Essex council area

Selling Land in Colchester

Colchester builds more than it is asked to, yet the figure it is asked to build has just jumped from 920 homes a year to 1,276. A submission draft plan to 2043 is out for comment until 13 October 2026, and in May an inspector found a substantial shortfall in the land supply.

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The City, the Island and the Villages Between

Colchester City Council plans for far more than the city. Its submission draft groups the rest of the area into tiers: Tiptree, West Mersea and Wivenhoe as the three large settlements; a long list of medium ones, from Rowhedge, West Bergholt and Great Horkesley to Dedham, Langham, Boxted, Copford, Eight Ash Green and Layer de la Haye; and small places such as Fingringhoe, Messing and Peldon. The area also takes in part of Dedham Vale National Landscape and, on the coast, Mersea Island.

Strong delivery. The council's result in the Housing Delivery Test 2025 was 109%, comfortably above every threshold in national policy.
A plan in two halves. Section 1, the strategic part shared with neighbouring north Essex councils, was adopted in February 2021. Section 2, which holds Colchester's own policies and sites, followed in July 2022.
A much higher target. The adopted figure is 920 homes a year. The government's standard method, which the new plan adopts, gives 1,276.
A new plan at its last public stage. The submission draft Local Plan to 2043 is open for comment until 4pm on 13 October 2026.

A council with a good record is being measured against a much taller bar, and the plan that answers it is not yet adopted.

Colchester in Figures

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

Housing Delivery Test 2025
109%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Homes built against homes needed
2,999
of 2,762 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
February 2021
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Submission draft Local Plan to 2043 open for comment until 13 October 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.

From 920 Homes a Year to 1,276

The council's Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2025 has a base date of 1 April 2025. It measured supply against the 920 homes a year in Section 1 policy SP4, added a 5% buffer, and found just enough:

Source: Colchester City Council, Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2025.
Item in the 2025 statement	Figure
Five-year period	1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030
Annual requirement used	920 homes (adopted Section 1 figure)
Requirement with 5% buffer	4,830 homes
Deliverable sites identified	4,877 homes
Supply claimed	5.05 years

That margin was thin even then. Section 1 turned five in February 2026, and past that age the yardstick for supply becomes local housing need under the standard method, not the adopted figure.

The Tiptree Appeal

A decision dated 8 May 2026, on an appeal by Bloor Homes for up to 165 homes north of Maldon Road, Tiptree, tested the new position. Against the standard method figure then in use, 1,293 homes a year plus a 5% buffer, the council put its supply at 3.37 years and the appellant at 2.70. The inspector removed 704 homes on disputed sites and found 2.85 years, a substantial shortfall.

The appeal was still dismissed, for harm to the spatial strategy, the coalescence of Tiptree with Tiptree Heath, and the particular weight the framework then in force gave to the Tiptree Neighbourhood Plan, made in March 2023.

The 5.05 years in the 2025 statement and the council's own 3.37 years at appeal do not conflict: the first is measured against 920 homes a year, the second against the standard method. The yardstick changed, not the sites, and the inspector's 2.85 years reflects a harder look at which sites will deliver. The draft plan's 1,276 differs slightly from the 1,293 used at appeal because the formula is recalculated as its inputs are updated. On either count, supply is below five years.

The appeal predates the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, whose policy S5 treats a supply shortfall as evidence of unmet need. That helps land physically well related to a settlement whose roads, schools and drainage can take the homes, but it does not cancel harm of the kind found at Tiptree.

The Submission Draft Plan to 2043

Policy ST5 of the draft commits the council to at least 21,692 new homes between 2026 and 2043, which is 1,276 a year for seventeen years. The supply it relies on, counted at 31 March 2026, breaks down as follows:

Sites with planning permission: 5,488 homes.
The garden community on the Tendring border: 1,875 homes counted towards Colchester's need.
Windfall, meaning sites not identified in advance: 2,985 homes.
New Local Plan allocations: 12,208 homes.

Together that makes 22,556, only 864 above the requirement. The draft describes this as a small surplus, held to keep the requirement consistent through the plan period. If the examining inspector deletes or trims an allocation, the council has little slack and may need land elsewhere.

Where the Draft Points Growth

Policy ST3 builds on what the draft calls Colchester's very good track record of regenerating previously developed land in its urban area. It names growth and opportunity areas at the Hythe, Magdalen Street, Marks Tey, the garden community and the University of Essex, with further policies for King Edward Quay, land east of Hawkins Road and the Northern Gateway. The large, medium and small settlements follow, and land outside settlement boundaries and growth areas is defined as countryside. The largest allocations include about 2,000 homes at North-East Colchester, 850 north of Park Lane, Langham, and 800 north of Coach Road, Great Horkesley.

If your land is not in the draft, the window to say why it should be closes at 4pm on 13 October 2026, after which comments go to the inspector with the plan. The guide to call for sites and local plans explains what a well evidenced representation contains.

Marks Tey and the Garden Community

Marks Tey After the New Town Idea

The council put Marks Tey forward to the government's New Towns Taskforce in December 2024, then withdrew in August 2025, saying the cancelled A12 widening left the area severely constrained and that there had never been certainty new town homes would count towards its housing targets. The submission draft's allocation tables give the Marks Tey Growth Area, policy OA5, 2,500 homes and 18 hectares of employment land. Planning Geek reports that OA5 merges two earlier allocations, about 1,500 homes south of the A12 and 1,000 north of the A120, and that at least 40 hectares of employment land is expected in the longer term.

Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community

The garden community on the boundary with Tendring is planned for about 7,500 homes, at least 30% of them affordable, and around 25 hectares of employment land. Its own plan was adopted by Tendring on 20 May 2025 and by Colchester on 9 June 2025. The new Colchester draft counts 1,875 of those homes towards the city's need to 2043.

Estuaries, the Vale and Mersea Island

The draft plan records that Mersea Island takes in Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, a National Nature Reserve and part of the Essex Estuaries Special Area of Conservation. Three policies in its landscape and coast chapter shape what can be built nearby:

Policy	What it asks of a site
LC2, Dedham Vale National Landscape	Development must conserve and enhance the Vale's natural beauty, major development is refused save in exceptional circumstances, and schemes in its setting must be sited and designed to minimise harm.
LC3, coastal areas	Development in the coastal protection belt must be safe from flooding and erosion over its lifetime, suit the coast's character and keep the England Coast Path open.
LC4, islands	Proposals on Mersea must show safe and suitable access can be achieved and kept, given the island's tidal access and the risk of isolation at high tide.

The RAMS Contribution Has Risen

The whole of the Colchester area lies within the zone of influence of the Essex coast's protected bird sites, so every net new home pays towards the Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy. After a 2025 review, prompted partly by a big change in planned housing growth across Essex, the council's contribution rose to £476 per home from 1 August 2026. We allow for it in our appraisal; the landowner does not pay it.

Land That Suits Colchester's Strategy

Because the plan puts the urban area first and relies on nearly 3,000 windfall homes, sites inside the city and its larger settlements are a genuine opportunity. Under policy S4 of the August 2026 framework, homes within a settlement should be approved unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits. Beyond that, we look for:

Yards, depots and underused plots within the Colchester urban area, where the plan looks first to previously developed land.
Land of 2 acres or more against the edge of Tiptree, Wivenhoe or West Mersea that keeps clear of neighbouring hamlets.
Fields beside the medium settlements, such as West Bergholt, Copford or Eight Ash Green, scaled to suit the village.
Larger holdings near Marks Tey or the northern and eastern edges of the city, where strategic growth is already planned.
Sites outside the Dedham Vale boundary and above the reach of tidal flooding.

Smaller parcels have their own page on paddocks and small sites. Land within the Vale itself, or on the low ground of Mersea, faces a much higher bar, and we will tell you so plainly.

Colchester's Road to 2027

The Plan Timetable

The council's Local Development Scheme, updated in June 2026, sets out what follows the consultation: submission to the Secretary of State in December 2026, examination in spring 2027, consultation on changes and the inspector's report in summer 2027, and adoption in autumn or winter 2027. A Community Infrastructure Levy is on the same timetable, with consultation in early 2027 and adoption planned for autumn 2027. Our guide to section 106 and CIL explains how the two differ.

The Land Supply Statement

The next five-year statement is the figure to watch, since it should show the council's published position against the standard method. Until the new plan is adopted, the shortfall is the main reason well placed land on a settlement edge may not need to wait for an allocation.

The Next Housing Delivery Test

Colchester's current result comes from the Housing Delivery Test 2025, released on 17 August 2026, and the government repeats the exercise annually. Only a sharp drop from 109% would matter: under 95% the council must publish an action plan, and under 85% its supply calculation carries a 20% buffer instead of 5%. Its completions swing widely, from 1,068 in 2023/24 to 659 in 2024/25, so we read each year as it comes.

Reorganisation

The June 2026 timetable flagged a possible new authority combining Colchester, Tendring and Braintree. On 7 September 2026 the government withdrew its Essex decision pending a review, and May 2027 elections will use existing boundaries, so the city council carries its plan forward.

What It Means for Timing

Land that suits the draft plan has until 13 October to be heard, then the examination in 2027. Land that relies on the supply shortfall is best prepared now, while the plan is unadopted. We cover the cost of both routes, and our how it works page sets out each stage.

Questions From Colchester Landowners

Colchester builds more than its target. Is there any point putting land forward?

Yes. The target itself has risen sharply, and the draft plan still needs over 12,000 homes on new allocations. A strong delivery record and a shortage of future supply can exist side by side, and that is Colchester's position now.

My field is near Tiptree. Does the dismissed appeal mean nothing will get through?

No. That appeal failed on its particular location, the gap to Tiptree Heath and the neighbourhood plan, while the inspector accepted there was a substantial supply shortfall. A different site, better related to the village and consistent with local policy, is judged on its own merits.

Do I need to comment on the draft plan myself?

Anyone may, but when we work with a landowner we prepare the representation and its evidence, and follow it through the examination, at our cost.

My land is close to Dedham. Is that ruled out?

Not automatically. Inside the National Landscape the bar is very high, and land in its setting is judged on siting and design. The draft plan lists Dedham and Dedham Heath as a medium settlement, so modest growth is contemplated.

Will the garden community take all the demand east of the city?

No. The draft counts only 1,875 of its homes towards Colchester's need to 2043, so most of the city's need still has to be met across the urban area and its villages.

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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.