Essex County Council.
Council with no overall control county. £1397m net revenue. 220 wards across 16 parliamentary constituencies. Comprises 12 districts: Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Tendring, Uttlesford.
8 Jun 2026
Council chamber, 5-party MP geography.
Essex County Council is a county with no overall control. Net revenue is £1,397m for 2025-26. It covers 220 wards spanning 16 parliamentary constituencies. The MP geography crosses 5 parties — a heterogeneous setup.
| District | Band D bill | County tax sourced | Wards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basildon | £2,244.63 | £97.1m | 14 |
| Braintree | £2,194.67 | £91.4m | 26 |
| Brentwood | £2,166.72 | £54.4m | 13 |
| Castle Point | £2,227.21 | £49.8m | 13 |
| Chelmsford | £2,206.97 | £114.4m | 24 |
| Colchester | £2,192.08 | £105.4m | 17 |
| Epping Forest | £2,186.69 | £88.2m | 18 |
| Harlow | £2,216.43 | £47.5m | 11 |
| Maldon | £2,232.83 | £42.2m | 17 |
| Rochford | £2,268.00 | £52.6m | 13 |
| Tendring | £2,178.46 | £83.4m | 32 |
| Uttlesford | £2,237.45 | £63.8m | 22 |
Band D is the full household bill (county + district + police + fire + parish). “County tax sourced” is Essex County Council’s own precept (£1579.59/yr at Band D) collected through each district’s tax base — totalling £899.5m.
Who sits in the chamber.
Councillors — the people.
Councillor data not yet ingested for Essex County Council.
Where revenue comes from.
Revenue mix is close to the councils (county) median: 64% council tax, 28% central grants.
Source · MHCLG — Final LGFS 2025-26 Core Spending Power table · derived (CT exact; grants/rates split from SFA baseline)
Band-D bill.
| Council slice | £1,580 |
Parish precepts apply on top, vary by parish
Use the income slider on My place to see income tax, NI, VAT and council tax against your earnings.
How does Essex County Council split its revenue across services, compared with peer councils (county)-class councils? Each row is one of the ten standard service buckets. The vertical line at the centre is the cohort median share; the coloured square is where this council sits. Squares to the right of centre mean a bigger share of revenue than the median peer; to the left, a smaller share.
The subtitle on each row (“X% of net spend”) is what share of this council’s revenue goes to that service. The rank (“15 of 61”) is where this council sits within the cohort, sorted by that share descending. The delta (“+26% vs median”) is a relative reading: the council allocates 26% more of its revenue to that service than the median peer would. A small absolute difference can still be a big relative one.
Higher share doesn’t mean waste — it can reflect demographic need (more older residents), rurality, or a policy choice (e.g. keeping a service in-house). Lower share doesn’t mean efficiency — some councils move costs to fees, ringfenced accounts, or grants. £-per-head would be sharper than share-of-revenue; LAD population is pending ingest. Comparisons are within the same council type only.
Essex County Council’s territory crosses 16 Westminster constituencies, with 5 MP parties represented. The middle column shows how much of the council each seat carries.
| Constituency | Wards | % of council | Current MP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clacton | 22 | 10% | Nigel Farage | Ref |
| North West Essex | 22 | 10% | Kemi Badenoch | Con |
| Maldon | 20 | 9% | John Whittingdale | Con |
| Braintree | 19 | 9% | James Cleverly | Con |
| Witham | 16 | 7% | Priti Patel | Con |
| Brentwood and Ongar | 15 | 7% | Alex Burghart | Con |
| Harlow | 15 | 7% | Chris Vince | Ind |
| Harwich and North Essex | 15 | 7% | Bernard Jenkin | Con |
| Epping Forest | 14 | 6% | Neil Hudson | Con |
| Castle Point | 13 | 6% | Rebecca Harris | Con |
| Chelmsford | 13 | 6% | Marie Goldman | LD |
| Rayleigh and Wickford | 13 | 6% | Mark Francois | Con |
| Basildon and Billericay | 9 | 4% | Richard Holden | Con |
| Colchester | 9 | 4% | Pam Cox | Lab |
| Southend East and Rochford | 3 | 1% | Bayo Alaba | Lab |
| South Basildon and East Thurrock | 2 | 1% | James McMurdock | Ind |
This council holds 10 Con, 2 Lab, 1 LD, 1 Ref and 1 Ind MPs. That’s an unusually heterogeneous geography for a -controlled county — most weeks one MP is asking the council for something and another is praising it.
Sources, methods & last update
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (historic)
Core Spending Power table · 2025-26
vs 20 other councils (county)
Not yet ingested for Essex County Council
2023 boundaries
Pending ingest at LAD level