Selling Land in Tendring

Tendring's adopted plan, the Tendring District Local Plan 2013 to 2033 and Beyond, is split in two. Section 1 holds the strategic policies agreed with Braintree and Colchester, including Tendring's 550 homes a year. Section 2 holds the district's own allocations and development management policies.

Two Dates for the Same Plan

The figures panel above uses the Planning Inspectorate's plan monitoring data, which gives Section 1 a single adoption date of February 2021 for all three north Essex councils. Tendring's Local Development Scheme and its land assessment date it to 26 January 2021, when this council adopted it. That shared date is the day Braintree adopted the same plan, according to Braintree's own Local Plan page, so the data appears to record one council's date for the joint plan. The gap is less than a month. It changes nothing that matters: on either date Section 1 passed five years old in early 2026, and the council's own announcement said the higher requirement applied from January 2026, which fits its own date. Section 2 is younger, but the housing requirement lives in Section 1.

1,063 or 1,069 Homes a Year

When the preferred options consultation opened in February 2026, the council said its requirement had almost doubled from 550 to 1,063 homes a year from January 2026. The submission plan and its land assessment use 1,069. The standard method is recalculated as figures for housing stock and affordability are updated, and the assessment works from a stock of 76,074 homes. Councillor Andy Baker, the cabinet member for housing and planning, put it simply: the district must now plan for almost twice as many homes as before.

The submission plan records 37 miles, or 60 kilometres, of coastline, with several areas at high risk of tidal flooding and coastal erosion. The Essex and South Suffolk Shoreline Management Plan sets out how flooding and erosion will be managed over the next 100 years. In 2014 the Clacton to Holland-on-Sea coastal protection scheme was put in place to protect more than 3,000 homes. On sites near the coast, the question is usually which part of the land sits above the flood extent, and our flood risk guide explains the sequential test.

The RAMS Charge Has Risen

New homes within the zone of influence pay towards the Essex Coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy, which manages visitor pressure on these sites. The council's committee report of 8 June 2026 recommended a new tariff of £476 per home from 1 August 2026, replacing £175.55. It gives three reasons: around 148,000 homes now expected within the zone of influence against about 73,000 when the strategy began, a stronger package of measures, and mitigation paid for as long as the homes exist rather than only to 2038. It is part of the cost of a scheme, and we meet it, not you.

The Plan Timetable

The council's Local Development Scheme, updated in December 2025, puts submission for examination in late 2026, hearings in summer 2027 and adoption in winter 2027. It also sets out a possible Community Infrastructure Levy, with adoption pencilled in for spring 2027 if the viability work supports one. Our guide to section 106 and CIL explains how the two work together.

What Adoption Would Change

Once the plan is adopted, its allocations would count towards supply as well. The council's plan-making figure of 5.04 years, measured against 1,069 a year, is its own case that the plan can deliver five years. We do not predict the outcome of the examination, but the shortfall route is strongest in the period before adoption.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. At 152%, the council sits far above the 95% line where the test's consequences begin, so supply is the figure to follow.

Reorganisation

In March 2026 the government decided Tendring would become part of a North East Essex Council, with elections in May 2027 and the new councils taking over in April 2028. On 7 September 2026 it withdrew its Essex decision and began a review, and the May 2027 elections will use existing boundaries. Tendring District Council remains the body taking its plan to examination.

What This Means for Timing

• Land on a settlement edge can be assessed now under S5, while the council shows 3.52 years and the plan is unadopted.
• Land that belongs in the plan needs its case made by 19 October, then argued at the hearings in 2027.
• Every route takes time. Our guide to how long planning takes sets out the stages.