The Cattery – Development of land for social housing

Southend 2050 is the City’s ambition for the future, developed through extensive conversations with those that live, work, visit and study in Southend-on-Sea. The Council is committed to providing affordable homes for residents of the City who are unable to rent or buy on the open market. To meet this commitment, the Councils strategic Housing team have a proposed development of land often known as ‘the Cattery’.

The site is located off the Prince Avenue, (A127) and was previously used as a cattery, which has now closed. It is proposed that c.30 houses will be developed on the site, in line with Passivhaus Principles.

This proposed development will require full planning permission. Consultation on the development itself will take place through the usual planning process and will be available via Public Access.

The map highlighted below, shows the exact location of the site. The focus of this consultation is to engage and gain feedback on the green space areas that will be part of the development as highlighted in the image above.

The Cattery will deliver 100% affordable housing, which is in great demand in Southend and will alleviate pressures on the housing waiting list and provide family, energy efficient homes.

As part of the development, the plans include an area of green space/ open land, and we would like to gain feedback about how this could be designed and then used by residents on not only the housing development but the wider community.

Examples of how the green space could be used:

• Community Garden

• Play area

• Dog friendly zones

• Quiet relaxation space

• Wildlife habitat
  

• Sport and fitness – e.g outdoor gym equipment

• Urban forest (trees and woody vegetation that would form part of the urban ecosystem)

• Art and culture – e.g local community art project

Share your views today. “The Cattery” consultation closes at 5pm on 10 March 2026.

Map extract reproduced from Google Maps