Billericay District Residents' Association
incorporating the Billericay Action Group
Lost Forever - Basildon Borough Council approve 250 houses, off Laindon Road, adjacent to FrithwoodThis view could be lost forever following last month’s decision by Basildon Borough Council’s Planning Committee to approve a planning application for 250 houses on Green Belt land west of Laindon Road running across the rich farmland to Frithwood Lane and ancient Frith Wood. The primary justification was a dire shortage of new property and a somewhat convenient reclassification of the land as ‘grey belt’ under very new planning guidance, supported by a recent Green Belt Study, that weakens the protection of much of the land around Billericay. This is clearly a very sad and worrying outcome, potentially setting the scene for what is to come in the future, with several other planning applications awaiting a decision. However, the application is now subject to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government considering calling-in the application for review and we have started lobbying for that to happen. We would like to thank the several hundred residents that objected to this application, and very specifically those that attended the planning committee meeting and spoke out in public. As always, resident action and involvement is important. We must use our voices. |
Maitland Lodge, South Green
Update
In January 2026 the planning committee voted to allow the removal of the affordable homes on the Maitland Lodge development and to accept an initial payment of ?1,047,000, with the possibility of this being increased at a later stage, in lieu.
A planning executive from the council stated that the money would go towards the council’s acquisition of affordable housing at Kennel Lane.
In what was at times a very technical debate, residents and councillors raised a number of key points, and obviously thanks to them for doing so. in particular whether this would set a precedent for other developers wishing to do likewise, especially on the major developments that we have seen approved since the end of 2024 where the 50% affordable homes has been a ‘golden rule’.
It was explained by the council’s planning legal representative that this would not be the case as the National Planning Policy Framework states that the application of financial viability tests in such circumstances is not allowed.
The development at Maitland Lodge was approved several years before this planning policy was introduced and it cannot be applied in retrospect.
News from Basildon Council
The government decision on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) confirms that the county will move to five new unitary councils.
The creation of five unitary councils - West Essex Council, North East Essex Council, Mid Essex Council, South West Essex Council and South East Essex Council - will replace the current 15 councils across Greater Essex from April 2028.
The new unitary authorities will be:
Basildon, Thurrock
Braintree, Colchester, Tendring
Brentwood, Chelmsford, Maldon
Epping Forest, Harlow, Uttlesford
Rochford, Castle Point, Southend-on-Sea
The Government has confirmed their commitment to repayment in-principle of £200m of Thurrock Council debt.
Failing Our Future:
The glaring lack of education provision in the Draft Local Plan
As we have reported before, the emerging Basildon Local Plan is proposing the building of around 8,000 new homes within the three district wards of Billericay West, East and Burstead, the vast majority of which are in Burstead stretching to Dunton Road at Steeple View. These will be on several locations right across our area. However, the draft Local Plan document is contradictory, with the opening summary saying one thing and the specific site policies another. Our calculationsbased on the specific site policies equates to 9,100 homes being proposed.
Frustratingly, many of the proposed sites have been subject to speculative planning applications and we have seen 1,500 houses approved so far with a further 3,850 yet to be decided. A further 1,500 are yet to get to a planning application with no doubt more to come.
This scale of development will put huge pressure on our public services, especially education, where so far, we have only seen scant details of three new primary schools. One to the east of Southend Road, one off Tye Common Road and another at Dunton Road. We have no details of their size or when they would be completed.
The situation is no better when it comes to secondary education; There are no plans to build new secondary schools in Billericay, relying on new schools being built outside of Billericay to reduce the number of students coming from elsewhere that go to Mayflower and Billericay schools. This is a very fragile strategy as those new schools are far from guaranteed, especially when you consider that the Local Plan is proposing a further 20,000 new houses in those areas. The problem is everywhere!
The Essex County Council (ECC) approach is that each home generates a need for about 0.3 Primary places, and 0.21 Secondary places (excluding 6th Form). The difference being that primary schools have 7-year groups, and secondaries only 5. ECC regard 1400 houses as generating the need for a standard 2 classes in each year group, school. Occasionally they allow 3 classes in each year group. Two classes of 30, for each of the 7-year groups, equates to 420 children.So, you can see a need for 6 or 7 new Primaries!School size is less cut and dried for secondaries, but you can see that a vast number of places would be needed, either in Billericay or other parts of Basildon.
Overall, adequate future education facilities look to be a serious concern, not just to the existing population of Billericay, but all the expected new residents who could also struggle to find their children places. We believe that the education planning is inadequate with nowhere near enough places being planned for the expected children from at least 8,000 new homes, especially when you consider that the current schools are close to, or at capacity today. There seems to be a disconnect between Basildon Council and the local Essex Education Authority in this regard. The latter being currently responsible for education provision, which brings into question whether adequate planning is taking place.
The final version of the Local Plan and the associated Infrastructure Delivery Plan have yet to be published. It might provide more detail on the plans foreducation, but we are not optimistic from what we have seen and investigated so far.
There will be a further public consultation called Regulation 19 where residents can express their concerns on whether the Local Plan has been soundly prepared. We encourage you to get involved in the process. We will provide more details once the dates of the consultation are known.
