Chelmsford Garden Community Road Works Start 1 September

Two footpaths north of Chelmsford close for six months from 1 September so the 1.55km road that unlocks 10,000 homes can be built. The order is the first dated proof it has started.

Two public footpaths north of Chelmsford will be closed for six months from 1 September so that the road at the centre of the Chelmsford Garden Community can be built.

Essex County Council advertised the closures in a statutory notice dated 20 August. Footpath 22 and Footpath 23 at Chelmsford Garden are to be shut from 1 September 2026 to 1 March 2027, and the notice gives the reason plainly: “for the safety of the public while the construction of the Northern Radial Distributor Road is undertaken” (Essex County Council statutory notice).

That sentence is the first dated, public confirmation that the road itself is being built rather than prepared for. Chelmsford City Council’s own page on the scheme still describes tree clearance and archaeological surveys, and says in terms that those works “do not represent the formal commencement of construction of the road itself” (Chelmsford City Council). The most recent update on that page is dated 4 May 2026.

What is closing, and where you walk instead

Both paths run north to Wheelers Hill, on the strip of farmland between Little Waltham and Boreham that the new road will cross.

Footpath 22, Chelmsford Garden: from its junction with Footpath 35, north for approximately 400 metres to Wheelers Hill
Footpath 23, Chelmsford Garden: from its junction with Footpath 33, north for approximately 595 metres to Wheelers Hill

The signed diversions are long. For Footpath 22 it is Footpath 35, Footpath 34, Back Lane, Wheelers Hill West and Bridleway 55. For Footpath 23 it is Footpath 35, Footpath 34, Footpath 27, Footpath 28, Footpath 59, Brook Hill, Church Hill, Footpath 16, Footpath 17, Footpath 19 and Wheelers Hill.

The order takes effect on 1 September and can run for six months, or until the works are finished, whichever comes first.

The road

The Northern Radial Distributor Road, NRDR in every council document, is a single carriageway road approximately 1.55km long. It runs west to east across the full width of the Chelmsford Garden Community, from Essex Regiment Way at the Wheelers Hill roundabout to the Chelmsford North East Bypass.

Chelmsford City Council’s Planning Committee resolved to approve it on 15 December 2025, and permission was granted on 23 January 2026. The application had been submitted three years earlier, on 23 January 2023, by Halley Developments.

What the permission covers, according to the committee report:

a 7.3m wide single carriageway
a segregated 2m footway and 3m cycleway on the southern side, and a 4m shared footway and cycleway on the northern side
reconfiguration of the existing roundabout where Wheelers Hill meets Essex Regiment Way, closing the Wheelers Hill arm and building a new eastern arm for the NRDR
four junctions into the Zone 3 development parcels and three into Zone 2
a left in, left out junction where the road crosses Domsey Lane
seven signal-controlled crossings
street lighting on both sides

The report also sets out the programme. Construction “would commence at Wheelers Hill in July 2026, to the east of Domsey Lane in October 2026 and be completed in August 2027” (Planning Committee, 15 December 2025, item 5).

Every date here is the council's own. Construction programmes move, and the footpath order can be lifted early if the works finish sooner.

Why one 1.55km road matters this much

The Chelmsford Garden Community is around 10,000 homes in north-east Chelmsford, split into three zones: 1,500 in Zone 1, 3,500 in Zone 2 and 1,250 in Zone 3 with more to follow, plus a second secondary school, two more primary schools, employment land and a country park.

None of it moves without the roads, and the roads are sequenced.

The committee report describes the NRDR as “an essential component”, says it unlocks the Chelmsford North East Bypass, and records the condition that matters most to anyone watching build-out rates: no homes in Zone 3 may be occupied until construction of the NRDR has commenced.

The bypass has been split because it got too expensive. Essex County Council said in July 2023 that Phase 1 would be delivered in two parts, because the Housing Infrastructure Fund money no longer covered the whole phase. Phase 1a, from the existing Beaulieu Parkway to the NRDR, started in autumn 2024. Phase 1b, which would connect the NRDR to the A131 Braintree Road, has neither timescale nor funding confirmed.

That splitting is why the NRDR carries so much weight. The report puts it bluntly: the phased delivery of the bypass “places additional reliance upon the NRDR to perform the role of managing traffic flows within the wider area in the interim period until Phase 1b of the bypass is delivered”.

Essex County Council said on 31 July 2026 that construction of the first section of the bypass is “due to complete at the end of the summer”. The same statement confirmed councillors had approved the £38 million Beaulieu Access Package to upgrade the A12 and the Beaulieu Park station roundabout, funded mostly by Homes England, National Highways and developer contributions, and noted that it “comes after the government cancelled its scheme to widen the A12” (Essex County Council).

Domsey Lane, separately

The same 20 August notice carries an unrelated restriction on Domsey Lane, which the new road will cut across north of Peverels Farm. The lane is access only from 22 to 30 August for events at Wheelers Hill, with a diversion via Pratts Farm Lane, the A131, Main Road and Boreham Road.

The lane’s longer-term future is not settled. The city council says it is proposing to close Domsey Lane to through traffic just north of the property Domsey House, with turning heads and bollards, but that this needs a formal application to the Department for Transport. No decision has been published.

What it means for you

If you walk there. Footpaths 22 and 23 are gone from 1 September until at least March. The diversions are considerably longer than the paths they replace, and neither will show up on a driving app. Bridleway 55 and Wheelers Hill West carry part of the Footpath 22 diversion, and the committee report records a section 106 obligation to improve Bridleway 55, so expect that route to be busier.

If you drive on Essex Regiment Way or the B1008. The Wheelers Hill arm of the existing roundabout is being closed and replaced with a new eastern arm. That is a permanent change to a junction thousands of people use, and it happens during the build, not at the end of it.

If you live in Little Waltham, Boreham or Broomfield. Two footpath closures are a small thing on their own. What they mark is the point where a scheme that has been consultations and committee papers since 2022 becomes lorries and earthworks in fields, and it runs to August 2027 on the current programme.

If you are watching the housing numbers. The occupation of Zone 3 homes was tied to the NRDR starting. On the face of this notice, it has.

We have asked nobody to take our word for the programme: every date above comes from the council’s own committee report, its own web page or the statutory notice, all linked. Dates on construction programmes move. We will update this page when the council does.

Sources

Essex County Council statutory notice, published 20 August 2026 in the Essex Chronicle for the Footpath 22 and Footpath 23 closure, its dates, extents, diversion routes and stated reason, and for the Domsey Lane events restriction.
Chelmsford City Council Planning Committee, 15 December 2025, item 5, application 23/00114/FUL for the 1.55km length, the road’s specification and junctions, the construction programme, the Zone 3 occupation condition, the bypass phasing and the reliance placed on the NRDR.
Chelmsford City Council: Chelmsford Garden Community for the zone housing numbers, the 23 January 2026 permission date, the tree clearance and archaeology works, and the Domsey Lane through-traffic proposal.
Essex County Council, 31 July 2026 for the £38m Beaulieu Access Package, its funding, the 10,000 homes figure and the bypass completing at the end of the summer.