Once it is built on, it does not come back. The decision about Southend's Green Belt is being taken this August — before the new Local Plan is published, and before Full Council has had any say.
Until the Planning Committee meets at 2pm on 26 August 2026.
Residents walking the Green Belt north of Southend. Open farmland, a few minutes from the city — and not replaceable once it is gone.
Green Belt is not a field that can be put back. Once the boundary moves, it stays moved.
The council commissioned a fresh Green Belt review in 2025. The contract ended on 1 April 2026. It has still not appeared in the published evidence base.
A Green Belt motion in July was referred away without debate and without a vote. Full Council has never been asked.
Five councillors can require the Mayor to call one. Five have, from more than one party, to sit before the committee meets.
Asks Full Council to reaffirm that the adopted Local Plan stands in full force, and that this Council has taken no decision to change it — before anyone assumes otherwise on the city's behalf.
It names no planning application and instructs no committee. It could not lawfully do either. This is about who decides, and in public.
Residents and councillors from right across the political spectrum have been making the same argument, in the same fields, for years.
Whether Southend releases its Green Belt is a question of policy, and policy is decided by Full Council — every ward, every party, in public and on the record.
Residents' associations, community campaigns and political parties from across Southend, all making the same case.
Every one of the 17 wards was contested at the city council elections on 7 May 2026. This is how Southend voted.
Labour took 16.4% of the votes cast, and was out-polled in every one of the 17 wards.
A Green Belt motion in July was referred away without debate and without a vote. Full Council has still not been asked. The decision is now set to be taken by the 11 councillors of the Planning Committee on 26 August.
Ward by ward figures are shown against each ward's councillors further down the page.
Source: Southend-on-Sea City Council declared results, 7 May 2026. 56,603 votes cast across 17 wards; turnout 43.12%. Figures are votes cast for each party at that election, not a vote on any Green Belt decision.
Every councillor on Southend-on-Sea City Council, grouped by where they sit on this.
An unknown swing vote does not mean opposed. These councillors have simply not signed the requisition for an Extraordinary Full Council. They are free to vote either way when the meeting comes, which is exactly why it is worth asking yours where they stand.
Every ward in Southend elects three councillors. This is how many from each are behind the requisition, and how that ward voted in May 2026.
Write to your councillors. Ask why the Green Belt review completed on 1 April has not been published. And turn up: both meetings below are open to the public, and you are entitled to sit in the gallery at either.
Requisitioned by councillors.Five signatures can require the Mayor to call one, and have signed. This is the meeting where all 51 councillors you elected can debate the Green Belt in public, and vote.
Wednesday 26 August 2026, 2pm.The 11-member committee that would otherwise take this decision without the other 40 councillors having any say.
