Essex council area

Selling Land in Maldon District

Maldon District has built well ahead of what it was asked to, but the government's formula has nearly doubled the homes it must plan for, and the council's own figures show only 4.1 years of housing land. Its plan dates from 2017, and the replacement is not due until 2029.

Free review of your land in Maldon District or call 07958 351879

We pay for the planning, at our own cost and risk
Your price is agreed up front, in writing
If planning is refused, you keep your land and owe nothing

Estuaries, Marsh and Two Towns

Maldon District is a place of estuaries, marsh and farmland. The inspector who examined its plan found the vast majority of new housing allocated to Maldon and Heybridge, with Burnham-on-Crouch the district's other town and villages from Tollesbury and Great Totham to Southminster and Bradwell-on-Sea beyond. The shoreline plan splits its coast into three stretches, the Blackwater estuary, the Dengie peninsula and the Crouch and Roach estuaries, and the council counts four internationally protected wildlife sites within its boundary.

Well ahead on delivery. The council's result in the Housing Delivery Test 2025 was 143%, far above any threshold in national policy.
An old plan. The Local Development Plan, adopted in July 2017, runs from 2014 to 2029 and was built around 310 homes a year.
A higher figure now. The government's standard method gives 584 homes a year; in the council's words, the requirement has nearly doubled.
Short of five years. A calculation put to councillors in February 2026 shows a supply of 4.1 years, measured from 1 April 2025.
A new plan under the new rules. The council's timetable, which took effect on 25 September 2026, aims for adoption in May 2029.

Maldon District in Figures

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

Housing Delivery Test 2025
143%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Homes built against homes needed
1,245
of 868 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
July 2017
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
New plan started: timetable published September 2026, scoping consultation from November 2026, adoption aimed for May 2029
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.

Why a High Delivery Score Still Leaves a Gap

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 soon with what is needed now. 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:

Base date 1 April 2025. Source: Maldon District Council, report to Council, 12 February 2026.
Step in the council's calculation	Figure
Annual need under the December 2024 standard method	584 homes
Five years of need, plus a 5% buffer of 146	3,066 homes
Deliverable sites identified	2,532 homes
Shortfall	534 homes
Supply	4.1 years

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.

Where the Current Supply Comes From

The 2017 plan provided for 4,650 homes over fifteen years. The inspector's report records two garden suburbs at its heart: 1,375 homes across three sites south of Maldon and 1,235 across three at North Heybridge, with a further 450 split between three allocations at Burnham-on-Crouch.

Those sites still carry the district. The council's appendix to the 2025 calculation breaks the 2,532 deliverable homes into four parts:

1,314 on sites allocated in the plan, led by the parcels around Broad Street Green Road and Maypole Road on the Heybridge and Great Totham side and south of Limebrook Way in Maldon.
886 on larger unallocated sites that already have permission, including the phases of Burnham Waters off Maldon Road, Burnham-on-Crouch.
194 on small sites of one to nine homes with permission.
138 as an allowance for small sites that have not yet come forward.

The appendix also shows expected output falling year by year, from 342 homes in 2025/26 to 160 in 2029/30. With a replacement plan years away, the district needs sites that can come forward sooner, and small sites already supply about one home in eight. The paddocks and small sites page describes the kind of land that fits.

Tides, Defences and the Dengie

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:

Stretch of coast	Long-term approach
Blackwater estuary, including Maldon, Heybridge and Maylandsea	Keep defending key settlements and visitor facilities, while realigning some defences under pressure
Dengie peninsula, including Bradwell-on-Sea and the Dengie Marshes	Hold the current line in every period the plan covers
Crouch and Roach, including Burnham-on-Crouch and North Fambridge	Hold the line at both, with managed realignment planned between Burnham and Bridgemarsh in the middle period

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.

The Estuary Birds and a £500 Charge

The council's June 2026 review of the strategy lists four protected sites within the district: the Essex Estuaries Special Area of Conservation, the Blackwater Estuary and the Dengie, both Special Protection Areas and Ramsar sites, and the Crouch and Roach Estuaries, with the same two designations. The whole district lies inside the zone of influence of the Essex coast mitigation strategy, known as RAMS, so every net new home pays towards managing visitor pressure on them.

That review, reported to the Strategy and Resources Committee on 11 June 2026, raised the tariff from £175.55 to £500 per new home from 1 August 2026, index linked and including a 5% administration fee. It is paid before permission is granted or secured by a legal agreement before building starts. The review gave several reasons, among them visitor surveys from 2011 to 2013 that had become dated, a big rise in predicted housing across Essex, and costs that had only been planned to the end of the plan period rather than for as long as the impact lasts. It is a small, predictable cost on a housing scheme. We build it into our figures from the outset, and the landowner never pays it.

What We Look for in the 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.

Maldon's Plan, Supply and Delivery to 2029

A Plan Under the New System

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:

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

The Next Supply Statement

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. A new statement from a 1 April 2026 base date would count another year of completions and permissions against the same standard method need, and the report does not give a date for it.

The Next Housing Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026, and each edition covers three years. 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.

Reorganisation

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.

What It Means for Timing

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.

Questions About Land in Maldon District

The district builds more than it needs. Why would the council approve more?

Because it is judged on a new figure. The standard method nearly doubles the old plan's target, and against that the council itself reports only 4.1 years of deliverable land. National policy treats that shortfall as evidence homes are needed.

My land is near Heybridge or Maldon but low lying. Is it worth asking?

Often, yes. The shoreline plan keeps defending the key settlements on the Blackwater, and many sites have enough higher ground for homes. We check the Environment Agency maps and the council's flood assessment before giving a view.

Should I wait for the new Local Plan?

Not necessarily. Adoption is targeted for May 2029, and a well placed site can be considered on its merits sooner. We can also put your land into the plan process as it opens.

I farm on the Dengie. Is there any prospect there?

Around Southminster, Burnham-on-Crouch and the larger villages, possibly. Out on the Dengie Marshes, which the council's flood assessment lists among the places exposed to tidal flooding, it is much harder, and we will be straight with you.

Who pays for the RAMS contribution and the surveys?

We do. The £500 per home, the ecology and flood work and the planning application itself are all paid by us, and you keep using your land in the meantime.

Tell Us About Your Land in Maldon District

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly. We reply within 2 working days, in confidence.

About your land

Which council area is the land in?

Own land in more than one area? Choose one here and tell us about the others below.

Postcode or nearest village *

Approximate size in acres

About 4.0 hectares. Not sure? Give your best guess.

Current use

Where is it?

Access

Land Registry title number (optional)

Your details

We need a phone number or an email address, whichever you prefer.

Your name *

Phone

Best time to call (optional)

Anything else we should know? (optional)

We use your details only to reply about your land. We do not contact the council or anyone else about it without your agreement. See our privacy notice.

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.