at Great Leighs, north of Broomfield and Ford End.
South and east Chelmsford	About 4,400 homes, including north of South Woodham Ferrers, the Hammonds Farm garden community, and smaller sites at Bicknacre, East Hanningfield and Danbury.

Extra Sites, Added Late

Between 20 November 2025 and 8 January 2026 the council consulted on 11 new housing sites and three enlarged allocations. It gave four reasons: the government cancelled the A12 widening scheme in July 2025, three strategic sites stalled or were significantly delayed, other developers slowed their building rates, and the adopted plan had passed five years old. The consultation drew 1,082 comments from 780 respondents.

What the Inspectors Have Asked

The inspectors, H Baugh Jones and R Morgan, wrote to the council on 20 August 2026. Their first question was why the plan provides 1,210 homes a year when the standard method gives 1,433. The council replied on 10 September that the plan qualifies to be examined under the 2023 framework through the transitional arrangements in the December 2024 version, which accept a figure of at least 80% of the new standard method; 1,210 is 84% of the April 2026 need. It said meeting the full figure would mean finding 4,237 more homes and major changes to the strategy.

Asked which strategic sites had been delayed, the council named 757 homes at the Meadows in central Chelmsford, which changed hands after an insolvency and whose application was withdrawn in December 2025, and two East Chelmsford sites of 109 and 65 homes either side of Maldon Road, which changed hands in a company takeover. It expects new applications on the East Chelmsford sites imminently.

Green Belt in the South and West, Open Country to the North and East

The submitted plan proposes no development in the Green Belt and none in the Green Wedge. Its settlement order places Chelmsford and South Woodham Ferrers first and splits each lower tier by the Green Belt line. Bicknacre, Boreham, Broomfield, Danbury and Great Leighs are key service settlements outside it, and Galleywood, Runwell, Stock and Writtle are key service settlements within it. Below them, East Hanningfield, Ford End, Great Waltham, Little Waltham, Rettendon Place and Woodham Ferrers sit outside, while Highwood, Margaretting, Ramsden Heath and Downham, Roxwell and West Hanningfield sit within.

Outside the Green Belt. A field that sits properly against one of the villages outside it, with a safe access, can be put forward under S5 while the shortfall lasts, alongside any case to the inspectors.
Inside the Green Belt. Land in the south and west has to show it is grey belt or previously developed. The supply shortfall matters here too, because national policy only allows homes on grey belt land where unmet need is evidenced. Our grey belt guide covers the purposes and the Golden Rules.
In the Green Wedge. Land the plan keeps open for flood management and recreation is the hardest to bring forward, and we will say so plainly.

Respondents to the last consultation questioned the plan's reliance on large sites and its shortage of small ones, so both bigger holdings and modest village sites have a part to play. Our farmland page explains how we approach a larger site.

What a Chelmsford Scheme Pays Towards

Two obligations are specific to Chelmsford now:

The Essex coast bird payment. The council adopted a revised coastal mitigation strategy on 14 July 2026, and from 1 August 2026 each net new home pays £476, up from £175.55, index linked each year. The council says almost all of its area falls within the zone this applies to.
Roads around Beaulieu. With the A12 widening cancelled, a Beaulieu Access Package, widening the Boreham Interchange at junction 19 and enlarging the Beaulieu access roundabout, is funded by Homes England, National Highways, Essex County Council and the developers, who put in £8m. The council expects the junction works by spring 2029 and the roundabout by autumn 2030.

Affordable housing, schools, health and road contributions come on top, as explained in our guide to section 106 and CIL. The price we agree with you already allows for all of it, so none of it is paid by you.

The Land We Look for Around Chelmsford

Fields of 2 acres or more against Great Leighs, Broomfield, Boreham, Danbury, Bicknacre or South Woodham Ferrers.
Land beside the smaller villages outside the Green Belt, at a scale that suits the village.
Yards, depots and previously developed land in the Green Belt to the south and west.
Holdings with a road frontage that does not depend on the busiest junctions.
Larger farms next to the city or to one of the planned garden communities.

Our land value page covers what land is worth before planning. We set the option price above that at the start and pay for all the planning.

From the November Hearings to Adoption

The Hearings

The council's notice of 24 September 2026 confirms hearings at the Civic Centre on Duke Street, opening on Tuesday 10 November, with sitting weeks starting on 17 November and 1 December, each running Tuesday to Thursday and live-streamed. Housing numbers and the delayed sites head the inspectors' questions. If they accept the council's figure, the examination moves on to the sites; if they press for more homes, the council has said that would mean thousands more and major changes, which would take time.

Adoption and the Supply

The council's March 2026 policy board report said adoption could come in early spring 2027. An adopted plan with fresh allocations would normally let the council measure its supply against the plan's own requirement again, and on today's documents that would be the 1,210 a year it proposes. So the shortfall that supports applications on unallocated land now may not outlast adoption, and land outside the plan would then usually wait for the next review.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. The council's November 2025 housing report recorded 813 completions in 2024/25, down from 1,015 the year before, and expected about 470 in 2025/26, revised to 518 in its August figures. We make no forecast of the next result. A fall below 95% would mean an action plan, and below 85% a 20% buffer on the supply, deepening the shortfall.

Reorganisation, on Hold

The government withdrew its Essex reorganisation decisions on 7 September 2026 pending a review, so Chelmsford City Council takes its own plan through examination.

What This Means for Timing

For well placed land outside the Green Belt, the shortfall carries most weight before adoption, and an application can run beside the examination. For land that needs the plan, the hearings are where the case is made. Our guide on how long planning takes sets out what follows either way.

Questions About Land in Chelmsford

Chelmsford builds more than its target. Why would unallocated land get permission?

Because supply is now measured against the government's standard method, and on that basis the council shows 4.74 years. National policy treats that shortfall as evidence of unmet need for land that sits well against a settlement outside the Green Belt.

My land is near one of the additional sites consulted on last winter. Does that help?

It can. The council added those sites partly because larger ones were delayed, and land that could join or extend them, sharing access or drainage, is worth looking at.

My land is in the Green Belt in the south or west. Is it worth asking?

Yes, though the tests are stricter. The plan releases no Green Belt land, so a site there needs to be grey belt or previously developed. The supply shortfall helps with the need part of the grey belt test, but the land still has to show it does little for the Green Belt purposes.

Does the cancelled A12 widening affect my land?

It depends where it is. The council has told the inspectors that the Beaulieu Access Package gives similar improvements around junction 19 to those the cancelled scheme would have brought. Land that relies on the busiest junctions may need more transport work, which we pay for as part of the planning.

What happens to my agreement if the plan is adopted before my application is decided?

The agreement carries on while the application, and any appeal, is decided. Adoption changes the policies the council weighs, and we adjust the approach to suit. If permission is refused in the end, you keep the land and owe nothing.

Tell Us About Your Land in Chelmsford

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.