Chelmsford crematorium plan: have your say from 21 August

Chelmsford City Council opens a consultation on Friday 21 August on plans for a new cemetery and crematorium on farmland at West Hanningfield, ahead of a planning application it intends to submit this autumn. The survey closes on Friday 4 September, and there is a single in-person drop-in on Thursday 27 August, from 4pm to 7pm at Keene Hall, Watchouse Road, Galleywood, CM2 8PT. (Chelmsford City Council)

The site is about 22 acres of land east of Stock Road, West Hanningfield, CM2 8LF, bounded by the A12 to the north, agricultural land to the east, a static home park to the south and Stock Road to the west. The council says it has looked at options for future bereavement services for more than 10 years and has concluded a combined cemetery and crematorium on a new site is the most practical long-term answer. (Chelmsford City Council)

Why now: Writtle Road is running out of ground

The existing cemetery and crematorium in Writtle Road is the pressure point. The council’s project pages say the site has “around four years of burials remaining”, while its news release puts it slightly differently and says burial space is forecast to run out by 2028/29. Either way the window is short. The Writtle Road cremators were first commissioned in 2011 and are described as reaching the end of their lifespan, having needed what Councillor Rose Moore, cabinet member for a greener Chelmsford, called “extensive repairs in recent years, which is not a sustainable long-term position”.

Writtle Road would not close. The council says the existing cemetery there will be maintained for years to come even if the new scheme goes ahead, and that building a second site while the first still operates means services would not be disrupted during construction.

What is proposed, and where the council’s own figures disagree

Two numbers in the published material do not match, and both come from the council. Its news release describes “around 120 years of burial capacity” and “two electric cremators”. Its project pages say the two phased burial grounds, an eastern one used first and a southern one once that fills, would together give “approximately 100 years of burial capacity”, and that the building would include “up to three energy-efficient electric cremators”. We have used both sets of figures here rather than choosing between them; anyone responding to the consultation may want to ask which is the design being consulted on.

The public half of the building would hold two chapels: an eastern one seating 150 and a western one seating 50, with a maximum of 200 if the smaller chapel is used to livestream a service from the larger, plus standing room in the lobby for very well attended funerals. The operational half would include new offices for the bereavement service. The site is intended to be multi-faith, as Writtle Road is.

On the environmental side the council points to electric rather than gas cremators, heat recovery, solar panels, green roofs, biodiversity net gain and landscaping, with the surrounding land turned into walking paths and green space. On access, it notes the A12 to the north lets visitors from outside the city reach the site without adding traffic in Chelmsford, that Essex bus route 300 between Chelmsford and Basildon serves the location, and that cycle parking is included. The access onto Stock Road would be rebuilt.

The timetable, and the decisions still to come

Cabinet approved the work to prepare and submit a planning application in July 2026, together with the procurement needed to develop a fully costed scheme. On the council’s published timetable, the application goes in during autumn 2026, the Planning Committee considers it in early 2027, construction could start later that year, and the site could be complete towards the end of 2028. The crematorium would open as soon as construction finishes; burials would start later, to allow the burial ground to settle.

Two caveats are worth holding on to. Planning permission would not commit the council to building anything: any decision to fund construction goes separately to Cabinet and Full Council, after the planning process and a final business case. And the council has not published a cost for the scheme.

What it means for you

If you live near the site, or use Writtle Road. The consultation materials and online survey are open from Friday 21 August to Friday 4 September 2026 on the council’s consultation page. The council says it is aimed primarily at residents living closest to the site, funeral directors and other bereavement professionals, but the survey is open to anyone who wants to respond.

If you cannot make the survey, go to the drop-in. Thursday 27 August, any time between 4pm and 7pm, Keene Hall, Watchouse Road, Galleywood, CM2 8PT. It is the only in-person session listed.

If you miss this round entirely. This is pre-planning consultation, not the statutory one. If an application is submitted in the autumn it will be publicised in the normal way and there will be a further chance to comment before the Planning Committee decides. Our Chelmsford planning news page follows applications through the council’s register.