All 51 councillors sit at 6.30pm on Monday 24 August, two days before the planning committee and a week before the 2,000-home Bournes Green Chase outline is due a decision. What is on the table, and what is not.

Southend-on-Sea City Council will hold an extraordinary meeting of the full council at 6.30pm on Monday 24 August 2026 with a single item of business: “The Green Belt and the existing Adopted Development Plan”. The summons, dated 14 August and signed by chief executive Colin Ansell, says the meeting has been convened by the Mayor under the council’s constitution and the Local Government Act 1972, and it will be held in the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre and webcast (agenda, Southend-on-Sea City Council).

It lands in a crowded fortnight. Two days later, on Wednesday 26 August, the 11-member Planning Committee meets, a date moved back from 19 August; a week after that, on 31 August, the council’s agreed deadline expires for deciding the outline application for up to 2,000 homes on farmland north of Bournes Green Chase, which has drawn 200 objections and no letters of support. And in September the draft Local Plan, which proposes a separate 4,900-home neighbourhood on land north of the city, moves to its Regulation 19 stage.

Southend Green Belt: the key dates, July to September 2026 Timeline. 16 July: Green Belt motion referred to Cabinet without a vote. 27 July: draft Local Plan announced. 14 August: extraordinary council summoned. 24 August: extraordinary full council, 6.30pm. 26 August: Planning Committee, 5pm. 31 August: agreed decision deadline for the 2,000-home Bournes Green Chase outline. September: Local Plan Regulation 19 stage begins. The Green Belt fortnight: what happens when Council meeting records, planning register and the 27 July Local Plan announcement 16 Jul Green Belt motion sent to Cabinet 27 Jul draft Local Plan: 14,700 homes to 2045 14 Aug extraordinary council summoned Mon 24 Aug 6.30pm extraordinary full council, 51 members Wed 26 Aug 5pm Planning Committee, 11 members 31 Aug Bournes Green Chase decision deadline Sep Local Plan Reg 19 Sources: democracy.southend.gov.uk (meetings 5096, 5110, 5165); publicaccess.southend.gov.uk ref 25/01792/OUTM; southend.gov.uk news 27 Jul 2026 Graphic by Southend Today

Why a special meeting, and who can call one

Full council does not normally sit in August; the next scheduled meeting is 14 September. An extraordinary meeting can be called by the Mayor at any time, and under Schedule 12 of the Local Government Act 1972 any five councillors can require one by presenting a requisition, with the power to call it themselves if the Mayor does not within seven days (Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12, paragraph 3). The council’s summons does not say who asked for this one.

A cross-party campaign site run by Southend councillors, Save Our Green Belt, says that it did: that “five have, from more than one party” signed a requisition “to sit before the committee meets”, and it describes the motion as asking full council “to reaffirm that the adopted Local Plan stands in full force, and that this Council has taken no decision to change it”. The same page is careful about the limits: the motion “names no planning application and instructs no committee. It could not lawfully do either” (Save Our Green Belt). That is the campaigners’ account of their own motion. As of 17 August the council’s published reports pack for the meeting contains only the summons and agenda, with no report or motion text under item 3, so we cannot yet quote the wording councillors will actually vote on (agenda reports pack).

The campaign lists Reform UK, the Conservatives, the Green Party, Confelicity, the Thorpe Independents and non-aligned independents among the groups that have campaigned on the issue, along with residents’ associations including Save Bournes Green Chase Green Belt Land, Shoeburyness Residents Association, East Beach Residents Association and Thorpe Bay Residents Association (Save Our Green Belt).

The July motion that never got a vote

This is the second attempt in five weeks to get the Green Belt in front of the whole chamber. At the ordinary council meeting on 16 July 2026, Councillor Stuart Allen moved a notice of motion titled “Protection of Green Belt in and around the City of Southend”, seconded by Councillor Badger. It noted “the strong public opposition to the inclusion of Green Belt land within the developing Local Plan”, named “the land north of Bournes Green Chase and the Salvation Army land outside the city demise”, and asked Cabinet to “reconsider the inclusion of Greenbelt land in the local plan, maintain designation as Green Belt, and oppose any reclassification to so called ‘Grey Belt’”, to write to the Secretary of State objecting to any requirement to release the land, to raise concerns with Castle Point about the Salvation Army land west of the boundary, and to prioritise brownfield sites (notice of motion, PDF).

