Billericay 910 Homes: Officers Back Foots Farm on 3 Nov

Basildon Council’s planning officers are recommending that councillors back up to 910 homes on Green Belt farmland at Foots Farm, south of Billericay. The application goes to the Planning Committee at 7pm on Tuesday 3 November.

Councillors cannot actually grant or refuse it. The developers have already appealed to the government because the council did not decide it in time. The committee is being asked to say how it would have decided, which becomes the council’s position at a public inquiry.

The same agenda brings back the 175 homes off Tye Common Road that councillors voted against in October, and a smaller scheme of 16 homes west of Burstead Grange. All three sites are in the Burstead ward.

What is proposed at Foots Farm

The site is 56.89 hectares of mostly arable fields between Coxes Farm Road and Southend Road (the A129), next to Great Burstead and South Green. Barleylands Farm is across the road. The officers’ report says the scheme includes:

• up to 910 homes, half of them affordable (455)
• eight Gypsy and Traveller pitches
• a community hub of three units, about 450 square metres
• 3.44 hectares kept for a 72-place nursery and a three-form entry primary school
• about 11 hectares of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace, with a 2.3km walking route
• about 12.32 hectares of other open space, including allotments, an orchard and play areas
• a new access from Southend Road and a segregated cycle route along it

Of the 455 affordable homes, the report says 35% would be Affordable Rent, 25% Social Rent and 40% Shared Ownership or other low-cost ownership.

The applicants are Obsidian Strategic, the Brentwood Roman Catholic Diocese Trustee and H.R. Philpot & Son Barleylands Limited. The appeal will be heard at an inquiry.

Why officers say yes

The officers accept that the scheme is “inappropriate development” in the Green Belt. The land is not grey belt in the council’s own evidence, and the harm “attract[s] substantial weight against the proposal”.

They conclude it is outweighed. The main reasons given are:

• the council can show only a 2.05-year supply of housing land, against the five years the government expects
• the 50% affordable housing
• the school land, transport money and green space
• the site is part of allocation H1, South East Billericay, in the draft Local Plan, which the report gives “moderate weight”

No statutory consultee objects, on the report’s account. That includes Essex County Council as highways authority, Natural England, the flood authority and Anglian Water, mostly subject to conditions.

The money the developers would pay

The report lists what a Section 106 agreement would secure. The biggest sums, all index-linked, are:

The bus money would pump-prime a service through the site, at least hourly from about 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. The report says the aim is a half-hourly daytime service.

The NHS integrated care board told the council that GP surgeries in Billericay already have “a significant floorspace deficit” and cannot take the extra demand. It expects the scheme to bring about 2,184 residents. Essex County Council says the Billericay School “is already heavily subscribed”.

For the first 12 months, private homes could only be marketed to people who live or work in the borough, under the proposed agreement.

Who objects

The council wrote to 267 addresses. It received 225 objections and three neutral comments, the report says.

Great Burstead and South Green Parish Council “object strongly”. It says the scheme would fundamentally change the parish, and questions whether GP practices, Basildon Hospital, dental care and the roads could cope. It also asks whether the primary school would ever actually be built.

Residents’ main points, as the report summarises them, are:

• the land stops Billericay merging with Noak Bridge and Basildon
• schools, GPs, Billericay station and buses would be overwhelmed
• infrastructure money should be paid up front, not through a Section 106 agreement
• surface water and flooding, especially at Coxes Farm Road
• approving it before the Local Plan is examined undermines the plan-led system

Tye Common Road: the refusal wording

Councillors voted against up to 175 homes on land west of Tye Common Road, Little Burstead, on 7 October, against their officers’ advice. They are now asked to agree the formal reason.

The addendum report proposes one ground: inappropriate development in the Green Belt. It says the site makes “a strong contribution” to stopping towns sprawling, so it is not grey belt. It also says the benefits, including 50% affordable housing, do not amount to the very special circumstances needed.

16 homes west of Burstead Grange

The third application, 26/00356/FULL, is for 16 homes on land west of Burstead Grange, Billericay, half of them affordable.

Here officers take the opposite view on the Green Belt. They say the site does not make a strong contribution to Green Belt purposes and can be treated as grey belt, so the scheme is not inappropriate development. They recommend approval.

The council consulted 83 neighbours. It received 48 objections and 27 letters of support. Objectors raise the setting of the Grade II listed barn at Burstead Grange, wildlife and drainage on heavy clay. Officers say the harm to the barn is “less than substantial” and outweighed by the benefits.

What it means for you

• The meeting is public. It starts at 7pm on Tuesday 3 November in the St George’s Suite at the Basildon Centre, St Martin’s Square, SS14 1DL. The agenda says gallery space is limited.
• You can ask to speak. The council’s Guide to the Planning Committee, linked from the agenda, sets out how. Speakers can also join remotely by contacting the committee officer named on the agenda.
• Foots Farm will be decided by an inspector, whatever the committee says. If you commented on the application, the council must tell you whether you can comment on the appeal. Our earlier report explains how.
• Other applications near you are on our planning page.

We will report the committee’s decisions after the meeting.