Billericay 175 Homes: Councillors Vote Against Approval

Basildon Council’s Planning Committee has voted against plans for up to 175 homes on Green Belt farmland off Tye Common Road, Billericay. Its own officers had recommended approval.

The vote came at the committee’s meeting on Wednesday 7 October. We watched the council’s recording of the meeting on its YouTube channel. The application is not formally refused yet. The chair told the meeting it would go back to officers and return to a later committee.

The same evening, councillors unanimously opposed 95 homes at Ramsden Bellhouse, a village east of Billericay. They approved 27 new council homes in Basildon and Vange and a new floodlit pitch in Pitsea.

What happened on Tye Common Road

The scheme, 25/01214/OUT, is an outline application from Taylor Wimpey for an 8.95 hectare field between Tye Common Road and Blunts Wall Road. Its planning agent told the committee half the homes would be affordable.

Officers had recommended approval, as we reported before the meeting. Their case rested on the council’s housing shortage: it can show only 2.05 years of land for new homes against the five years it needs.

Five residents spoke against the scheme. The council has received 317 objections. The points raised at the meeting included:

• traffic on Tye Common Road, which residents said is already overloaded at peak times and on Billericay Town match days
• flooding, because Essex County Council, the lead local flood authority, had not sent its comments on surface water
• the distance to Billericay station, the High Street and the nearest GP surgery
• the loss of farmland that is still ploughed and harvested

Officers confirmed at the meeting that the flood authority had not responded “despite me chasing them on a number of occasions”. An officer said the site had been visited, but not on a match day.

Essex County Council’s highways team had said the traffic impact was acceptable, subject to conditions. Officers told councillors they had no evidence to contradict that advice.

One councillor said it would be “ludicrous to put 175 houses right next to a football ground”. The council’s legal adviser reminded the committee that Green Belt harm is “a starting point and not an end point”. Councillors also had to weigh the borough’s unmet need for housing, the adviser said.

The chair then put the officers’ recommendation to approve to the vote. It was voted down with no abstentions. The number of votes each way was not read out.

The reasons councillors agreed

The committee then voted on its reasons for refusal. As read out at the meeting, they say:

• the scheme is inappropriate development in the Green Belt
• the site makes a strong contribution to checking urban sprawl, so it is not “grey belt” land
• it would cause substantial harm to the openness of the Green Belt
• the benefits do not clearly outweigh that harm, so the “very special circumstances” needed are not shown

What happens next

The chair told the meeting the application would “come back to the next committee meeting”. The next Planning Committee is scheduled for Tuesday 3 November. Its agenda is due the week before.

There is a second step. Since 31 March 2026, a council that wants to refuse 150 or more homes must first consult the Secretary of State, the officer report says. The government can then take the decision itself. Taylor Wimpey could also appeal any refusal.

On Saturday 10 October the council’s planning register still listed the application as “Awaiting decision”.

The rest of the evening

Ramsden Bellhouse. The developer of the Glebe Road site appealed because the council did not decide in time. The planning register records a “Non Determination” decision, dated 1 October. The committee backed all three of the officers’ reasons for refusal: Green Belt harm, reliance on cars, and no proof of the required 10% gain in wildlife habitat. The Planning Inspectorate will decide the appeal.

Council homes. The two schemes come from the council’s own Sempra Homes programme, and both are for social rent, the officer reports say. The Knights scheme replaces 18 flat-roofed homes, most of them empty, and 16 garages.

Pitsea PlayZone. The council announced the approval on its website. The pitch replaces the multi-use games area at Pitsea Central Open Space with one for football, netball and basketball. It will have 3 metre fencing and 8 metre LED floodlights, the officer told the meeting. The register shows the permission was issued on Friday 9 October.

What it means for you

• If you objected to Tye Common Road, it is not over. Watch for the 3 November agenda, and for any notice that the Secretary of State has been consulted.
• If you live near Glebe Road, comments now go to the Planning Inspectorate, not the council. The appeal is being decided on written evidence.
• Council tenants on the housing register could be offered one of the 27 social rent homes at Knights and High Barrets once they are built.
• In Pitsea, the new PlayZone can now be built. The council has not given a start date.

Green Belt housing is also on the agenda elsewhere. One committee member told the meeting that a motion to withdraw the council’s draft Local Plan goes to an extraordinary full council meeting on 26 October. The council’s meetings calendar lists two council meetings that evening; neither agenda has been published yet. More background is in our pieces on the draft Local Plan and on Basildon planning news.