Colchester City Council Preferred Options Local Plan Regulation 18 Consultation 2025

The Local Plan identifies a need for at least 20,800 homes between 2025 and 2041, with a significant proportion expected from site allocations and an uncertain windfall allowance. The draft Plan relies heavily on a small number of large strategic sites that depend on major infrastructure and are likely to be delivered over longer timescales.

TWSL’s site at Abberton and Langenhoe represents a small, deliverable site that is not reliant on strategic infrastructure or third-party agreements and could be brought forward in the short to medium term. Evidence within the Infrastructure Audit and Delivery Plan demonstrates a concentration of housing delivery on large sites, with relatively limited small to medium-scale allocations during the mid-plan period.

A more balanced housing strategy, incorporating a greater mix of small, medium and large sites across the Plan period, would reduce the Council’s reliance on larger strategic sites coming forward in the first 5 years of the plan period, as set out in the proposed housing delivery trajectory. Allocation of the Abberton site could support early delivery, and build more certainty within the Council’s housing trajectory.

Please refer to Lichfields written representations letter obo Taylor Wimpey Strategic Land, dated 14 January 2026.

TWSL welcomes the ambition of Chapter 7 and Policies NZ1–NZ4 and supports the objective of net zero development. However, it considers Policy NZ2 should align with the Future Homes Standard (FHS) and require homes to be zero-carbon ready, to ensure consistency and support the delivery of market and affordable housing.

While supporting the aim of Policy NZ2 to reduce embodied carbon, TWSL considers the proposed carbon limit and mandatory whole life carbon assessments could adversely affect housing delivery and duplicate existing corporate commitments. It therefore requests greater flexibility, including alignment with the FHS, a requirement to maximise on-site renewable energy generation subject to site-specific constraints, and recognition of developers’ existing commitments to reducing embodied carbon.

Please refer to Lichfields written representations letter obo Taylor Wimpey Strategic Land, dated 14 January 2026.

TWSL raises concerns that Policy NZ1’s requirement for residential development to generate 80kWh/m² per year of renewable energy is impractical, difficult to accurately calculate due to reliance on occupant energy use, and likely to significantly increase build costs, with potential impacts on housing affordability. Additional concerns relate to grid capacity constraints and the feasibility of providing photovoltaic panels across all housing types.

Please refer to Lichfields written representations letter obo Taylor Wimpey Strategic Land, dated 14 January 2026.

TWSL object to the proposed requirement within draft Policy NZ3 for all new dwellings to achieve a water efficiency standard of 80 litres per person per day (l/p/d). This primarily because the proposed figure is significantly greater than proposals by the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs to revise the minimum Water Efficiency Standard from 125 l/p/d to 105 l/p/d, as well as the optional technical standard from 110 l/p/d to 100 l/p/d in areas of serious water stress. Regard should be had for the potential viability issues from overly strenuous requirements.

Please refer to Lichfields written representations letter obo Taylor Wimpey Strategic Land, dated 14 January 2026.

TWSL acknowledges and supports the need to deliver larger family sized units across Colchester, however the policy should provide flexibility to propose an evidence-based alterative housing mix at the time any application.

Please refer to Lichfields written representations letter obo Taylor Wimpey Strategic Land, dated 14 January 2026.

TWSL acknowledges the standards set out by the Parking Guidance and the flexibility afforded by draft Policy PC3, and will continue to monitor the view of parking standards to understand the potential impact on the layout of scheme.

Please refer to Lichfields written representations letter obo Taylor Wimpey Strategic Land, dated 14 January 2026.