Truth Behind the Plan: 8. Planning for Profit – Developers Over Communities
The truth behind Hammonds Farm? Private landowners and developers stand to profit while infrastructure is unfunded and communities are ignored.
Our flagship article series exposing the flaws, risks, and hidden motives behind Chelmsford’s Local Plan. These evidence-based pieces break down traffic assumptions, flood risks, planning failures, and the real cost to our countryside and communities.
The truth behind Hammonds Farm? Private landowners and developers stand to profit while infrastructure is unfunded and communities are ignored.
Chelmsford failed to consult key authorities like Maldon and Natural England. The Local Plan may be legally unsound as a result — and it shows.
Danbury’s Neighbourhood Plan, Sandon’s Village Statement, and Little Baddow’s consultation efforts were all sidelined. This isn’t planning — it’s imposition.
Hedgerows, bats, barn owls, and biodiversity corridors face destruction if Chelmsford allocates Hammonds Farm. Nature cannot be offset with token planting.
From St Andrew’s Church to the Chelmer Navigation, the Hammonds Farm site threatens heritage assets that define our local history and landscape.
3,000 homes, a business park, and no guaranteed A12 upgrades? Chelmsford’s plan will bring traffic gridlock to Sandon, Boreham, Little Baddow and Danbury.
Hammonds Farm would devastate the rural landscape of Sandon, Little Baddow and the Chelmer Valley. The Council’s own evidence says this land should not be built on.
Hammonds Farm lies in a floodplain and faces risk from both rivers and reservoir failure. So why is Chelmsford City Council still planning to build 3,000 homes there?