Locals of a beautiful English town have vented their fury at a council’s plan to build almost 17,000 houses on the green belt surrounding their homes.
On Wednesday, Basildon Council opened up its plan to build 27,111 houses around the towns of Billericay and Wickford for public consultation.
A whopping 16,928 houses – 62 per cent of the total – would be built on green belt countryside under the current plans. Billericay would have 4,170 new homes while Wickford would have 3,570.
The leader of Basildon Council, Labour Councillor Gavin Callaghan, admitted to MailOnline that the situation was ‘an almighty mess’ but said there was such demand for houses that ‘big answers’ were needed.
However, homeowners disagree. People living in the area said they were disgusted that their stunning views of the rolling Es𝓈ℯ𝓍 countryside could be destroyed while the tens of thousands of extra people would put an unmanageable strain on local services.
Retired plumbing and heating contractor Roy Gutteridge, 78, has lived on the outskirts of Billericay with his wife Sheila for 40 years. The couple’s home has amazing views of the countryside that they, their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren and grand𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren have enjoyed for years.
But now the fields surrounding them are dotted with surveyors’ posts. If Basildon Council gets its way, Roy’s countryside paradise will be turned into a sea of newbuilds.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s going to be dreadful if it does go ahead. To lose that view is the last thing we want.
‘You get the feeling though that if that’s what they want to do, that’s what they’re going to do. They won’t listen.
‘In earlier years I would have packed my bags and gone. But where would we go and find another place that’s got views such as that?
‘I don’t want to move. It’s too late in life.’
Roy added that his two sons are both thinking of moving away from Billericay with their families because of the planned development.
More than just detroying the countryside, he said the lack of infrastructure was shocking.
Despite the tens of thousands of new homes planned for the area, there are no plans for new GP surgeries, schools, bus stops or other such key infrastructure to service the newcomers.
He said: ‘The development is extremely huge and just too much. The infrastructure is not here.
‘Come peak times, school runs and people coming home from work, the traffic is horrendous.
‘You go up on the high street almost any time of the day and the traffic is almost stationary.
‘In the summer, you walk along and all you can smell is car fumes.’
Erika Poole, 49, lives on the London Road opposite Roy. Her home also looks out on a gorgeous countryside view under threat from developers.
She said: ‘Everyone loves the view. We’d love to keep the countryside beautiful. We’re losing arable farmland as well.
‘There will not be any break between here and Chelmsford. It will be one big town.’
The mother-of-one added that while the destruction of the green belt was a key issue, equally as important was the strain it would put on the road to London, which is outside her house.
She said: ‘This road is really busy. If you come in the mornings, you’ll see a massive queue down this road.
‘Unless they have a plan to fix the roads, it’s not sustainable.
‘It’s just not feasible. It’s being done to meet a target but they’re trying to shoehorn it into areas that can’t sustain.’
Many locals protesting the huge development have joined The Billericay Action Group.
The group told MailOnline: ‘We are opposed to the loss of the Green Belt which is the direct result of an excessive, Government-mandated, housing target, which is three to four times the local need.
‘We recognise the need more housing for local people but what we are seeing is unjustified, unsustainable and will result in the wrong houses, of the wrong type in the wrong places, and the countryside will be lost forever.
‘There will be massive environmental damage and overdevelopment will affect the quality of life of existing residents through increasingly stretched schools and health facilities.
We need a plan built on sound local need and good planning from the bottom up, not a one-size-fits-all approach enforced top down from the Government.’
Andrew Schrader is the Conservative councillor Billericay East. He said: ‘The battle for the green belt is now at hand.
‘I don’t want [this] rotten plan and nor do my constituents.
‘There is a housing crisis and it is largely an affordability crisis. But there is no evidence to support the contention that simply granting permission for more homes, mostly in the irreplaceable greenbelt, will bring down house prices.
‘The developers will never allow that to happen. They are already sitting on scores of planning permissions Basildon council has granted them, yet they refuse to build them out.
