Proposals

All the councils in Essex are working together to propose changes to how they are run. Each council – whether district, borough, city or county councils – might have their own ideas to share with the government. 

These proposals are based on: 

  • making sure decision making is as close to communities as possible 
  • delivering value for money and efficient local services  
  • what’s good for local businesses and voluntary sector organisations

 Some ideas will be the same, but some will be different. 

In this section, you can read the four proposals that councils in Greater Essex will be sending to the government at the end of September. They will be added to this page as soon as the final documents are ready.  We expect this to be from September 2025. 

So far, the following are available: 

  • Five unitary council proposal  

A proposal for a five unitary structure

Several councils are working together to propose five new unitary councils in Greater Essex, with each new unitary council serving somewhere between 326,000 and 510,000 residents. New councils would be created by bringing together one or two of their direct neighbours along with county-level services to form new unitary councils. 

Read the five unitary proposal executive summary

Read the five unitary proposal in full

 

Map showing Greater Essex divided into five unitary authorities: one, Epping Forest, Harlow and Uttlesford. two: Braintree, Colchester and Tendring. Three: Chelmsford, Brentwood and Maldon. Four: Basildon and Thurrock UA. Five: Rochford, Castle Point and Southend UA.

This map shows what Greater Essex could look like under the five unitary council proposal.