Billericay 175 Homes Recommended for Approval on 7 October

Basildon Council’s planners are recommending approval for up to 175 homes on a Green Belt field off Tye Common Road, on the south-western edge of Billericay. The Planning Committee decides on Wednesday 7 October. The council has received 317 objections from neighbours.

It is the biggest of five housing and sports schemes on the agenda, published on Tuesday. Together they cover up to 327 homes. Officers recommend approval for four of the five. The one they want refused, 95 homes at Ramsden Bellhouse, is already at appeal.

What is on the agenda

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Tye Common Road: 175 homes, officers say yes

The site is an 8.95 hectare field between Tye Common Road and Blunts Wall Road. Mayflower Community Hospital and Billericay Town Football Club sit to the north. The application is in outline, so only the access is fixed now. The officer report sets out what the scheme offers:

• up to 175 homes, half of them affordable
• 3.99 hectares of public open space, 45% of the site
• a single road access off Tye Common Road, and a new bus stop on its western side
• a footpath and cycle link to Blunts Wall Road
• £1,073,625 towards primary school places and £984,445 towards secondary places
• £122,300 for the NHS and £59,500 for the East of England Ambulance Service

The report says the scheme is inappropriate development in the Green Belt. It says the council’s own Green Belt study finds the land makes a strong contribution to checking urban sprawl, so it is not “grey belt”. Officers still conclude the benefits “significantly outweigh any identified harm”.

Two things weigh heavily in that balance. The council can show only 2.05 years of housing land supply against the five it needs. It also delivered 23% of its required homes in the government’s latest Housing Delivery Test, the report says.

The report is published as a “draft committee report”. Its opening summary says the scheme is not inappropriate development, which contradicts its own later conclusion. The recommendation to approve is the same in both places.

What objectors said

The report summarises the 317 objections. The main points are:

• the loss of productive farmland in the Green Belt
• harm to wildlife along the stream on the western edge of the site
• more traffic on Tye Common Road, London Road and Western Road at peak times
• local primary schools already being full

Why a refusal might not be the end

The report reminds councillors of a new rule, in force since 31 March 2026. A council that wants to refuse a scheme of 150 homes or more must first consult the Secretary of State, who can then take the decision himself. That would apply here.

Ramsden Bellhouse: 95 homes, officers say no

The second big scheme is up to 95 homes on 12.7 hectares of farmland north of Glebe Road, Ramsden Bellhouse, a village east of Billericay. The land is part of draft allocation H25 in the council’s new Local Plan.

The committee is not making the final decision. The developer, Ramsden Bellhouse Developments Ltd, has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate because the council did not decide in time. Councillors will say how they would have decided, and that becomes the council’s case at appeal. The Inspectorate will decide it on written evidence, not at a hearing, the officer report says.

Officers give three reasons for refusal:

• Green Belt. The land makes a strong contribution to checking sprawl, so the harm is not outweighed by the benefits.
• Location. Residents would depend on cars. Walking routes rely on private roads without continuous footways or street lights.
• Wildlife. The developer has not shown the legal minimum 10% biodiversity net gain.

The report records 118 objection letters from neighbours. Ramsden Bellhouse Parish Council also objects.

Council homes at Knights and High Barrets

Two schemes come from the council’s own Sempra Homes programme. Both would be let at social rent to people on the housing register, the officer reports say.

• Knights, Lee Chapel North. Eighteen 1960s and 1970s flat-roofed homes would be demolished, along with garages, and 19 houses built. Most of the existing homes are empty and some have suffered anti-social behaviour and vandalism, the report says.
• High Barrets, Vange. Eight two-storey houses would replace two three-storey blocks that held 18 flats. One block had subsidence and could not be lived in, the report says. That means ten fewer homes on the site than before.

Pound Lane and a new Pitsea pitch

• Up to 30 homes behind 311 Pound Lane, Bowers Gifford. Councillors deferred this on 9 September to look at the parish council’s concerns about the North Benfleet Plotlands plan. Officers have looked again and still recommend approval, the addendum report says.
• A Football Foundation Playzone at Pitsea Central Open Space, Elm Green. The council wants to replace the existing games area with a fenced, floodlit pitch for football, netball and basketball, with a spectator area. Officers recommend approval, the report says.

What it means for you

• The meeting is at 7pm on Wednesday 7 October in the St George’s Suite at the Basildon Centre, St Martin’s Square. It is streamed live on the council’s YouTube channel.
• If you commented on one of these applications, the council says it invites people who commented to attend when an application goes to committee, according to its planning committee page.
• If you live near Tye Common Road, the access junction, bus stop and path to Blunts Wall Road are fixed at this stage. House layout and design come later, in a separate application.
• Council tenants on the housing register could be offered one of the 27 new social rent houses at Knights and High Barrets once they are built.

We will report the decisions after the meeting. Earlier coverage: the draft Local Plan and its 27,918 homes, the 130 homes granted off London Road, Billericay, and this week’s new applications. More on how planning works locally is on our Basildon planning news page.