Essex housing target increases by 37%

Essex will need to build 14,088 new homes a year under the government's new targets

Local authorities in Essex have been given a target to build 14,088 homes a year by the government.

That is a 37% increase on the previous target of 10,316 a year under a new government method on calculating housing need.

Over the past three years the county has added an average of 7,460 homes a year.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the government was "restoring mandatory housing targets", while shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour of pursuing "a war on rural England".

Under the targets published by the government, Maldon's housing target has increased by 106%. Essex's least populated district of 66,000 people will need to build 569 properties a year. The area had been building an average of 391 new homes a year, more than the government's previous local housing need target of 276.

Castle Point's annual target has doubled. The south Essex district is now deemed to need 701 new homes a year, up from 349. Over the past three financial years the area has added 101 new dwellings a year.

Southend-on-Sea's annual target has increased by 20% to 1,405 houses a year, whilst it achieved 334 new homes a year in recent years.

Basildon will now need to build 1,287 new properties every year, up from 1,039, whilst it has added 302 on average over the past three financial years.

The number of homes Thurrock needs to build has dropped under the new formula from 1,158 to 1,071, but it has only been adding a third of the new homes it needs.

Chelmsford and Colchester have been building a lot of homes: 901 and 950 on average a year, and close to the previous local housing target (913 and 1,043). However, both authorities will need to increase their annual build under the new methodology to 1,454 and 1,300 houses respectively.

Tendring and Braintree have been building more houses than they were calculated as needing in the past three years with the new targets rising to 1,034 and 1,115 homes a year.