Planning minister intervenes in Basildon local plan

In a letter to the council's leader, Andy Barnes, Matthew Pennycook also said it was of “serious concern” that the council has previously stated its opposition to the standard method and to progressing a plan that meets housing need in full.

Councillors at Basildon have since hit out at the intervention, backing a motion to demand the Government revoke its housing target for the area and make a “legally binding commitment” that new housing development will only take place with the necessary infrastructure and public services funded.

Basildon has not adopted a local plan since in 1998. The council has yet to adopt a plan under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, making it one of only five authorities without an adopted plan under the 2004 Act.

"The existing plan is over 27 years old and the policies it contains are likely to be significantly out of date and the council is already at least five months behind the schedule set in the most recent Local Development Scheme (LDS)," Pennycook said.

His letter added: "The continued absence of an up-to-date local plan leaves the council vulnerable to piecemeal and speculative development, with reduced public engagement and fewer guarantees that it will make the most of the area’s potential."

The council has until 31 December this year to submit its plan under the current plan-making system.

Pennycook said: "I consider the council’s failure to progress a local plan under the legacy plan-making system, alongside its missed milestones and continued slippage against the timetable in its LDS, to be clear evidence of a failure to do something necessary in connection with the preparation of the plan.

“The resulting delays place the council’s prospects of submitting a plan for examination by December 2026 in serious jeopardy. Taken together, I consider that this meets the statutory test for intervention."

He went on to direct Basildon to progress the plan up to the end of the examination process.

This included a direction to commence a Regulation 19 consultation on the emerging plan that has been published for consideration by Cabinet on 23 July and to do so by no later than 10 August 2026 for a minimum period of 6 weeks.

Once the council has conducted its consultation, it must submit its emerging plan by no later than 31 December 2026 "with any proposed minor modifications necessary after full consideration of representations received at consultation", the letter added.

Elsewhere, the minister directed the council not to take any step to withdraw the plan and to report monthly to his officials on the progress of the plan.

Councillors at Basildon have since backed a motion criticising the intervention as “unnecessary and premature”.

The motion, which was voted on at a full council meeting on Tuesday (21 July), said housing targets for the region were undeliverable without significant investment in the infrastructure and public services needed to support such a substantial increase in housing.

It also said the 28,000-home target placed unacceptable pressure on the borough’s Green Belt, green fields and countryside, threatening the character and identity of communities.

The motion called for Cllr Barnes to write to the relevant Secretary of State to demand that the Government immediately withdraw the housing target, commit to providing sufficient, long-term and ring-fenced infrastructure funding, and make “a legally binding commitment” that new housing development will only take place with the necessary infrastructure and public services funded.

It also called upon the leader to tell the Government “why their decision to intervene on Basildon’s Local Plan is unnecessary and premature, and that decision making regarding the local plan must remain with local people and not central Government”.

Adam Carey