Essex County Council

Bins, council tax and planning, and what the council covers

Essex County Council is the county council for Essex. It runs schools, roads, social care and libraries. Bins, council tax and planning are run by its 12 district councils. ONS places 39,988 postcodes in use in Essex, in 75 postcode districts across 9 postcode areas.

87% of homes and businesses in Essex can get gigabit broadband, Ofcom says. The Environment Agency puts 13,779 homes and businesses in Essex in an area at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.

Its own pages listed
10
Postcodes in use
39,988
Postcode districts
75
District councils
12

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS) Postcode Directory, August 2026, loaded 20 October 2026. See all our data sources

Its website

Essex County Council

essex.gov.uk

Name and website as GOV.UK gives them.

Do it on Essex County Council's own website

Each link goes straight to the page on the council's own website for that task. We opened every one on 14 October 2026.

Roads and parking

Schools

Care, support and libraries

Councillors, voting and complaints

The pages are the ones GOV.UK lists for Essex County Council. If one has moved since, tell us.

What broadband can you get in Essex?

Across Essex, 87% of homes and businesses can get gigabit broadband and 77% full fibre, Ofcom says.

Full fibre77% can get it
Gigabit (1,000 Mbit/s)87% can get it
Superfast (30 Mbit/s or more)98% can get it
Cannot get decent broadband (10 Mbit/s)Under 1%

For one street, look up its postcode: each postcode page has its own figures. A provider's checker answers for one address.

Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations, Spring 2026, data for January 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0. How we use it

How many homes in Essex are at risk of flooding?

Across Essex, the Environment Agency puts 13,779 homes and businesses in an area at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, at 4,326 postcodes with any property at risk.

Homes and businesses in an area at risk, at 4,326 postcodes High: 7,640Medium: 6,139Low: 19,694Very low: 33,689

High: 3.3% or more a year (1 in 30). Medium: 1% to 3.3% a year. Low: 0.1% to 1% a year. Very low: under 0.1% a year (1 in 1,000). Each band is the chance of flooding in any one year.

Homes and businesses in an area at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea, as the Environment Agency counts them. It leaves out surface water, groundwater and sewers. Each postcode page has its own figures and its flood warning areas.

Source: Environment Agency, Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea (postcodes in areas at risk), published 6 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0. How we use it

Surface water

In Essex the Environment Agency counts 46,500 properties at high risk of flooding from surface water, 21,246 at medium risk and 85,870 at low risk. Surface water is rain that cannot drain away fast enough.

Source: Environment Agency, Risk of Flooding from Surface Water, properties at risk by local authority, version 2025-09, listed 18 September 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0. How we use it

District councils in Essex

Bins, council tax and planning are run by the district, borough or city council for each part of Essex.

Basildon council, postcodes in use:4,133Braintree council, postcodes in use:4,604Brentwood council, postcodes in use:2,159Castle Point council, postcodes in use:2,045Chelmsford council, postcodes in use:4,373Colchester council, postcodes in use:5,241Epping Forest council, postcodes in use:3,578Harlow council, postcodes in use:1,800Maldon council, postcodes in use:2,026Rochford council, postcodes in use:2,139Tendring council, postcodes in use:4,810Uttlesford council, postcodes in use:3,080

Postcode districts with postcodes in Essex

Counted from the ONS Postcode Directory. A postcode district is drawn for sorting post, so many cross a council's edge.

Its postcode areas

CB postcode area: Cambridge, postcodes in use here:1,202 of 11,252CM postcode area: Chelmsford, postcodes in use here:17,254 of 18,674CO postcode area: Colchester, postcodes in use here:11,701 of 13,771E postcode area: East London, postcodes in use here:29 of 17,022EN postcode area: Enfield, postcodes in use here:719 of 8,536IG postcode area: Ilford, postcodes in use here:1,362 of 6,106RM postcode area: Romford, postcodes in use here:133 of 10,007SG postcode area: Stevenage, postcodes in use here:30 of 12,179SS postcode area: Southend-on-Sea, postcodes in use here:7,558 of 11,987

Beside each area: how many of its postcodes in use are in Essex.

Towns and villages

ColchesterBasildonChelmsfordHarlowClacton-on-SeaBrentwoodThundersley and South BenfleetBraintreeCanvey IslandBillericayLoughtonRayleighWithamWickfordMaldonHarwichSaffron WaldenWaltham AbbeyHalsteadHockley and HawkwellEppingRochfordTiptreeSouth Woodham Ferrers

The 24 with the most postcodes in Essex, of 98. Browse places A to Z.

Is an address in Essex?

A council's edge does not follow postcodes exactly. Check the postcode.

All councils, A to Z

What Essex covers: Office for National Statistics (ONS) Postcode Directory, August 2026, loaded 20 October 2026. Its name, website and own pages: GOV.UK, Local authority services, downloaded 14 October 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0; every link opened on 14 October 2026. See all our data sources

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