Land at Epping East, North of Steward Green Road and East of the Orchards, Epping, CM16 Data via plota.co.uk

EPF/1737/26 - Outline planning permission Under Consultation

Proposal

Outline planning application (with all matters reserved except primary vehicular accesses to the public highway) for a residential-led mixed-use development comprising up to 400 dwellings (Use Class C3), a care home (up to 80 beds, Use Class C2), elderly extra care/assisted living (up to 80 dwellings, Use Class C2 and/or C3), and a local centre, comprising a mixture of complimentary uses, including residential accommodation, local retail, and early years provision (Use Classes E and F), together with mobility hubs, public open space, public realm amenity space and outdoor play space, including a new Country Park (Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG)) and associated landscaping and infrastructure. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
11 Sept 2026
✓
Validated
14 Sept 2026
Decision
Expected by 14 Dec 2026

Under consideration

No decision has been issued yet. Plota predicts a decision around 9 Nov 2026, from Epping Forest's recent changes of use.

Comments are open until 13 Oct 2026

Comment on this application ↗

Documents 84

Statements & assessments 50

PDF REVISED - Habitats Regulations Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 17 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF REVISED - Preliminary Ecology Appraisal Supporting Statement/Documents · 17 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Cover Letter Supporting Statement/Documents · 15 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Non-Technical Summary Supporting Statement/Documents · 15 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Strategic Masterplan Framework Supporting Statement/Documents · 15 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Arboricultural Impact Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 4 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Agricultural Land Classification Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Transport Assessment - Part 4 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Design and Access Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Health Impact Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗
PDF Commenter’s name hidden Show PDF · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗
PDF Preliminary Ecology Appraisal_Redacted PDF · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Noise Impact Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 6 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 5 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 7 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 2 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Transport Assessment - Part 3 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Housing Need and Supply Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 3 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Care Needs Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Transport Note – Sustainable Travel Strategy Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Lighting Strategy Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Planning Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Affordable Housing Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Transport Assessment - Part 2 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Framework Travel Plan Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Green Belt Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Transport Assessment - Part 1 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Biodiversity Net Gain Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Heritage Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Flood Risk Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Air Quality Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Application Form - Without Personal Data Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Transport Assessment - Part 5 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Hydraulic Modelling Technical Note Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF BNG Habitat Plan Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Sustainability Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Habitats Regulations Assessment Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Contamination Assessment - Part 1 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Utilities Statement Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Land Use and Accommodation Schedule Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Biodiversity Metric Calculation Tool - Part #2 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Biodiversity Metric Calculation Tool - Part #3 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Biodiversity Metric Calculation Tool - Part #4 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Biodiversity Metric Calculation Tool - Part #1 Supporting Statement/Documents · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗

Consultation & comments 25

PDF EFDC HIA Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 6 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF National Highways Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 5 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF Affinity Water Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 5 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF Conservation Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 5 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF Epping Town Council Comments #1 Representations (Neighbour/Parish Comments/Objections) · 5 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF Active Travel England Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 2 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF EFDC Contaminated Land Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 2 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF EFDC Tree Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 2 Oct 2026 View ↗ PDF Essex Police Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 30 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Epping Society Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 29 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF ECC Green Infrastructure Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 29 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF ECC Infrastructure Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 29 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF EFDC Affordable Housing Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 28 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Natural England Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 28 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Environment Agency #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 28 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Essex Fire & Rescue Service Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 23 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Historic England Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 23 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Cadent Gas Comments #2 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 22 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Essex Police Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 22 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Cadent Gas Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 21 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF TFL Infrastructure Protection Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 17 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Cadent Gas Limited #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 16 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF Sport England Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 15 Sept 2026 View ↗ PDF ECC Archaeology Comments #1 Memo (Consultee Comments) · 15 Sept 2026 View ↗
PDF Commenter’s name hidden Show WORD_X · 14 Sept 2026 View ↗

All documents on the council site ↗

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 ↗
Flood zone 3, rivers and sea
High chance: a 1 in 100 or greater annual chance from rivers, or 1 in 200 from the sea. Any development here needs a flood risk assessment. Defences are not counted.
The Environment Agency flood map for planning. Homes in zone 3 must also pass the sequential test. Surface water flooding is a separate map.
Flood map ↗
Public bridleway 6 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site: obstructing a path without a diversion order is an offence, and work cannot start until the order is confirmed.
Compiled from highway authority data, not the legal definitive map. A few authorities have not published, so no path shown is not proof there is none.
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.
Also on the record
Flood defence 10 m away (natural high ground, designed for a 1 in 5 year flood).
Not affected
No listed building at the site · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. 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.

Work with planning data?

Every application in Epping Forest - and every UK council - as a live feed, an API, or a bulk CSV export.

About Plota's data service

Important details

Application type
Outline planning permission
Received
11 Sept 2026
Validated
14 Sept 2026
Ward
Epping East
Parish
Epping
Case officer
Show
Target decision
14 Dec 2026
Applicant
Show

Decision outlook

Day 25 of the 91-day target. Epping Forest usually decides changes of use by day 56.

Day 2566 days to the 91-day target
52%decided within 8 weeks
55%approved
70decided in the last year

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

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 6 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
13 Oct 2026
Epping Forest
Planning Authority Score
4.5/10
Below average
#172 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Major dwellings

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