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Colchester District · Essex

Planning consultants in Colchester

From Dedham and the Stour valley to Wivenhoe, West Mersea, Tiptree and the historic city centre, we prepare planning applications across Colchester's city area and villages.

Benjamin Plunkett, Managing Director
✓Free home visit ✓No obligation ✓Honest advice ✓Fixed price Ben, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, will visit your property anywhere in our six council areas.
📞 Call 01206 656027 or book online →
Colchester Dedham Wivenhoe West Mersea Tiptree Ardleigh Messing West Bergholt

Planning in Colchester

Colchester City Council is the planning authority for the city and the surrounding villages. Its Local Plan shares a strategic Section 1 with Braintree and Tendring, with a Section 2 containing Colchester's own detailed policies.

Common considerations include:

  • Heritage. Colchester has a remarkable concentration of history, including the Roman town walls, the Dutch Quarter and many conservation areas in the city and villages. Archaeology can also be a consideration on some sites.
  • Dedham Vale. Dedham and the surrounding Stour valley lie within the Dedham Vale National Landscape (formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), where design and landscape impact are looked at closely.
  • Coast and estuaries. West Mersea and the Colne and Blackwater estuaries are protected habitats, so new homes often need a RAMS contribution.
  • Growth. Colchester is growing, so infill sites, small developments and conversions are common, alongside the usual extensions and alterations.

How we help in Colchester

We're based in Manningtree, a short drive away, and regularly work in the city and villages. Typical projects include:

  • Extensions and loft conversions
  • Listed building consent and conservation area applications
  • Barn and agricultural building conversions
  • New homes on infill plots
  • HMO and change of use applications

Our services in Colchester

Heritage & Listed BuildingsFind out more → Planning ApplicationsFind out more → New Builds & DevelopmentFind out more → Extensions & AlterationsFind out more → Change of Use & HMOsFind out more → Pre-Application AdviceFind out more → Appeals & EnforcementFind out more →
Benjamin PlunkettCharlie Plunkett

Who'll handle your project: Benjamin Plunkett, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, is your point of contact from the first site visit to the decision. Charlie Plunkett MCIAT produces the drawings.

About us
Local work

Recent projects in Colchester

See more
The green and pink timber garden room used for dog grooming
Change of use Colchester

Garden room converted for a home dog grooming business

Planning permission to use an existing garden room in Colchester for a small, one-person dog grooming business, with customer parking on the drive.
Proposed rear elevation with the new pitched-roof extension and French doors
Extension Colchester

Single-storey rear extension replacing a conservatory

A brick and tiled single-storey rear extension in Coggeshall, replacing an old uPVC conservatory with a proper room and adding a utility.
Rear elevation with the lowered extension roof and solar panels
Appeal Colchester

Lowering an extension roof in Colchester, won on appeal

After an extension roof was built taller than approved, we designed a lower roof that solved an enforcement case. The council refused it, and the Inspector allowed our appeal.
The white-rendered listed cottage with red doors and small-paned windows
Listed windows & doors Colchester

New timber windows and a bathroom for a listed cottage

Listed building consent to replace decaying windows with slim double-glazed timber casements and add a first-floor shower room at a Grade II listed cottage in Wivenhoe.
Proposed front elevation with a window in place of the garage door
Lawful development Colchester

Lawful development certificate for a garage conversion

A lawful development certificate confirming that converting an integral garage into a dining room in Tiptree needed no planning application.
The brick garden garage, with the glazed door to the grooming room
Change of use Colchester

Part of a garage turned into a dog grooming room

Planning permission to use the front half of a garden garage in Colchester as a small, one-person dog grooming room, while keeping the rest as a garage.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

How do I submit a planning application in Colchester?

Colchester asks for applications to be made online, usually through the Planning Portal. As your agent, we submit it for you.

Is my property in a conservation area?

Colchester has conservation areas in the city centre and many villages. Send us your address and we'll check, along with any Article 4 directions.

Benjamin Plunkett, Managing Director
Free home visit

Thinking about a project?

Ben, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, will come to you, look at the property and tell you honestly what's likely to get approved. Free, with no obligation, anywhere in Tendring, Babergh, Colchester, Braintree, Maldon and Ipswich districts.

Planning consultants and chartered designers in one team: drawings designed to get approved, with the same people from site visit to decision.

Book a free home visit → Call 01206 656027
📞 CallBook a free visit