FACE Invest Ltd wants The Firs and Willowmead on Oak Avenue as offices and staff space for the clinic, partly retrospective. Decision due by 5 October.

Two houses on Oak Avenue in Crays Hill would stop being homes and become offices, staff facilities and ancillary accommodation for Facemed, the village’s private clinic, under a planning application validated by Basildon Council on Monday 10 August. The application is partly retrospective, meaning part of the work it describes has already been carried out. (Basildon Council planning register, 26/00877/FULL)

What is proposed

The application, reference 26/00877/FULL, seeks a change of use of two dwellinghouses, named as The Firs and Willowmead, Oak Avenue, from residential use (Use Class C3) to “ancillary accommodation, office and staff facilities for FACEMED”, which falls under Use Class E(e), the class covering the provision of medical or health services. It also covers associated hard and soft landscaping works, and it is this package that the register records as part retrospective.

The applicant is FACE Invest Ltd, represented by agent Union 4 Planning of Guildford. The council’s case officer is Miranda Webb, Ramsden Crays Parish Council is the parish consultee, and the site sits in Castledon and Crouch ward. The register lists the application as awaiting decision, with a determination deadline of Monday 5 October 2026. (Basildon Council planning register, further information tab)

The clinic next door

Facemed is a Care Quality Commission registered independent clinic at Crays Hill, run by Facemed Limited, offering cosmetic surgery, dentistry and medical aesthetic treatments. The CQC rates it Good overall; the inspection report was published on 20 June 2022 and the rating was last reviewed on 6 July 2023. (CQC, FACEmed Cosmetic Medical & Dental Centre)

On its own website the business says it opened in 2017 under nurse practitioner Monica Berrange, serves over 4,000 patients, and has added services over the years including NHS podiatric day surgery from 2019 and consultant-led cosmetic and hand surgery from 2022. (Facemed, about page) The application does not state how many staff would use the converted houses.

What it means for you

If you live near Oak Avenue, this is the stage at which comments carry weight. Neighbour and public comments are made through the application page on the council’s planning portal. When Basildon Today checked on Wednesday 12 August, two days after validation, the consultation dates had not yet been published on the register, so the comment window is still to be advertised.

For the village, the application would take two houses out of residential use in a small settlement, in exchange for consolidating the clinic’s back-office and staff space next to where it already operates. The decision is due by 5 October, and we will report it from the register when it is made.

We track every new application across the borough on our Basildon planning news page.