News

Braintree Council’s Draft Local Plan – Consultation taking place now 

Braintree Councils Draft Local Plan which contains proposals for huge amounts of additional housing for our villages is now out for consultation under Regulation 18 of the Town & Country Planning Regulations 2012.

Drop-in exhibitions are being held details of these can be found via the Braintree Council website shown below. (Kelvedon’s was on 10 March)

This will be your opportunity to see just what they are proposing and importantly its huge scale – over 5,000 homes going from near Kelvedon Station across to Rivenhall plus other sites. If you don’t want to see our villages turned into a huge town forever then we would encourage you and your families to get engaged with this process.

The consultation documents along with what happens next can be viewed on line at www.braintree.gov.uk/ConsultLP  

The consultation period runs from Tuesday 3rd March 2026 to 5pm Friday 17th April 2026.

They are also holding a virtual webinar on Microsoft Teams where the Planning Policy Team will outline what the plan is etc That will take place on Tuesday 24th March from 6pm-7pm. To register go to Braintree Councils website link above. It will be recorded and posted on their Local Plan Review webpage.

Crown Estates Feering – Outline Planning Proposal submitted 

The Crown Estates have been working on their plans for the land their hold in Feering over the last couple of years and have now submitted their outline planning application. It is a substantial development which will not only impact Feering but surrounding villages especially Kelvedon.

The proposals include the creation of a mini roundabout at the base of the bridge into Kelvedon junction with Swan St, High Street and Station Road. This will cause particular problems to anyone who uses Swan Street to access Heron Road and the nearby school entrance.

Full details can be found on the Braintree Council Planning Portal (search reference 26/00119/out) and more information can be found on the Planning pages of this website.

 

Braintree Local Plan and the call for sites – Kings Dene Kelvedon

Whilst the Local Plans were fairly recently adopted the Governments pressure for housebuilding has meant that they had to be reviewed to meet the considerably higher housebuilding targets. In the case of Braintree Council they have proposed that the development of the Kings Dene site in Kelvedon with its proposed 5,600 properties would go a significant way towards meeting their target. This site would stretch from Coggeshall Road Kelvedon right through to Rivenhall and create a new town. The proposals include such ideas as shutting the road that crosses the railway line in Church Street Kelvedon and creating a bridge from the new site into London Road Kelvedon.

The Heritage Society are trying to keep all members abreast with developments and encouraging all to take part in any consultation. KAUS (details below) are also key in the campaign to stop such a development. We are fully aware of the requirement for homes to meet the local housing requirement (there are approx 2000 on Braintrees housing list) but this would still not address those needs.

Kelvedon Against Urban Sprawl (KAUS) 

KAUS have been campaigning for some time against the significant development being planning in and around the village. Until recently their main means of communication was via Facebook but they have recognised that not all villagers use that platform and have now created a website which can be found on https://kaus.org.uk 

They are also fund raising to enable wider campaigning and to fund use of specialist consultants eg for traffic surveys as the need arises. The link to the Go Fundme page can also be found on that website.