Selling Land in Maldon District

• Fields of 2 acres or more against the edge of Maldon, Heybridge or Burnham-on-Crouch, with a road frontage or a route to one.
• Land beside Southminster, Tollesbury, Mayland, Great Totham or Wickham Bishops that backs onto existing homes.
• Sites wholly or mostly in Flood Zone 1, above the tidal flood extents.
• Farmyards, former commercial units and other previously developed land next to a settlement.
• Larger holdings that could help the new plan meet a target close to double the old one.

Most of the district is farmed, and our page on farmland explains how we assess a working holding. Land out on the open marshes or seaward of the defences is rarely suitable, and we will say so plainly in our review.

• An outright sale. You sell the land as it stands today, privately or at auction. The price is what a buyer will pay for it without planning permission, and the buyer takes on everything that follows.
• A conditional contract. You agree a sale now, but it only completes if planning permission is granted. Until then you keep the land, and the agreement sets out who applies for permission and who pays.
• An option agreement, the route we use. We agree your price at the start, in writing, set above what your land is worth today. We then pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. If permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

For land that needs planning permission before it is worth more, an option means you know your price before any work starts and never spend a penny on planning. The ways to sell land for development, compared sets out each route in full.

Maldon's position looks contradictory until you separate the two tests. The Housing Delivery Test looks back, comparing homes built over three years with what was required. The five-year supply looks forward, comparing sites that can be built in the next five years with what is needed over those five years. The district has done well on the first, but its plan is 9 years old, and once strategic policies pass five years, supply is measured against the standard method rather than the plan figure. The council's February 2026 calculation shows the effect:

The formula explains why the jump is so large. The council's appendix starts from 0.8% of the district's 30,332 homes, a baseline of 243 a year, then multiplies it by 2.402 because local house prices are high relative to earnings. Housing affordability, not population growth, is what drives Maldon's new figure.

Written before the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, the council's report described the consequence in the terms of the previous framework: without five years of deliverable sites, the relevant plan policies are deemed out of date and the balance tilts towards permission. Under the current framework the same shortfall works through policy S5, which treats it as evidence of unmet need. Land outside a settlement boundary can then be approved where it is physically well related to a town or village, the homes can be absorbed by existing or planned roads, schools and drainage, and they help meet the need, unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.

Where the Argument Carries Most Weight

• The edges of Maldon, Heybridge and Burnham-on-Crouch, the district's main centres, where services and shops are close.
• The larger villages, such as Southminster, Tollesbury, Mayland, Great Totham and Wickham Bishops, with schemes scaled to suit them.
• Land inside the settlement boundaries, where policy S4 already leans towards approval whatever the supply figure.

Our guide to the August 2026 NPPF sets out the tests behind S4 and S5 in more detail.

Flooding from the sea is the constraint that settles many Maldon sites. The council's Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, published in December 2024, names Burnham-on-Crouch, the Dengie Marshes, Heybridge, Maldon, Mundon and North Fambridge among the places exposed to tidal flooding, and models breaches in the defences at nine locations. The Essex and South Suffolk Shoreline Management Plan sets the long-term approach for each stretch:

Where the policy is to hold the line, land behind the defences can still be developed if the homes are safe for their lifetime, which usually means raised floor levels and a dry route out. Where a frontage is marked for realignment, the bar is much higher. On a mixed site, homes normally go on the higher ground and the lower land becomes open space or drainage. Our flood risk guide explains the sequential test that decides this.

For an owner selling land near Burnham-on-Crouch, Heybridge or North Fambridge, the stretch of coast your land faces, and the long-term approach set for it, is one of the first things our review looks at.

A review of the 2017 plan began in 2021. Consultants Arup then reviewed that work and advised on updating the existing evidence and consultation findings. On 10 September 2026 the council agreed to prepare a new Local Plan under the government's 30-month plan-making system, which it says makes it the first in Essex to do so. Its leader, Councillor Simon Morgan, said a new plan is essential to make sure future development is plan-led and supported by the right infrastructure. The timetable that took effect on 25 September 2026 sets out these steps:

1. Scoping consultation, 25 November to 22 December 2026, on what the plan should cover.
2. Gateway 1, the council's self-assessment of readiness, published 12 March 2027.
3. Consultation on proposed plan contents and evidence, 27 August to 7 October 2027.
4. Consultation on the new proposed plan, 26 May to 19 July 2028.
5. Submission for examination, 24 October 2028, with adoption targeted for 2 May 2029.

A Delayed April 2026 Supply Calculation, and an Unchanged Planning Authority

The February report also asked councillors to delegate a review of how the supply is calculated, in line with the latest guidance and legal advice. The report expected the next calculation, from a 1 April 2026 base date, in the summer of 2026, once the year's monitoring data had been collected. By late September it had not appeared on the council's monitoring page, where the newest statement listed still dates from April 2024. When it arrives it will count another year of completions and permissions against the same standard method need, and any change to the method agreed under that delegation will show in it.

The delivery test is a three-year measure, and its latest edition, the Housing Delivery Test 2025, was published on 17 August 2026. From 143%, Maldon would have to fall a very long way before the delivery result changed anything, so for this district the supply figure matters far more.

The government withdrew its decision on new unitary councils for Essex on 7 September 2026 and started a review. The May 2027 elections go ahead on current boundaries, and Maldon District Council remains the planning authority preparing the plan.

Edge Land Now, Larger Allocations for the 2027 Consultation

With adoption more than two and a half years away, the supply shortfall is the live route for land on a settlement edge now. Land that needs a larger allocation is best lined up for the 2027 consultation on plan content, when the council will be looking hardest at evidence. We can review your land against both now, and the way we work is set out step by step, from first look to completion.