Plans for 27,000 new homes put to the public

Plans to build 27,000 new homes in an Essex borough over two decades are going out to the public for their views.

The Labour administration at Basildon Council said its new local plan was "a map for the future".

Adele Brown, the cabinet member for housing, told a meeting on Thursday: "It's something that's about our children, where they are going to live, where we're going to work and where some of us in our old age might want to retire."

The opposition Conservative group were against moving forward with the plans and their leader Andy Barnes said "we need the right development, not a free for all".

About 10,000 of the new homes will be classed as affordable, the council says.

Most of the housing is being proposed for Basildon, extending the urban area to the east and west.

Billericay would have 7,976 homes under the plan, and there would be 4,561 added to Wickford.

Very few are planned in existing urban areas or brownfield sites due to "insufficient capacity".

The purple areas highlighted on this map denote where development is being proposed

Legally, councils need an up to date local plan for future development and employment growth.

Without one, developers are likely to have a greater say on what housing they build and where in an area. Basildon last produced a plan in 1998.

The last Conservative government in Westminster wrote to the council in 2023 about what it described as its "persistent failure".

Brown warned: "Without a sound plan in place we remain significantly vulnerable to speculative development."

Labour's Jessica Power said the blueprint created more sites for "high quality employment" across industries, and that it would reinvigorate the town centre, including the proposals for a new arena.

Basildon Conservatives claimed the borough was having to build an increased number of homes because London had not achieved its housing targets under Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Brown said this was "simply untrue" and that its housing need was set by the government's national formula.

Reform UK's Sam Journet described the plan as a "sham".

The government has changed housing targets for councils across England and it aims to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

Labour and independent councillors voted to put the local plan out to consultation. The Conservatives, Wickford Independents and Reform UK voted against.