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County council · E10000012

Essex

Outstanding borrowing is the MHCLG live-table stock, not a press figure. Crime is police-recorded and mapped from Community Safety Partnership areas. Political control is the 2026 Open Council Data composition snapshot.

Reform UK majority
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Total outstanding borrowing

£467.7m

£467,669,000

Debt per resident

£297

Using mid-2025 population of 1,576,125

Population

1,576,125

ONS mid-year estimate

Recorded crime rate

67.8 per 1,000

106,938 offences, year to March 2026

Borrowing

Essex reported £467,669,000 of outstanding borrowing as at 30 June 2026. That is total outstanding borrowing (all sources, including loans from other local authorities). About £297 per resident.

Figures converted from £ thousand as published. This is a stock of outstanding borrowing, not the annual deficit.

Source: MHCLG — Borrowing and investment live table, Q1 2026 to 2027. As of 30 Jun 2026 · Q1 2026–27 (as at 30 June 2026).

Population

1,576,125 usual residents at mid-2025, on 2023 local authority boundaries.

Source: ONS — Estimates of the population for England and Wales, mid-2025. As of 30 Jun 2025 · Mid-2025 (2023 local authority boundaries).

Recorded crime

106,938 police-recorded offences excluding fraud, a rate of 67.8 per 1,000.

Police force / area: Essex.

Aggregated from 12 Community Safety Partnership area(s) covering this authority. CSP areas usually match districts or former districts, not always the current council. The rate uses this authority’s ONS mid-2025 population.

Source: ONS / Home Office — Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables (Tables C2 and C4). As of 31 Mar 2026 · Year ending March 2026.

Who runs the council

Reform UK majority on a council of 78 seats.

  • Labour 1
  • Conservative 13
  • Liberal Democrats 5
  • Plaid Cymru 0
  • Green 1
  • Reform UK 53
  • Other 5

Open Council Data is a curated compilation of published council compositions, not an official government statistical release.

Source: Open Council Data UK — GB council compositions 2016–2026. As of 1 May 2026 · 2026 composition snapshot (shortly after the May local elections / by-elections).

Last local election / current composition

Reform UK majority; 78 seats (Lab 1, Con 13, LD 5, Green 1, Reform 53, other 5)

Next scheduled local election (from the councillor file): 3 May 2029. Election calendar

Next UK general election: not yet set. National and mayoral dates: Election calendar.

Source: Open Council Data UK council compositions and councillor file, 2026. As of 1 May 2026.

2024 general election in this area

Conservative won 10 of 16 overlapping constituency/constituencies. Parliamentary constituencies do not match council boundaries exactly.

  • Conservative33.6% · 247,583 votes
  • Labour27.6% · 203,102 votes
  • Reform UK22.0% · 162,128 votes
  • Liberal Democrats10.0% · 73,907 votes
  • Green5.1% · 37,688 votes

Indicative sum of votes in overlapping constituencies. Some constituencies cross local authority boundaries, so this is not a precise LA result.

16 overlapping constituencies
  • Basildon and Billericay: Conservative — Richard Holden
  • Braintree: Conservative — James Cleverly
  • Brentwood and Ongar: Conservative — Alex Burghart
  • Castle Point: Conservative — Rebecca Harris
  • Chelmsford: Liberal Democrats — Marie Goldman
  • Clacton: Reform UK — Nigel Farage
  • Colchester: Labour — Pam Cox
  • Epping Forest: Conservative — Neil Hudson
  • Harlow: Labour — Chris Vince
  • Harwich and North Essex: Conservative — Bernard Jenkin
  • Maldon: Conservative — John Whittingdale
  • North West Essex: Conservative — Kemi Badenoch
  • Rayleigh and Wickford: Conservative — Mark Francois
  • South Basildon and East Thurrock: Reform UK — James McMurdock
  • Southend East and Rochford: Labour — Bayo Alaba
  • Witham: Conservative — Priti Patel

Source: House of Commons Library — General election 2024 results (CBP-10009). As of 4 Jul 2024.

Council tax (Band D)

Full rankings

Essex is a shire county, so there is no single household area Band D in the MHCLG billing table. The county precept (the county’s own Band D element) is £1,641.96 (+3.95% vs the previous year). Residents pay a district bill that already includes this precept.

District area Band D in this county

County precept only — the household area Band D bill is set by billing districts in this two-tier area, not as a single county figure. · financial year 2026 to 2027.

Source: MHCLG — Live tables on Council Tax: Band D Council Tax figures 1993 onwards (Area_CT / Area_CT_%). As of 22 Apr 2026 · financial year 2026 to 2027.

Explain this numberArea Band D council tax

The MHCLG area Band D figure for a two-adult Band D dwelling in this billing area — the billing authority plus adult social care, parish and major precepts (county or GLA, police, fire, combined authority).

  • Not average council tax per dwelling, and not the amount every household pays (bands A–H are fixed fractions of Band D; discounts and premiums apply).
  • Shire districts appear in the ranking because they are billing authorities. Watchtower’s primary council rows are CTYUA, so counties have no single area Band D.
  • Year-on-year % is the official live-table column. We do not invent bills.
  • Wales is a separate StatsWales / Welsh Government collection and is ranked on its own table — not mixed with MHCLG England figures.

Band D rankings

Source: MHCLG — Live tables on Council Tax: Band D Council Tax figures 1993 onwards (Area_CT / Area_CT_%). As of 22 Apr 2026 · financial year 2026 to 2027.

MPs covering this area

Parliamentary constituencies from the House of Commons Library GE 2024 results that overlap this council (ONS lookup). Sitting MPs are joined from the committed Members API snapshot — usually by constituency name. ONS constituency codes are shown for the seat; the Members API has no ONS codes, so a code-level join is not available. Name-only joins are labelled.

Source: House of Commons Library — General election 2024 results (CBP-10009). As of 4 Jul 2024.

Source: UK Parliament Members API (committed snapshot). As of 13 Sept 2026.