4 Victoria Cottages, Horseshoe Hill, Waltham Abbey, EN9 3SP Data via plota.co.uk

EPF/1475/26 - Householder planning permission Approved

Proposal

Dropped curb. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
31 Jul 2026
✓
Validated
3 Aug 2026
✓
Approved
22 Sept 2026

Approved on 22 Sept 2026 · Delegated Decision · Last checked 23 Sept 2026

Site constraints 5

Green belt: London
Inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.
Green belt policy allows a short list of exceptions, such as limited extensions and replacement buildings. Anything else needs very special circumstances that clearly outweigh the harm. Some green belt land can count as grey belt, where it does not strongly serve the green belt's purposes. The council decides this in its green belt assessment or on each application, so we do not mark it here.
Read the government guidance ↗
Upshire conservation area
Demolition needs planning permission and permitted development is restricted.
The council must give weight to preserving or enhancing the area's character and appearance. Not every council has published its boundaries as open data.
Council document ↗
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
2 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: 1 and 2 Horseshoe Cottages, Grade II, about 55 m from the postcode pin · 1 Grade II*, 1 Grade II
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show all 2 with distances
Historic England ↗
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Application type
Householder planning permission
Postcode
EN9 3SP
Received
31 Jul 2026
Validated
3 Aug 2026
Ward
Waltham Abbey South and Rural
Parish
Waltham Abbey
Case officer
Show
Target decision
28 Sept 2026
Decision
Approve with Conditions
Decision date
22 Sept 2026
Decision level
Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 50 days from validation, 5 days faster than Epping Forest's median of 55 for extensions. Approved, as 79% of extensions here are.

74%decided within 8 weeks
79%approved
779decided in the last year

Plota live figures for extensions decided by Epping Forest in the last twelve months, from validation. Epping Forest decision record →

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 23 Sept 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
24 Aug 2026
Epping Forest
Planning Authority Score
4.5/10
Below average
#172 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Epping Forest ranks #114 out of 296 councils for householder decision speed. Epping Forest is also one of the strictest councils - it refuses more householder applications than almost any other, with only 76% approved vs 90% nationally.

One of the strictest councils
only 76% approved vs 90% nationally
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Epping Forest decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
67%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #295 of 296
76%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #290 of 296
71%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #114 of 296
34%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #87 of 296
49%
Minor dwellings approved
228 decided (1-9 homes)
55%
Major dwellings approved
20 decided (10+ homes)
49%
Change of use approved
43 decided
1,307
Total decisions
429 refused in the year to March 2026