Our Concerns
The landscape around Billericay is all protected greenbelt and should remain open and green. It is a breathing space for the town. It was made into Green Belt to prevent urban sprawl, maintain the character and setting of the town, stop encroachment into the countryside, prevent merging of settlements and increase the re-use of brownfield areas. Nothing has changed, and in the present climate the need to retain this green space is even greater.
Billericay is an historic town with a very special character that has several historic associations, The Peasants Revolt, the voyage of the Mayflower and the shooting down of Zeppelin L32 being best known. And rare amongst other local centres, its High Street still retains many buildings which endow the town with a special character.
Basildon Borough Council’s draft Local Plan proposes the building of around 16,000 new houses in the borough by 2031, 2500 of them on the Green Belt around Billericay. Billericay Action Group oppose these plans because of the following issues;
Infrastructure; The town’s roads are at breaking point. Many of the junctions in the town are already at or near capacity, parking is at a premium. The increased traffic resulting from unrestrained extra house building will bring Billericay to a halt. Todays Billericay motorists already experience problems accessing the trunk road network, and this will only be exacerbated by increased building in the town and in the neighbouring Areas. The Town’s High Street has no scope for additional parking spaces. Increased housing will increase the pressure and residents would then be forced to travel for essential shopping, further adding to the road problems. A similar situation exists with the Town’s railway service, congestion being common during the rush hour, and this too will only worsen with increased house building in the town and surrounding areas.
Flooding; Several areas of the Town already suffer from surface water flooding during high, but not unusual, rainfall. Additional housing will only worsen this situation and the replacement of crops with houses will further add to the volumes of water needing to be removed.
Jobs; The proposed increases in housing are not accompanied by equivalent increases in employment and most of the new, working age, residents would need to travel to their employment, adding further strain on the roads and railways.
Housing; The number of new houses proposed for Billericay is unsustainable and not justified by historic demographic trends, but equally importantly, so too is the number of homes being proposed for the Borough. The justification for the massive proposed increase in the Borough’s population remains elusive as does the justification for the numbers being proposed for surrounding districts.
Wildlife; Destruction of the Green Belt will impact the habitat for wildlife.
Health services, schooling, visual amenity, the list goes on. Each will be adversely affected by uncontrolled additional house building. And once the Green Belt is gone it will never return.
Billericay is an historic town with a very special character that has several historic associations, The Peasants Revolt, the voyage of the Mayflower and the shooting down of Zeppelin L32 being best known. And rare amongst other local centres, its High Street still retains many buildings which endow the town with a special character.
Basildon Borough Council’s draft Local Plan proposes the building of around 16,000 new houses in the borough by 2031, 2500 of them on the Green Belt around Billericay. Billericay Action Group oppose these plans because of the following issues;
Infrastructure; The town’s roads are at breaking point. Many of the junctions in the town are already at or near capacity, parking is at a premium. The increased traffic resulting from unrestrained extra house building will bring Billericay to a halt. Todays Billericay motorists already experience problems accessing the trunk road network, and this will only be exacerbated by increased building in the town and in the neighbouring Areas. The Town’s High Street has no scope for additional parking spaces. Increased housing will increase the pressure and residents would then be forced to travel for essential shopping, further adding to the road problems. A similar situation exists with the Town’s railway service, congestion being common during the rush hour, and this too will only worsen with increased house building in the town and surrounding areas.
Flooding; Several areas of the Town already suffer from surface water flooding during high, but not unusual, rainfall. Additional housing will only worsen this situation and the replacement of crops with houses will further add to the volumes of water needing to be removed.
Jobs; The proposed increases in housing are not accompanied by equivalent increases in employment and most of the new, working age, residents would need to travel to their employment, adding further strain on the roads and railways.
Housing; The number of new houses proposed for Billericay is unsustainable and not justified by historic demographic trends, but equally importantly, so too is the number of homes being proposed for the Borough. The justification for the massive proposed increase in the Borough’s population remains elusive as does the justification for the numbers being proposed for surrounding districts.
Wildlife; Destruction of the Green Belt will impact the habitat for wildlife.
Health services, schooling, visual amenity, the list goes on. Each will be adversely affected by uncontrolled additional house building. And once the Green Belt is gone it will never return.
