The homes row brewing in the town with no plan

When some senior councillors in Basildon talk about housing, one perhaps surprising name keeps getting repeated.

The Conservative cabinet member for housing said in a recent meeting that development proposals were not "Basildon homes for Basildon people – we know they're building homes for Sadiq Khan".

His reference to the London Mayor was echoed by another cabinet member in the meeting and by the borough's Reform UK group leader.

Khan has no powers over housebuilding in Basildon and targets are set by central government.

But Basildon is in the middle of a row over housing with the Labour government, with some claiming not enough infrastructure is planned and the protected green belt is threatened.

What is happening and what are the issues?

The government wants to see 1.5 million homes built in England between 2024 and 2029.

To help plan where they will go, all local councils must have an official "local plan".

But Basildon Borough Council has not adopted a new one since 1998, a delay believed to be among the longest in England.

It has spent years trying to finalise a plan covering 2023 to 2043, with its leader blaming "changes in the administration nationally and locally".

In the introduction to the most recent draft, the borough's chief executive says the document will "manage... growth and development" in the borough, which includes the towns of Basildon, Wickford, Billericay and Pitsea.

The plan tries to identify sites for 28,000 new homes, increasing the number of homes in the borough by 34%.

Since 2015, Basildon has built an average of 422 additional homes each year, far short of its target.

In 2024-2025 that target was 1,039 but has since risen to 1,287.

Basildon borough is 63% green belt, a protection given to some areas of countryside around towns and cities.

The draft plan proposes releasing some of that to allow housebuilding, arguing it is justified by "exceptional circumstances".

The government is trying to force Basildon to adopt the plan as it currently stands.

In July, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook ordered the authority to submit its final draft by the end of the year, warning that without a plan development could happen on a "piecemeal and speculative basis".

He also noted Basildon's poor housing delivery record – in 2024-25 its performance was the fifth-worst in England – and that housing was "considerably" less affordable than the national average.

Homes cost an average of 9.66 times average annual local wages, compared to 7.63 across England.

"All of this is unlikely to improve without the prompt adoption of an up-to-date local plan," Pennycook wrote.

Andy Barnes, the Conservative council leader, said he was shocked by what he called the government's "authoritarian" intervention.

He said it had removed the council's ability to make further changes to the plan and warned there would be no more local decision-making.

Barnes said the current draft plan was flawed, citing concerns about infrastructure, employment land and traveller site allocations.

Last summer Basildon recorded more unauthorised Gypsy and traveller caravans than anywhere else in England.

Pennycook ordered the council to hold a public consultation on the draft plan, which it completed in September.

In its consultation response, Essex County Council raised concerns about a lack of planning for transport and education.

For Barnes, that showed the government had "forced through a consultation" and "the answer they got isn't what they wanted".

He said: "The answer is actually you can't put 28,000 homes in Basildon."

Councillors have voted to explore a legal challenge – known as a judicial review – of the minister's intervention and the housing target.

Barnes warned this could cost "millions" and he hopes other councils might join in.

Reform UK group leader Sam Journet described the draft plan as an "absolute disaster", warning it would destroy "our beautiful green spaces" and increase the borough's population by a third without adequate infrastructure.

His party was recently involved in judicial reviews that changed government plans to pause county council elections and for local government reorganisation.

"Reform UK will always back legal scrutiny," Journet added.

"You can't just bulldoze through a plan of this scale and expect no-one to challenge how it was done."

Basildon is not just resisting the government's local plan intervention.

Barnes said its planning committee had "taken a fairly hard-line view" and rejected a number of housebuilding applications, many involving green belt land.

The government has tried to make it easier to develop in the green belt, introducing the concept of "grey belt" for areas that do not "serve the purpose" of the green belt and could therefore be built on.

Developers who follow "golden rules", including promising to make 50% of new homes "affordable" and boosting infrastructure, should see planning applications approved.

But Barnes said there could be a "spike in appeals", with developers challenging Basildon's rejections at the Planning Inspectorate.

Journet, deputy chair of the planning committee, said the committee was there to "scrutinise development" and that its members had a responsibility to have their say.

"If for whatever reason an application doesn't go through on that basis, then welcome to democracy," he added.

Basildon has asked the government to extend the deadline for submission of its local plan to the end of April 2027.

A judicial review remains an option.

Barnes said the council could also withdraw the draft local plan entirely.

The Labour group leader Gavin Callaghan recently told a meeting that planning to withdraw the plan was the "height of irresponsibility" because the minister had warned it would be "unlawful".

The council said housing delivery was a "complex issue", influenced by factors including legislation and policy, economic conditions, demand and infrastructure.

Responding to Pennycook's claim that a local plan could speed up housebuilding, a spokesperson said that this alone was no guarantee.

"Whether homes are built is largely dependent on development viability, which is in turn impacted by macro- and micro-economic conditions outside of the control of a local authority," they added.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "Basildon must play their part in building the homes local people need, and we will not hesitate to step in if councils are not doing their job by putting up-to date plans in place.

"We have instructed Basildon Borough Council to progress their draft local plan at pace, and those directions remain in force."

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