The Story So Far, or, How Did We Get Here?
OCTOBER 2018 UPDATE
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The article below was written earlier this year and is still valid in that it provides the background to the Local Plan.
For the latest position please see the Current Situation page from either the menu on the Home page or the link below.
For the latest position please see the Current Situation page from either the menu on the Home page or the link below.
A long time ago, some learned people sharpened their pencils, scratched their chins, and came up with a number.
A little later some other people did the same and started speaking to the first group of people.
Over time others did the same, comparing notes, adding their respective numbers together and between these groups they came up with a very big number.
A little later some other people did the same and started speaking to the first group of people.
Over time others did the same, comparing notes, adding their respective numbers together and between these groups they came up with a very big number.
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What these people created was an Objectively Assessed Need, or OAN. It is effectively a projection of the number of houses an area needs for the future, supposedly taking into consideration what the local people need but also projecting new businesses coming into the area needing new employees and inevitably factoring in some migration to the area from outside, such a London.
The OAN is the number that a council needs to consider when formulating a Local Plan. But the OAN is not created by the council. For Basildon Borough (Billericay, Wickford and Basildon itself) this magical number ended up being about 15,000 and the Council planning officers set out to find where all these houses could be built, to be set down in a Local Plan covering 2014 to 2034. Of this figure, around 10,000 could be considered local needs with the remainder being largely speculative migration. |
Amazingly, for something so important, there is no standardised methodology for determining the OAN. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Planning Practice Guidance (PPG), which are the bibles for planners, do not provide hard lines to follow and simply offer some advice. The OAN is therefore potentially open to wide interpretation and subjectivity.
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Basildon Council always knew it would need to find land for the houses in the Local Plan so about 10 years ago they had a ‘call for sites’. Landowners were able to offer up their land for future development and it is not surprising that nearly every piece of open land around and in Billericay was put forward. Why? Because the landowners were set to make a huge amount of money selling largely agricultural land worth a few thousand pounds for many millions!
This gave the Council a huge land-bank to call upon at the right time but the Council did not purchase the land, which is a common misconception. However, developers have agreed options with the landowners such that if the land is included in the Local Plan, and obtained planning approval, then they have first option to purchase. All the sites in Billericay have a developer lined up to buy and build.
After a false start in 2014, Basildon Council came up with a revised draft Local Plan and they asked us, the borough residents, for our views. This was the Regulation 18 Public Consultation in early 2016 and many of us said we weren’t happy with around 1,800 houses being proposed around Billericay.
This gave the Council a huge land-bank to call upon at the right time but the Council did not purchase the land, which is a common misconception. However, developers have agreed options with the landowners such that if the land is included in the Local Plan, and obtained planning approval, then they have first option to purchase. All the sites in Billericay have a developer lined up to buy and build.
After a false start in 2014, Basildon Council came up with a revised draft Local Plan and they asked us, the borough residents, for our views. This was the Regulation 18 Public Consultation in early 2016 and many of us said we weren’t happy with around 1,800 houses being proposed around Billericay.
The main concerns raised through the consultation centred on the loss of Green Belt and how the town’s infrastructure would cope with the increased population, as that was not clear in the plan put forward; doctors, dentists, schools, roads, trains, car parks, shops…an extensive list of key services were ill defined for improvement, if any.
As well as the residents, landowners, their agents, developers and consultants were able to express their views, and unsurprisingly they supported the plan and suggested some new sites for even more houses!
Later in 2016 the Council reported on the Regulation 18 consultation exercise and summarily dismissed the comments made by residents as not being relevant, but they continued to work with the landowners and developers with something called the South West Billericay High Level Development Framework (HLDF) coming into existence, but with little detail published at the time.
Things went quiet, 2016 passed and not much happened during 2017 either, until the 7 December.
On that evening, the Infrastructure, Growth and Development Committee at Basildon Council (responsible for the creation of the Local Plan) debated and agreed sites for a revised version of the Plan. Furthermore, the committee also approved an increase in overall number of houses planned for the Borough with a new OAN of nearly 20,000; a one third increase since 2016.
The agenda pack for that meeting also included what is thought to be the first public view of the consultants report for the SW Billericay HLDF. This turned out to be significant as you will see on subsequent pages on this site.
The net of this committee meeting was that the total number of houses proposed for Billericay went up to almost 3,000; a 70% increase over the number we were asked to comment on in 2016. But the site locations had changed too, and many other factors added, such that the plan at the end of 2017 looked markedly different to that at the start of 2016 - the one we commented on via the Regulation 18 consultation and were ignored.
So where are we now?
Please continue to the following pages for more information:
Current Situation
Save Frith Wood and South West Billericay
References
Basildon Council Local Plan http://www.basildon.gov.uk/localplan
Infrastructure, Growth & Development Committee agendas and minutes http://www.basildonmeetings.info/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=764
As well as the residents, landowners, their agents, developers and consultants were able to express their views, and unsurprisingly they supported the plan and suggested some new sites for even more houses!
Later in 2016 the Council reported on the Regulation 18 consultation exercise and summarily dismissed the comments made by residents as not being relevant, but they continued to work with the landowners and developers with something called the South West Billericay High Level Development Framework (HLDF) coming into existence, but with little detail published at the time.
Things went quiet, 2016 passed and not much happened during 2017 either, until the 7 December.
On that evening, the Infrastructure, Growth and Development Committee at Basildon Council (responsible for the creation of the Local Plan) debated and agreed sites for a revised version of the Plan. Furthermore, the committee also approved an increase in overall number of houses planned for the Borough with a new OAN of nearly 20,000; a one third increase since 2016.
The agenda pack for that meeting also included what is thought to be the first public view of the consultants report for the SW Billericay HLDF. This turned out to be significant as you will see on subsequent pages on this site.
The net of this committee meeting was that the total number of houses proposed for Billericay went up to almost 3,000; a 70% increase over the number we were asked to comment on in 2016. But the site locations had changed too, and many other factors added, such that the plan at the end of 2017 looked markedly different to that at the start of 2016 - the one we commented on via the Regulation 18 consultation and were ignored.
So where are we now?
Please continue to the following pages for more information:
Current Situation
Save Frith Wood and South West Billericay
References
Basildon Council Local Plan http://www.basildon.gov.uk/localplan
Infrastructure, Growth & Development Committee agendas and minutes http://www.basildonmeetings.info/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=764
