The Housing Numbers
Local Plan Consultation Chapter 4 - Meeting Our Growth Needs
Policy SG1
Basildon council is expected to create a Local Plan that meets the Government’s mandated housing needs target in full.
To not meet the target could make the Local Plan unsound when it is examined by the Planning Inspectorate next year.
The problem is that the Government’s target, determined by the Standard Method used by all regional councils, is based on very little clear justification.
Other credible data, from sources like the Office For National Statistics, based on population growth and recent Census data, strongly suggests that the real local housing need is probably a quarter of what the Government demands.
The number of houses directly results in the loss of the Green Belt (as there is not enough other land available) and puts huge pressures on infrastructure due to a huge increase in the population.
The right number reduces the amount of countryside required and makes infrastructure provision more realistic.
A borough wide housing needs target closer 6,000 over 20 years, as opposed to 28,000, would still meet local need and allow for a degree of inward migration (people moving here to live and work). And if a good proportion are affordable homes they would address the council’s housing waiting list and those in temporary accommodation.
Please object to the excessive housing numbers on Policy SG1 as being unjustified and unsustainable. Highlight that the real need is closer to 6,000 houses.
The images below show Policy SG1 and the overall borough housing figures, and how it applies to Billericay and the proposed development site allocations. More detail on the sites can be found on our Green Belt page.
The deadline is 16 January 2026. Comment here;
basildonlocalplan25.commonplace.is/
To not meet the target could make the Local Plan unsound when it is examined by the Planning Inspectorate next year.
The problem is that the Government’s target, determined by the Standard Method used by all regional councils, is based on very little clear justification.
Other credible data, from sources like the Office For National Statistics, based on population growth and recent Census data, strongly suggests that the real local housing need is probably a quarter of what the Government demands.
The number of houses directly results in the loss of the Green Belt (as there is not enough other land available) and puts huge pressures on infrastructure due to a huge increase in the population.
The right number reduces the amount of countryside required and makes infrastructure provision more realistic.
A borough wide housing needs target closer 6,000 over 20 years, as opposed to 28,000, would still meet local need and allow for a degree of inward migration (people moving here to live and work). And if a good proportion are affordable homes they would address the council’s housing waiting list and those in temporary accommodation.
Please object to the excessive housing numbers on Policy SG1 as being unjustified and unsustainable. Highlight that the real need is closer to 6,000 houses.
The images below show Policy SG1 and the overall borough housing figures, and how it applies to Billericay and the proposed development site allocations. More detail on the sites can be found on our Green Belt page.
The deadline is 16 January 2026. Comment here;
basildonlocalplan25.commonplace.is/
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