‘Why? Because they want to maintain high prices, increase their profits, and continue to put pressure on local planning authorities like Basildon to release greenbelt land in local plans, because it is cheaper to develop a means increase profits for them.
‘I am well aware of the acute need for more homes. We just do not need anything like as many as the 27,000 this plan proposes.
‘We certainly do not need to despoil hundreds of hectares of green belt to build them.
‘This plan is unsound, undeliverable and unsustainable. This is a bad plan not just for Billericay but for the whole borough.
‘Even if you do not have a proposed development site near you, you will be affected. Nothing will be left untouched by this scale of growth.
‘I know we are all tired of the poxy plan and these interminable consultations, but now is not the time to let up.’
A House Building Federation spokesman said: ‘Unlike their parents, today’s generation are unable to get onto the property ladder and a growing number of people are living in substandard accommodation .
‘It is the responsibility of the local authority to decide where the homes their communities need are built.
‘As numerous independent reviews have concluded, house builders do not sit on land with a planning permission.
‘The only return on investment house builders get is to sell homes.
‘The government recognises the need to increase housing supply and if it creates a policy environment that allows it to do so, the industry will deliver.’
Meanwhile, despite the local outrage, Basildon Council is adamant that the development should go ahead.
Labour Councillor Gavin Callaghan, the leader of Basildon Council, told MailOnline: ‘We have 10,000 20 to 34-year-olds stuck at home with mum and dad, and more than 8,000 families on our real council house waiting list.
‘In the last ten years, we’ve only built 4,000 homes and we’re now in a mess where we simply do not have the number of homes our residents and their families need.
‘Such a crisis demands big answers. The failure of the previous administration to pass a local plan has meant we have ended up where we are today which is in an almighty mess.
‘If we don’t build homes and build them quickly, things will go from bad to worse for our local families and we have a duty to make sure that doesn’t happen.’
For many locals, it will further convince them that the council will do what it wants even if the community continues to oppose the plans.
Grandmother Diane Yarnall, 80, also lives in Billericay. She said: ‘We’ve had it lovely for all these years and now it’s going to be ruined.
‘It’s rubbish. I’ve lived here 30 years. With the traffic that goes up and down this road, and they’re going to build on that land.
‘We’ve been to all the meetings and put our objections in but that’s not going to work is it?
‘At least I know they can’t touch my garden. But it’s not just the houses, it’s the people they’re going to put in them.
‘Social housing without any extra infrastructure – no doctors, no extra schools.
‘It’s a lovely place to live but the traffic on that road is incredible. I sometimes look out at 2am and it’s still going up and down.
‘It used to be the odd car. Now it’s 24/7.
‘And what can you do? I don’t want to move from here. My family are here.
‘We’ve been to all the meetings and there’s nothing you can do about it, except lose money on your house.’
Her neighbour Gerry Keane, 88, said: ‘We objected. It’s going to cause a lot of traffic. I don’t like it at all. Nobody wants a huge development on their doorstep.’
Fellow local Sandra Routledge said: ‘Basildon Council has no regard for the Billericay history, they are just up for destroying an old country town.
‘It’s beyond outrageous that they have no regard for the green belt and our wildlife.’
Meanwhile, homeowner Rob Wirdnam issued a call to action as he decried what was happening to the countryside surrounding Billericay.
He said: ‘Unfortunately, for several years green belt has been lost for development. It’s awful as once gone, it’s gone forever.
‘I think it needs residents from across the whole borough to engage. For several years I have raised awareness on proposed development.
‘[Basildon Council is] destroying ages-old wildlife habitats.’
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: ‘To fix the housing crisis we have inherited, all areas of the country must play their part in building the housing we need.
‘But we are clear that new homes must come with the necessary infrastructure.
‘We have consulted on introducing Golden Rules for the release of Green Belt land, meaning developments must provide improvements to both local and national infrastructure including schools, GP Surgeries, and transport links.’
People living in Basildon have until January 12, 2025, to submit comments on the housing plan for the borough, which can be viewed here: https://basildonlocalplan.commonplace.is/.