Council eyes legal challenge to Government intervention in local plan process

Its Conservative leader Andy Barnes said the council voted to support his party’s plan to explore a judicial review but the matter would go to the cabinet for professional advice before further steps were considered.

He did not indicate the grounds for judicial review.

Cllr Barnes said in a statement: “Decisions about development should remain with local people, and that power shouldn’t have been stripped away before giving them a chance to have their say.”

He added: “We believe the decision to step in was premature and unnecessary, effectively taking local decision-making out of the hands of Basildon's elected councillors.”

The council has argued that its 28,000-home target placed unacceptable pressure on the green belt and countryside.

Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook in July told Basildon to advance its local plan after stating that delays put its adoption under the current plan-making system in “serious jeopardy”.

Pennycook also said it was of “serious concern” that the council has previously stated its opposition to progressing a plan that meets housing need in full.

Basildon has not adopted a local plan since in 1998 and “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 minister said.

Mark Smulian