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Search the Public Notice PortalCouncillors faced a “profoundly uncomfortable” choice over plans for more than 20,000 homes in Colchester, a committee chairman said.
An updated draft Local Plan was approved for public consultation by 11 votes to one at a meeting last Wednesday night.
The meeting took place at Moot Hall, inside Colchester Town Hall, where councillors reviewed proposals covering housing development across different areas of the borough.
The council’s current plan was formed in 2022. It set a minimum housing requirement of 920 new dwellings each year, meaning 18,400 homes between 2013 and 2033.
Under the latest requirement, about 21,692 new homes need to be built between 2026 and 2043.
Councils face a national deadline of December 31 to submit their Local Plans to the Government for examination.
Chairman of the Local Plan committee Martin Parsons said: “The profoundly uncomfortable choice councillors on the local plan committee faced was to put a plan few of them liked out to public consultation so the council could submit it by the government’s December deadline or to have no plan.
"The government have introduced an entirely new local plan process from January 1 next year which takes a minimum of three years.
"So as Colchester Council will be cease to exist in a year and half’s time, the unpalatable choice councillors faced was a plan they didn’t like or the Colchester area having no local plan for the next five years or so.”
Colchester Council is due to cease to exist due to a huge local government shake-up which will end the two-tier council system in the county and replace it with single-tier unitary authorities in April 2028.
Once Local Government Reorganisation happens, Colchester will merge with Tendring and Braintree to form the new North East Essex Council.
The chairman added: “Whichever we chose – the council would still have to deliver the 21,000+ houses the government have legally imposed on the area.”
He warned that having no plan could lead to a higher housing requirement and more applications from developers.
“But if we had no plan – not only would the government increase this by a further 20 per cent - an extra 255 houses a year, but developers would be able to apply to build even larger housing estates almost anywhere in the Colchester area – and the government would approve them until we reached their housebuilding target.”
A consultation is underway and will run for six weeks. Responses will be reported to the committee in November.
Members will then be asked to agree submission of the plan for independent examination. Hearing sessions are expected early next year.
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