Your council

Braintree: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Braintree District Council: Non-metropolitan district (lower tier), England, East of England; within the county of ESS. GOV.UK lists it as a district council, within Essex County Council. ONS code E07000067.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Braintree for 2026–27: £206.01 of a £2,280.34 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Braintree reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Braintree: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	none budgeted
Highways and transport services	−£654,000
Children's social care	none budgeted
Adult social care	none budgeted
Public health	none budgeted
Housing services (general fund only)	£4.0 million
Cultural and related services	£2.5 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£9.6 million
Planning and development services	£3.7 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£8.2 million
Other services	£742,000
Total service expenditure	£28.2 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Braintree in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 164,304 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 42 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £26,019 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £700 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 23.0% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 2.6% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £328,477 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 8.7 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Greenhouse gas emissions: 4.6 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 90.3% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 88.9 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 6,750 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

49 seats in 2026. Run by: Conservatives, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Conservative and Unionist 25, Labour Party 9, Independent / Other 7, Green Party (E&W) 4, Halstead Residents' Association 3, Reform UK 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 49 councillors, by ward

Justin Wrench (Conservative and Unionist) — Bocking Blackwater
Lyn Walters (Conservative and Unionist) — Bocking Blackwater
Lynette Bowers-Flint (Conservative and Unionist) — Bocking Blackwater
John Baugh (Conservative and Unionist) — Bocking North
Lynn Jefferis (Labour Party) — Bocking North
Jack Edwards (Conservative and Unionist) — Bocking South
Moia Thorogood (Labour Party) — Bocking South
Jonathan Ayten (Labour Party) — Braintree Central & Beckers Green
Shirley Mason (Labour Party) — Braintree Central & Beckers Green
Thomas Diamond (Labour Party) — Braintree Central & Beckers Green
Kevin Bowers (Conservative and Unionist) — Braintree South
Martin Green (Labour Party) — Braintree South
George Prime (Conservative and Unionist) — Braintree West
Mary Cunningham (Conservative and Unionist) — Braintree West
Diana Garrod (Conservative and Unionist) — Bumpstead
Dennis Abram (Independent / Other) — Coggeshall
Nathan Robins (Reform UK) — Coggeshall
Peter Schwier (Conservative and Unionist) — Gosfield & Greenstead Green
Frankie Ricci (Conservative and Unionist) — Great Notley & Black Notley
Graham Butland (Conservative and Unionist) — Great Notley & Black Notley
Tom Cunningham (Conservative and Unionist) — Great Notley & Black Notley
Andy Munday (Halstead Residents' Association) — Halstead St Andrew's
James Bond (Halstead Residents' Association) — Halstead St Andrew's
Jackie Pell (Halstead Residents' Association) — Halstead Trinity
Malcolm Fincken (Labour Party) — Halstead Trinity
Charley Dervish (Conservative and Unionist) — Hatfield Peverel & Terling
James Coleridge (Conservative and Unionist) — Hatfield Peverel & Terling
Joanne Beavis (Independent / Other) — Hedingham
Wendy Taylor (Independent / Other) — Hedingham
Camilla Finch (Green Party (E&W)) — Kelvedon & Feering
Paul Thorogood (Green Party (E&W)) — Kelvedon & Feering
Ann Hooks (Independent / Other) — Rayne
Bob Wright (Green Party (E&W)) — Silver End & Cressing
James Abbott (Green Party (E&W)) — Silver End & Cressing
Iona Parker (Conservative and Unionist) — Stour Valley North
David Holland (Conservative and Unionist) — Stour Valley South
Gabrielle Spray (Conservative and Unionist) — The Colnes
George Courtauld (Conservative and Unionist) — The Colnes
Mark Ault (Independent / Other) — Three Fields
Michael Staines (Independent / Other) — Three Fields
Sindhu Rajeev (Conservative and Unionist) — Witham Central
Toby Williams (Conservative and Unionist) — Witham Central
Billy Taylor (Conservative and Unionist) — Witham North
Ethan Williams (Conservative and Unionist) — Witham North
Jackie Martin (Labour Party) — Witham South
Paul Heath (Labour Party) — Witham South
Jon Hayes (Conservative and Unionist) — Witham West
Ron Ramage (Independent / Other) — Witham West
Richard Van Dulken (Conservative and Unionist) — Yeldham

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.