In this section: Your area
Chelmsford: your area
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
Chelmsford sets a Band D council tax of £2,300 for 2026-27, 241 of 296 councils in England from the highest. Police: Essex. Fire and rescue: Essex. Health: NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board. This page links to everything the site holds on the area; the full bill, the report card and parking each have a page of their own.
Figures for the 2026–27 financial year. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Key figures
- £2,300Band D council tax, 2026-27 up on a year earlier: +£93 (+4.2%) vs 2025-26
- £5.6mParking surplus, 2025-26
- 52.0%Household waste recycled, 2024-25
- 3%A roads where maintenance should be considered, 2024-25 (county)
- 119%Reserves as a share of spending, 2025-26
Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
What is the council tax in Chelmsford?
Band D is £2,300 a year for 2026-27, and Band A, the lowest, £1,533. That is £111 below the England average of £2,411, 241 of 296 in England from the highest.
Of a Band D bill, £235 goes to Chelmsford.
Every band, who gets the money and how Chelmsford compares
Where your council tax goes: from your bill to each service
Every payment over £500 that Essex County Council publishes
Essex County Council: senior pay and councillors' allowances
How does the council compare?
- Council tax rise this year4.2%Lower than the England figure of 4.9%
- Council tax per head£877Higher than the England figure of £796
- Ombudsman uphold rate67% (2 of 3)Lower than the England figure of 86%
- Reserves as a share of net spending119%Higher than the England figure of 50%
- Borrowing per home£88Lower than the England figure of £3,474
- Accounts, 2024-25Delivered by backstop92% of bodies had an opinion delivered by the backstop date
- Ofsted, children's services (county)Outstanding73% of English councils are good or outstanding
- CQC, adult social care (county)Good62% of assessed councils are good or outstanding
- A roads needing maintenance considered (county)3%Lower than the England figure of 5%
- Recycling rate52.0%Higher than the England figure of 42.0%
- Major planning decisions on time80.4%Lower than the England figure of 91.0%
Each figure is set against the figure for England as a whole. They are plain comparisons, one measure at a time: there is no overall score and no ranking of councils. Higher is not always better or worse; what each measure does and does not show is on the methodology page.
The full report card: complaints, finances, audit, pay and services
Roads, bins and planning
| Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
A roads where maintenance should be considered (Essex County Council)Details for A roads where maintenance should be considered (Essex County Council) | 3% | 2024-25 |
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B and C roads where maintenance should be consideredDetails for B and C roads where maintenance should be considered | 3% | 2024-25 |
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Unclassified roads where maintenance should be consideredDetails for Unclassified roads where maintenance should be considered | 10% | 2024-25 |
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Household waste reused, recycled or compostedDetails for Household waste reused, recycled or composted | 52.0% | 2024-25 |
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Major planning decisions made on timeDetails for Major planning decisions made on time | 80.4% | 24 months to end of June 2026 |
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Road condition is from the Department for Transport; each figure is compared with England as a whole in the report card.
What does the council make from parking?
| Authority | Year | Income | Surplus |
|---|---|---|---|
ChelmsfordDetails for Chelmsford | 2025-26 | £9.7m | £5.6m |
| |||
Essex CC (county)Details for Essex CC (county) | 2025-26 | £7.0m | −£981,000 |
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What the law lets a council spend a parking surplus on is on parking fines and council parking income.
Who is your MP?
A council area can span several constituencies, so your MP depends on your address. Enter your postcode in the box at the top of this page to see your MP and what their office cost, find any MP by name or constituency, or see every constituency and its MP on the MP map.
How much crime is recorded here?
In the 12 months to June 2026, police recorded 73.6 crimes per 1,000 residents in Chelmsford, excluding anti-social behaviour, against 82.4 across England.
Chelmsford on the crime map, down to streets of a few hundred homes
Your police precept
A Band D home in Chelmsford pays £275.31 police precept in 2026-27. It funds Essex, which has £457m in all for 2026-27. The precept is set once for the whole force area and spent across the whole force area, so the crime figures above for Chelmsford are not what its precept bought.
Who runs police, fire, health and ambulances here?
| Service | Body | Latest | Per resident |
|---|---|---|---|
PoliceDetails for Police | Essex | £457m (2026-27) | £235 |
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Fire and rescueDetails for Fire and rescue | Essex Fire and Rescue Service | £92m (2024-25) | £47.67 |
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AmbulanceDetails for Ambulance | East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust | £494m (2024-25) | £75.17 |
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NHSDetails for NHS | NHS Essex Integrated Care Board | £5.8bn (2028-29) | £2,968 |
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RoadsDetails for Roads | Essex County Council | £47m (2025-26) | £30.07 |
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SchoolsDetails for Schools | Essex | £1.3bn (2026-27) | £830 |
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Council spendingDetails for Council spending | Chelmsford | £33m (2025-26) | £171 |
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Social careDetails for Social care | Essex | £1.1bn (2024-25) | £697 |
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HousingDetails for Housing | Chelmsford | £12m (2025-26) | £64.52 |
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Waste and recyclingDetails for Waste and recycling | Chelmsford | not published | — |
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Each body serves a wider area than Chelmsford, and its money is for the whole of that area. Its page has its funding over time and what is recorded alongside it; public services near you looks them up for any postcode. Water is not covered yet: see Discover Water.
Which bodies cover Chelmsford: ONS lookups of local authorities to police force areas, fire and rescue authorities, integrated care boards and local health boards (Open Government Licence v3.0); where an area is split between integrated care boards, the one covering most residents is named.
How does Chelmsford look against other councils?
See Chelmsford on the council map, alongside every other council on council tax, complaints, reserves, audit and inspections, or browse every council.
Common questions
- How much is council tax in Chelmsford?
- Band D is £2,300 a year for 2026-27. Every band.
- Which police force covers Chelmsford?
- Essex police force area. Fire and rescue: Essex.
Sources for this page
| Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | the 2026–27 financial year | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Local authority revenue expenditure and financing: revenue outturn multi-year data set (RO2 parking) | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | the 2025–26 financial year | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, under CC BY 4.0.