Developers have received permission to build more than 5,000 new homes in Essex by local councils during the first eight months of 2022.
At least 5,328 houses and apartments, as well as other types of accommodation such as student flats or accommodation for older people, have been approved by the county’s twelve district and borough councils.
This is in addition to infrastructure and industry planned for Essex, such as solar farms, shops and warehouses.
Development and planning committees have a quasi-judicial role, hearing planning applications and voting on whether to approve them based on local and national policies.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has looked at council minutes and agendas between January and August 2022, and listed all of the major developments of 10 homes or more approved during the period.
The areas where the bulk of homes were approved in Tendring, totalling 1,383, followed by Uttlesford at 1,200.
Basildon – 616
In January, Basildon Borough Council approved 82 new homes, including ten self-contained flats and six self-contained solohaus pods for homeless people. A 66-bed carehome will also be built to replace Ghyll Grove Nursing Home.
The council lost an appeal for 495 flats in Town Square, with the planning inspector siding with developers Basildon Estates Ltd in April.
Six houses in Pound Lane will be torn down and replaced with a two-storey block containing eight one-bedroom flats, as well as an additional five two houses, after permission was granted in June.
In Laindon High Road, a five-storey building containing 26 sheltered flats was green-lit in July, and will replace an existing garage which has been located elsewhere in the borough.
Braintree – 474
Detailed planning permission was granted by Braintree District Council for 80 houses south of Halstead Road, Earls Colne, in January this year. Outline permission had already been granted.
Later, in March, the council approved another detailed application, this time for 50 homes in Bardfield Road, Finchingfield.
April saw several more approvals by the planning committee, including 35 houses and apartments in Coggeshall Road, Kelvedon, 16 flats and houses in Kings Road, Halstead, 45 bungalows and a 25-bed care home in Braintree Road, Greenstead Green, and 80 houses including affordable homes in Oak Road Halstead.
168 homes, forming the first phase of a larger development, in Panfield Road was also given planning permission that month.
Brentwood – 117
Buildings in Western Road, Brentwood, will be knocked down and replaced with 60 homes after developers acquired planning permission from the council in March.
Brentwood Borough Council also approved 57 homes, 20 of which will be classed as affordable housing, in Roman Road, Ingatestone, in June.
Castle Point – 30
30 residential apartments were green-lit for Kenneth Road, Benfleet, by Castle Point Borough Council in February 2022. An existing building at the site will have to be demolished to make way for the scheme.
Chelmsford – 512
In August, Chelmsford City Council granted outline planning permission for 512 new homes, including affordable and custom housing. The principle of development in land north of Woodhouse Lane, Broomfield has now been established, with more details to follow in a separate application.
Colchester – 475
Offices in Hythe Quay, Colchester, will be converted to 11 student flats after the owners were granted change of use consent in February.
A month later, Colchester Borough Council approved 66 houses in London Road, Stanway, and 30 in Newbarn Road.
70 homes were approved in Greate House Farm Road in April. Outline permission for 30 homes in School Road, Langham, was granted in July.
After a deferral earlier in the year, a student accommodation scheme in The Hythe returned to the planning committee in July, albeit at a reduced height of eighth stories. The apartment blocks will contain a total of 268 studios, with shared kitchens on each floor.
Epping Forest – 105
26 flats were approved by Epping Forest District Council in March, following demolition of the former Shernbroke Hostel.
In the next month, a planning application for four flats and ten houses was also approved by the council, to replace Chimes Garden Centre in Old Nazeing Road.
Land in Oak Hill Road, Stapleford Abbotts, will see 42 homes built after developers were granted permission from the council in July.
In August, 23 houses were approved in Gypsey Mead Works, a former industrial site which was destroyed in a fire 19 years ago.
Harlow – 32
The former site of Lister House, a medical centre in Harlow, will become 12 new apartments and commercial space after an August decision by the council.
Harlow Council also approved 20 homes, including four converted flats, in Netteswell Hall, Park Lane.
Maldon – 185
Phase one of a massive 1,130-home development was green-lit by Maldon District Council in March. This phase will see the first 160 houses in the scheme built in Maypole Road And Langford Road, Heybridge.
A specialist neighbourhood for older people consisting of 25 new homes and community hub building was granted planning permission by the council in August.
Rochford – 199
Rochford District Council approved an apartment block containing 12 flats, as well as 302 square metres of office, in Hockley Road, Rayleigh. After the decision was made in March, existing buildings will be demolished to make way for the scheme. Council offices in South Street will also be converted into 20 apartments.
Detailed approval across two applications for a residential development in Rawreth Industrial Estate, Rayleigh, were granted in April and May. 167 homes will now be built there.
Tendring – 1,383
At nearly 1,400, Tending District Council has approved the most homes of any second-tier council in Essex, this year so far.
297 houses were given detailed approval in February. These will form part of a larger development which includes shops, cafes, restaurants, a pub, drive thru restaurants, a cinema and a hotel.
Engineering works to support 136 houses in Great Bentley were approved by the council in April.
An outline application for 950 homes, including affordable housing and in addition to a neighbourhood centre and medical facility, was approved for land behind St Johns Road, Clacton-on-Sea, in June.
Uttlesford – 1,200
44 homes and three commercial units were approved by Uttlesford District Council in Little Easton in January.
March saw the council approve 124 homes in Little Chesterford, 14 in Great Hallingbury and 24 in Felsted.
32 self-build houses were given planning permission by the planning committee in Great Dunmow a month later.
Takeley, near Stansted Airport, will have 243 houses built in it despite its location in the council’s countryside protection zone, after planning applications were approved in May.
350 houses, as well as provision for new sports pitches, in Elsenham were approved by the committee in May, after a deferral the previous month.
The proposed refurbishment of Lea Hall in Hatfield Heath was approved in June, and includes 13 new homes, five of which will replace the existing stables.
Details for 17 homes in Stebbing which had already received permission in principle were green-lit in July.
August saw the council approve 160 homes in Little Dunmow, and a doctor’s surgery and 38 more houses in Felsted.
Having been designated, the equivalent of being placed in special measures, developers can choose to bypass Uttlesford District Council and apply directly to the government if they wish. The council is waiting on decisions from the planning inspector over a number of residential developments.
