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Transport improvements support major step forward for garden community

18/12/2025
Press Release

Essex County Council says road and rail improvements are vital as thousands more homes are built as part of the Chelmsford Garden Community.

Following Chelmsford City Council’s planning committee approval of two new housing zones and a major new road for the development on Monday evening, the county council has hailed it as a prime example of how an ‘infrastructure first’ approach accelerates housing delivery.

Essex County Council has supported economic growth and high-quality housing development in Garden Communities for almost a decade. In Chelmsford, the council secured £218 million Homes England investment for new infrastructure. This includes Beaulieu Park Station, which opened in October, and the first section of the Chelmsford North East Bypass, which is currently being constructed.

The Garden Community is one of the most significant housing developments in the country, emphasising the importance of putting new infrastructure in place ahead of new housing. This helps ensure residents are well connected to opportunities in Essex and to mitigate the impacts on existing residents.

Transport improvements support major step forward for garden community

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Chelmsford North East Bypass

The planned new Chelmsford North East Bypass, together with the new Beaulieu Park Station, will provide important infrastructure to support planned housing and economic growth to the north of Chelmsford. 

The transformational road and rail upgrade will bring long-awaited improvements to Chelmsford’s transport network and help relieve congestion on local roads in and around the city, enabling easier, more reliable and resilient journeys.

The bypass will also provide easier access to both the A12 and the new Beaulieu Park Station for people travelling from Braintree and surrounding areas, taking approximately 900 vehicles off city centre roads each morning.

Section 1A

Map graphic showing section 1A of the Chelmsford North East Bypass

Chelmsford North East Bypass will be delivered in phases.

The first section of the bypass (Section 1A) will connect with Beaulieu Parkway in the south to the future Chelmsford Garden Community.

It will provide access to both the new Beaulieu Park Station, which is currently under construction and due to open in 2025, and junction 19 of the A12 at Boreham Interchange via the new Beaulieu Parkway Bridge.

To the north, Section 1A of the bypass will join with a new east-west link road (Northern Radial Distributor Road), to be built by developers as part of the Chelmsford Garden Community.

The link road will connect the bypass to the A131 Essex Regiment Way at Wheelers Hill roundabout. Planning approval for the link road was granted in December 2025 and contruction is expected to start in summer 2026.

Once it is built and required improvements to Junction 19 of the A12 at the Boreham Interchange are complete, the first section of the bypass will open to road users, potentially in 2028. In the interim the road is likely to initially be open to buses and emergency vehicles only.

Next steps

Works to build the first phase of the Chelmsford North East Bypass are underway via a construction contract awarded at the end of last year by Essex County Council.

Following a tender process, Octavius Infrastructure Limited is building the first section of the bypass. Construction of Section 1A of the bypass is expected to be finished by Summer 2026.

Construction of the remainder of the bypass (Sections 1B and 2) will take place in due course in the future when alternative funding has been secured. We will continue to proactively seek funding for the remaining sections, including potential developer contributions.

Building the bypass in phases and working in conjunction with project partners means we can focus on having the infrastructure in place when it is needed.

Progress update for CNEB Section 1A

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Together with our main works contractor Octavius Infrastructure, we are heading towards the final stages of construction of the first section (1A) of the Chelmsford North East Bypass with surfacing works under way.

The shape of the new road, site entrance and northern roundabout are clearly visible as we work towards completing main construction at the end of the summer and other work, such as landscaping and planting, in the Autumn.

We have completed two culverts, which will pass under the now road and allow the Boreham Brook tributary to continue to flow and are also finalising the necessary drainage infrastructure, including two new ponds to collect and store rainwater during bad weather and prevent flooding.

At the southern end of the site, work to connect the bypass to the existing roundabout on the A131 Beaulieu Parkway is completing while at the northern point a new roundabout, which will enable traffic to join the bypass via a new link road to the garden community, is being put in place.

A new access track remains in use with perimeter fencing along the highway boundary and a new main site compound. As part of this, we laid new mains water pipes and installed a new connection to the mains electricity supply, avoiding the need for water deliveries and the use of diesel generators – so fewer lorries on local roads and less CO2 emissions.

The site operates under the Considerate Constructors’ Scheme which, following its final audit, gave the project a score of 45 out of 45 after assessing how the scheme respects the community, cares for the environment and values the workforce.

A selection of images from our works so far can be seen below. To see the most recent images, you can navigate to the end of the slideshow by using the arrows on the side of the images, or clicking the tabs below the picture captions.