If you follow our main Facebook page (Save Billericay From Housing Developments) you will have seen in recent days that the developers associated with the 4 sites in south-west Billericay have commissioned a planning and design consultation to be run by a company called Feria-Urbanism. (www.feria-urbanism.eu/)
This consultation will hold a number of sessions on 11 July with invited representative bodies. The sessions are not open to residents at this time but we understand that public events will follow. Feria have set up a website specifically for this exercise (south-west-billericay.com).
BDRA/BAG will be accepting Feria's invitation, and will be represented by our senior officers and experts. It is a chance to find out more about the developers' intentions, and to have an input on some important aspects. Feria will nevertheless be informed that BDRA/BAG considers the Local Plan to be fundamentally unsound, a view shared by the considerable majority of residents, and that nothing in connection with this consultation will have any bearing on that position.
We will continue our work of the last 5 years to focus on challenging the Local Plan at the Examination in Public later this year*. Nothing has changed in this regard. We hope that the other representative bodies and any individuals that have been invited to the consultation take a similar approach at this early stage.
It is important to note that this consultation is informal and is not part of the Government's Planning Inspectorate process. Basildon Council are not involved. Also that is covers only 4 of the 10 or so primary sites proposed in the submitted Local Plan for Billericay, and is only to consider the planning and design of those 4 sites. As such is is not the place to challenge the Local Plan as a whole. However, the 4 sites represent the bulk of the housing proposed for Billericay (1,700 dwellings out of 3,000), together with the relief road, so they are critical in the wider picture. The Council states that the 4 sites must be considered as a whole with a Master-plan for infrastructure delivery based on the total housing numbers, not by individual site.
The design and planning aspects of sites are very important, and anticipating the possibility of some new housing BDRA/BAG plans to review and challenge where necessary any subsequent planning applications and ensure the enforcement of any planning conditions in the future. To achieve this volunteers to assist with the task are urgently needed -- please contact (info@billericayactiongroup.org.uk) for more information.
We aim to provide further information that is pertinent to the consultation ahead of the sessions.
*we have been anticipating that the Examination in Public will take place this autumn, potentially in October. However, Government concerns over poor air-quality on the A127 through Basildon may result in the Council requesting a delay to the process. As soon as we have more news we will provide an update but for now keep October in mind.
This consultation will hold a number of sessions on 11 July with invited representative bodies. The sessions are not open to residents at this time but we understand that public events will follow. Feria have set up a website specifically for this exercise (south-west-billericay.com).
BDRA/BAG will be accepting Feria's invitation, and will be represented by our senior officers and experts. It is a chance to find out more about the developers' intentions, and to have an input on some important aspects. Feria will nevertheless be informed that BDRA/BAG considers the Local Plan to be fundamentally unsound, a view shared by the considerable majority of residents, and that nothing in connection with this consultation will have any bearing on that position.
We will continue our work of the last 5 years to focus on challenging the Local Plan at the Examination in Public later this year*. Nothing has changed in this regard. We hope that the other representative bodies and any individuals that have been invited to the consultation take a similar approach at this early stage.
It is important to note that this consultation is informal and is not part of the Government's Planning Inspectorate process. Basildon Council are not involved. Also that is covers only 4 of the 10 or so primary sites proposed in the submitted Local Plan for Billericay, and is only to consider the planning and design of those 4 sites. As such is is not the place to challenge the Local Plan as a whole. However, the 4 sites represent the bulk of the housing proposed for Billericay (1,700 dwellings out of 3,000), together with the relief road, so they are critical in the wider picture. The Council states that the 4 sites must be considered as a whole with a Master-plan for infrastructure delivery based on the total housing numbers, not by individual site.
The design and planning aspects of sites are very important, and anticipating the possibility of some new housing BDRA/BAG plans to review and challenge where necessary any subsequent planning applications and ensure the enforcement of any planning conditions in the future. To achieve this volunteers to assist with the task are urgently needed -- please contact (info@billericayactiongroup.org.uk) for more information.
We aim to provide further information that is pertinent to the consultation ahead of the sessions.
*we have been anticipating that the Examination in Public will take place this autumn, potentially in October. However, Government concerns over poor air-quality on the A127 through Basildon may result in the Council requesting a delay to the process. As soon as we have more news we will provide an update but for now keep October in mind.
