Basildon council pulls 20,000 homes plan for second time

Basildon Borough Council has already voted once to withdraw it local plan

A council has voted for a second time to pull its plan for more than 20,000 homes, despite the government warning it could intervene.

Basildon Council held another vote on its local plan after an intervention from council officers.

The plan would have allowed homes to be built across Basildon, Wickford and Billericay.

The council's Conservative leader, Andrew Baggott, said pulling the plan was "absolutely the right decision".

Minister of State for Housing, Stuart Andrew, wrote to Mr Baggott and said the government "remain prepared to intervene where local authorities fail to make sufficient progress" in making a local plan.

"I will carefully consider all appropriate action using available statutory powers, including whether to direct with regard to the local development scheme and inviting the county council to prepare a local plan for Basildon," he wrote.

The borough council had already voted to withdraw its local plan last month but officers warned it had not fully considered the implications of doing so, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council said the Planning Inspectorate wanted it to allocate land for 20,160 homes in the borough

Mr Baggott told Thursday's full council meeting that the authority was committed to producing a new local plan, but the government should review the number of houses needed.

The government's Planning Inspectorate increased the required number of houses the borough should plan for by 2034 from 17,791 to 20,160, according to an earlier council report.

He said withdrawing the plan was "right decision for the council, it's the right decision for residents".

Labour councillor Alex Harrison said a new plan would still need to allocate housing both in the green belt and Basildon town centre, and if the government did take over then the council would lose its say over where the houses would go.

He said the government letter meant the council had been put "on notice".

"We can get the local plan through, or we can risk the government building whatever and wherever they like in our borough," he said.

Independent group leader Kerry Smith said he was "deeply concerned at the prospect of Essex County Council writing our local plan" which could be a "conflict of interest".

He said there could be "housing in other parts of Essex, like Epping and Tendring, that could reappropriated on to Basildon".