It was not debated. Under Council Procedure Rule 3.85 the meeting resolved to refer it to Cabinet for consideration, the same fate as three other motions that night on carbon literacy training, the climate emergency and HMOs (minutes of 16 July 2026, item 34). Cabinet next meets on 7 September (Cabinet meetings).

The application in the background: 2,000 homes north of Bournes Green Chase

The planning register shows what the campaigners mean by “the decision”. Outline application 25/01792/OUTM, submitted by Thorpe Estate Limited through agents Davies Murch, seeks permission for the “demolition of existing buildings and phased redevelopment” of land north of Bournes Green Chase, in Southchurch ward, to provide:

  • up to 2,000 homes, including up to 150 later-living units;
  • a two-form-entry primary school and a nursery for up to 106 children;
  • a local centre of up to 2,200 square metres of commercial and community space and up to 1,200 square metres of healthcare floorspace;
  • a new public park of at least 23.28 hectares, plus drainage, highways, substations and parking.

All matters are reserved except access. The application was received on 19 December 2025 and validated on 16 January 2026. Its statutory determination deadline was 17 April; the register now shows an agreed expiry date of Monday 31 August 2026 (application 25/01792/OUTM, planning register).

The consultation figures are lopsided. The council consulted 174 addresses; 203 public comments were received, of which 200 object and none support (public comments tab). One detail worth watching: the register’s “expected decision level” field still reads “Delegated”, and no committee date is recorded against the application. The Planning Committee’s own page for 26 August says the agenda “will be displayed in the week before the meeting”, so whether the scheme is listed that day is not yet confirmed by the council; the campaign says it expects it to be (Planning Committee, 26 August 2026, Save Our Green Belt). One further discrepancy: the council’s page gives the committee a 5pm start; the campaign site says 2pm. Trust the council’s page, and check it again on the day.

Where the Local Plan fits

The council’s own line, set out on 27 July, is that an adopted Local Plan is what gives it control. Without one, it says, it “would continue to be held to the government set housing target of over 28,000 new homes”; the draft plan proposes 14,700 up to 2045, with an “infrastructure-led neighbourhood on land north of Southend” of around 4,900 homes and a new country park, and the Regulation 19 stage “will begin in September” (Southend-on-Sea City Council, 27 July 2026). The full standard-method arithmetic behind that, and why the north-of-Southend site still leaves a shortfall, is in our Southend planning news briefing.

The Bournes Green Chase outline is a separate proposition from that plan-led site: it is a live application under the existing adopted development plan, which is exactly the document the 24 August motion, on the campaigners’ description, asks the council to reaffirm. The July motion also flagged that the council commissioned a fresh Green Belt review; the campaign says the contract ended on 1 April 2026 and the review “has still not appeared in the published evidence base” (Save Our Green Belt). We could not find it on the Local Plan evidence pages either, and will report when it is published.

What it means for you

  • If you want to watch: the extraordinary council is Monday 24 August, 6.30pm, Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue; it is a public meeting with a gallery and a webcast on the council’s meeting page. The Planning Committee is Wednesday 26 August, 5pm, Committee Room 1, with the agenda due in the days before.
  • If you want to comment on the 2,000-home scheme: the register still shows a “Make a Comment” option for 25/01792/OUTM. Comments carry more weight when they address planning matters (Green Belt policy, highways, drainage, services) than when they express general opposition. Our planning applications guide explains how the register works.
  • If you want your councillor’s position: every ward has three; the council’s member index lists them, and the campaign site keeps its own tally of who has signed the requisition.
  • What a full-council vote can and cannot do: even on the campaigners’ own description, the motion cannot decide the application. Planning decisions are taken by the Planning Committee or by officers under delegated powers, on material planning considerations, and a refusal can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

We will report the outcome of both meetings, and the decision on 25/01792/OUTM when it is issued.

Sources