Truth Behind the Plan: 2. A Landscape Under Threat – How Hammonds Farm Damages the Chelmer Valley

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Chelmsford City Council’s Draft Local Plan proposes to allocate Hammonds Farm, east of the city, for a major development of 3,000 homes and a large-scale business park. Marketed as a visionary ‘Garden Community’, this proposal may sound appealing — but for the communities of Sandon, Little Baddow, Danbury, Boreham, and the wider Chelmer Valley, the reality is deeply troubling.

An Exceptional Landscape Under Siege

This is not vacant, low-value land. The area east of Chelmsford comprises a rich and historic landscape mosaic — a tapestry of ancient field boundaries, hedgerows, wooded belts, gently rolling hills, and historic lanes. It forms the rural setting for some of the most picturesque and characterful villages in Essex, including Sandon and Little Baddow, while visually connecting to the Chelmer Valley and Danbury Ridge beyond.

Chelmsford City Council’s own Landscape Sensitivity and Capacity Study (2017) gives this area a ‘high’ sensitivity rating, with ‘low to medium’ capacity for change. The report explicitly warns that development here would cause significant harm to landscape character, visual amenity, and the rural setting of surrounding settlements.

In plain terms: this land should not be developed.

The Visual Impact: A New Industrial Horizon

The proposal includes not just homes, but an expansive employment zone with buildings reaching 18 metres in height — equivalent to a six-storey block of flats. These would rise directly from open countryside, forming a stark industrial skyline visible from:

• Elevated points in Little Baddow, Danbury and Boreham
• Key public rights of way and national cycle routes
• The Chelmer Valley ridge lines and green corridor

No amount of landscaping or ‘design mitigation’ can conceal the scale and visual intrusion of 2 x 43,000 square metres of commercial development in a rural landscape. Light pollution, noise, and industrial vehicle movement would transform this peaceful area into a semi-urban logistics corridor.

Impact on Local Villages: Sandon, Danbury, Little Baddow & Boreham

Sandon would sit directly on the boundary of the new development, absorbing the worst of its visual and traffic impacts. Its historic core — already under strain — would be further compromised.

Little Baddow, though physically removed, it does border the development and is elevated above it. From its scenic lanes and walking routes, residents and visitors currently enjoy unbroken rural views across the Chelmer Valley — views that would be permanently scarred by urbanisation.

Danbury and Boreham would face new pressures from increased congestion, landscape fragmentation, and the degradation of the green buffer that defines their separation from Chelmsford.

These places are not just ‘adjacent’ to the site — they are defined by their relationship to the surrounding land. Removing that rural buffer risks erasing their distinct identity and heritage.

The Forgotten Landscape: The Chelmer Valley and Navigation

Running through this area is the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, a cherished green and blue corridor providing historic character, biodiversity, and public access via the towpath for walkers, cyclists, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts. This quiet stretch of the Chelmer Valley is one of Chelmsford’s most scenic and sensitive assets.

The proposed new access road and bridge across the Chelmer would cut through this tranquillity, introducing:

• Noise and movement from cars, busses and HGVs
• Urbanising structures in key views
• Irreversible damage to biodiversity corridors and heritage settings

This area is also part of the district’s green infrastructure network, yet no clear proposals have been made to safeguard it — and the Local Plan fails to properly assess the visual and ecological damage.

Council Evidence Ignored

What is most striking is that these concerns were not raised solely by campaigners. They are found in the Council’s own evidence base:

• The Landscape Sensitivity Study warns against development
• The Neighbourhood Plan for all 4 parishes, reinforce protection for views, green wedges, and rural character
• Natural England raised concerns about the loss of landscape and biodiversity — but were never formally consulted at Regulation 18 stage

Despite this, the Local Plan glosses over objections with vague promises of ‘sensitive design’ — yet fails to explain how such promises could meaningfully mitigate 3,000 homes and six-storey industrial blocks in open countryside.

Conclusion: The Wrong Site, the Wrong Vision

This proposal disrespects the very landscape and community character it claims to enhance. It runs counter to:

• The Council’s own technical evidence
• National planning policy on landscape and green infrastructure
• Common sense and community values

If built, it would permanently destroy the rural setting of the Chelmer Valley, Boreham, Danbury, Little Baddow, and Sandon — places which have retained their identity through centuries of careful stewardship.

This site should never have been proposed. It must be withdrawn from the Local Plan before the damage becomes irreversible.

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