Dunton Hills: First Works Would Move Reptiles Off Site

The developer of Brentwood's 3,700 home garden village has filed its first three pre-commencement applications. You have until 18 September to comment.

The first work at Dunton Hills Garden Village would be tree felling, site clearance and the creation of new habitat so that reptiles can be moved off the land.

That is what one of three applications now advertised by Brentwood Borough Council asks for. They are the first pre-commencement applications filed since the borough’s largest ever planning permission was issued on 16 June 2026, and they are the clearest sign yet that the 3,700 home village south of the A127 is moving from paper towards ground.

Anyone can comment on all three. The council’s notices are dated 19 August 2026 and give 30 days, so representations close on or about 18 September.

What the three applications are

All three are applications for subsequent consent, the formal step that discharges a condition attached to an outline permission. All three sit under the outline reference 21/01525/OUT, all name the applicant as LIH Dunton Hills Ltd, and all cover the same site: the entire land east of the A128 and south of the A127 at Tilbury Road, West Horndon.

21/01525/DHVCON/1, under condition 11: tree works, site clearance and habitat creation to facilitate the translocation of reptiles, described as the implementation of enabling works within a phase
21/01525/DHVCON/2, under condition 9: the site wide phasing and implementation plan
21/01525/DHVCON/3, under condition 15: a construction waste management plan within a phase

Each is accompanied by the environmental statement that was submitted with the original outline application (Brentwood Borough Council planning notices, 19 August 2026).

Read together they describe a developer getting ready to start. A phasing plan sets out what gets built in what order. A construction waste plan is what a contractor needs before a site opens. Enabling works are what happens before any of it: the scrub goes, the trees come down, and protected species are moved somewhere else first.

Why the reptile condition matters

Condition 11 is the one residents are most likely to notice on the ground, because it is the only one of the three that involves anything physical.

Reptile translocation is a standard requirement where a site holds common lizards, slow worms or grass snakes, all of which are protected from killing and injury in England. The work has to happen before clearance, and it needs somewhere to move the animals to, which is why the application covers habitat creation as well as felling.

The council has not decided the application. It has advertised it, and the 30 day window is now running.

The permission behind it took nearly five years

The outline application was validated on 13 September 2021. Brentwood councillors resolved to approve it in November 2023. The decision itself was only issued on Tuesday 16 June 2026, with the status recorded as approved subject to a section 106 agreement, which is what took the intervening time.

The permission is for a great deal more than housing:

up to 3,700 dwellings, including affordable housing
three care homes and five Gypsy and Traveller pitches
a secondary school with a community sports hub, indoor and outdoor
up to three primary schools with early years provision
an employment hub, a village centre with a market square and two neighbourhood hubs
a cricket ground with a pavilion and a football hub with changing and social facilities
two all modes accesses from Tilbury Road, a modified Station Road and Tilbury Road junction, and a pedestrian and cycle connection to the A127
demolition of the existing clubhouse, driving range and wind turbine, and diversion of overhead power lines

The permission is phased, and the wording is specific: each phase is “a separate and severable part of the development”. There are 270 documents on the council’s file (Brentwood Borough Council, application 21/01525/OUT).

Graphic by Brentwood Online

Who the applicant is

The outline application was submitted in 2021 by Commercial Estates Group. The applicant named on all three of these notices is LIH Dunton Hills Limited.

That company was incorporated on 23 July 2025, company number 16601194, with a registered office at Level 16, 5 Aldermanbury Square in the City of London. Its registered activity is the letting and operating of real estate. Its sole person with significant control is Empire Lih Limited, which holds 75% or more of the shares and voting rights (Companies House, LIH Dunton Hills Limited).

Setting up a dedicated company to hold and deliver a single large site is normal practice. It is worth knowing which name to search for.

How the village fits the Local Plan

Dunton Hills is a strategic allocation under Policy R01(i) of Brentwood’s adopted Local Plan: 259.2 hectares east of the A128, south of the A127 and north of the c2c railway. The plan allocates around 1,650 homes within the plan period, as part of an indicative overall capacity of around 4,000. More background is on our Brentwood planning news page.

What it means for you: three things follow from this week’s notices.

If you want a say, the date is 18 September. Comment online through the council’s Public Access site, in writing to Planning and Development Services, Brentwood Borough Council, Town Hall, Ingrave Road, Brentwood CM15 8AY, or by email to planning@brentwood.gov.uk.
The principle is settled, the detail is not. Objecting to the village itself will not get far now that outline permission is issued. Objecting to how a phase is sequenced, or how construction waste is handled, is exactly what these applications are for.
Watch Tilbury Road. Two of the permitted accesses come off it, and the notices put the site boundary there. Anything we can confirm will go on our Brentwood roadworks and travel page.