Billericay 250 Homes: Comments Close 13 September

Revised plans for 250 homes on farmland at the southern edge of Billericay are back out for public comment, and the affordable housing on offer has changed shape since the site won permission.

Basildon Borough Council re-advertised the reserved matters application for Land West of Laindon Road on 20 August. Representations have to reach Planning Services by 13 September 2026 (public notice, 20 August). The council’s own register shows earlier dates for the neighbour and site notice stages, so 13 September is the latest published deadline and the one to work to.

Not one resident has commented. The register records 232 people and bodies consulted and zero public comments, alongside 19 responses from statutory and internal consultees (application 26/00094/REM).

The site

The land is 15.74 hectares, or 38.89 acres, of arable fields immediately south of Billericay. It sits in the Green Belt, west of South Green and north of Little Burstead, with The Billericay School on its eastern side.

• Public footpath Billericay 23 crosses the site, linking Laindon Road to bridleway Little Burstead 48.
• Trees on the site are covered by tree preservation orders TPO05/82 and TPO/07/18, and several have been identified as possible early veteran trees.
• Frithwood, at Laindon Common to the south, is classified as ancient woodland.
• The whole site is in Flood Zone 1, the lowest flood risk band.
• It is allocation H4 in the council’s draft Local Plan, which describes a “landscape-led” neighbourhood.

Outline permission for up to 250 homes was granted on 23 April 2025 to Gleeson Land Ltd, with access off Laindon Road fixed and everything else left to be decided later (decision notice, 24/00762/OUT). This application settles that “everything else”: appearance, layout, landscaping and scale.

What changed in the affordable homes

Half the scheme is affordable housing, 125 of the 250 homes, and that part has not changed. What has moved is the tenure, meaning who gets to rent, who gets to buy, and on what terms.

The section 106 agreement signed with the outline permission set out one split. The applicant is now proposing another.

In plain terms, 58 homes that the legal agreement set aside for shared ownership or Future Homes would become 47 discounted market homes and 11 more affordable rent homes. The applicant’s own planning and affordable housing statement argues the change means “at least 30% of all dwellings falls within a traditional affordable product”, and says social rent and affordable rent combined come to just over 30% of the whole scheme.

That change needs the legal agreement altering. The applicant’s agent, Ceres Property LLP, told the council in a letter dated 30 July that a deed of variation had already been submitted to alter the affordable tenure mix, agreed in principle with the housing officer and the head of development management before the application went in, and that “no response has been received on this point”.

What the consultees said

The same letter sets out, consultee by consultee, what came back and how the applicant answered. Several of the responses have not been published separately, so this is the only public account of them.

• Lead Local Flood Authority. Lodged a holding objection on 19 July, seeking clarity on half drain times and pollution hazard classification. The applicant’s engineers have replied directly and say the points do not warrant a sustained objection.
• Essex County Highways. Asked for visibility splays, tracking information and re-alignment of some cycle and pedestrian links. The applicant says those comments arrived through the planning officer by email rather than as a formal response, has made the alignment changes, and “urges” the highway authority and the council “to reconcile apparent discrepancies”.
• Tree officer. Raised concern that realigning the spine road through the existing tree belt would lose a category B tree. Two replacement trees are now proposed in its place.
• Ecology. Generally satisfied with the layout. The plans have been annotated to reinforce a buffer to the ancient woodland, in line with government standing advice.
• Anglian Water. A pre-development enquiry confirms there is capacity at the nearest water recycling centre for the flows from 250 homes.
• Essex Police. No objection. The layout has been altered to increase natural surveillance over the northern green space.
• Active Travel England. The applicant says its points go to the principle of development rather than reserved matters, and are better directed at pending outline applications.

What is being built

• 125 open market homes: five two-bedroom apartments, 36 two-bedroom houses, 54 three-bedroom houses and 30 with four or more bedrooms.
• 125 affordable homes: 20 one-bedroom flats, 20 two-bedroom flats, 36 two-bedroom houses, 37 three-bedroom houses and 12 four-bedroom houses.
• Height. Predominantly two storeys, with 2.5-storey elements up to 11.5 metres and two three-storey apartment buildings.
• Open space. Five play areas spread across the site, a green corridor along the northern boundary behind Scrub Rise, Greenfields Close and Quilters Drive, and drainage basins in the west fronting Frithwood Lane.
• Set-back. The built development sits a minimum of about 55 metres back from Frithwood Lane.

Work on the conditions attached to the outline permission is already under way. The developer applied in June to discharge the land contamination conditions, and on 24 August lodged a further application covering the construction environmental management plan, the construction-phase surface water drainage and flood risk scheme, and water efficiency.

The other Billericay scheme has slipped

The borough’s other large Billericay reserved matters case, 130 homes south of London Road, was due to be decided on 25 August. It was not. The register now shows a determination deadline of 5 October 2026, six weeks later than the original expiry date, with the application still awaiting decision. There, too, the public comment count is zero, from 643 people consulted. We covered that scheme in our report on the London Road site.

What it means for you

• You have until 13 September to comment, in writing to Application Comments, Planning Services, The Basildon Centre, St Martin’s Square, Basildon SS14 1DL, quoting 26/00094/REM.
• The principle is already settled. Outline permission was granted in April 2025, so objecting to housing on the site as such carries no weight now. Appearance, layout, landscaping and scale are what is on the table.
• The tenure change is worth a look if affordable housing matters to you. Shared ownership is the route many first-time buyers in Billericay use, and the proposal removes it from this site’s 125 affordable homes.
• Nobody has written in. With 232 consulted and no public comments, a single well-argued letter is currently the only resident voice on file.
• The decision is overdue. The council’s own determination deadline for this application was 20 May 2026.

Related

• Basildon planning news: the Local Plan and what it means for the borough’s housing numbers.
• Basildon house prices: what homes in Billericay actually sell for.
• Billericay, 130 homes south of London Road.

Sources

• Basildon Borough Council planning notice, 20 August 2026 for the re-consultation and the 13 September deadline.
• Application 26/00094/REM on Basildon’s planning register for the status, dates, consultation counts and document list.
• Planning and Affordable Housing Statement, submitted January 2026 with 26/00094/REM, for the site description, the housing mix, the tenure tables and the layout details.
• Cover letter from Ceres Property LLP to Basildon Borough Council dated 30 July 2026, published on the register on 12 August 2026, for the consultee summary, the deed of variation and the tree, highways and flood authority points.
• Outline permission 24/00762/OUT, granted 23 April 2025, and its decision notice.
• Application 26/00762/REM for the London Road determination deadline of 5 October 2026.