A HOUSING estate could be built on land in Basildon – nearly 25 years after the site was first earmarked for development.

Two houses in Gardiners Close, Basildon, which have been boarded up for five years, would be demolished as part of the scheme for 43 properties.

The land has previously been earmarked fora business park, but those plans from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency have got nowhere since being mooted in the Nineties.

Pauline Missing, 60, of Gardiners Close, one of the last remaining residents in the area, said the constant threat of development had made her ill.

She said: “I’m so ill because of the stress all of this has caused me. It’s been horrendous.

“If these homes stopped the business park going ahead, then that would be a good thing. But I don’t think that will happen.

“Developers have wanted this since the Nineties, but it’s taken 25 years. It just isn’t fair. It’s had such an impact on so many people’s lives.

“To see a house boarded up for five years, which used to belong to a friend, is heartbreaking.

“It looks like the builders are just going to go round me now. I always thought that couldn’t happen.’’ The housing estate would be made up of two one-bedroom houses, three two-bedroom houses, 20 three-bedroom houses, 14 four-bedroom houses and four flats.

The Chelmsford-based Anderson Group is behind the plans. It said shops and other community facilities would be created within future phases of the development.

Phil Turner, leader of Basildon Council, said the council had offered to buy the land off the Homes and Communities Agency – but were unsuccessful.

He said: “I’ve got a lot of sympathy with the Missing family and other residents who have been blighted by this for years.

“I got involved some years ago.

but the Homes and Communities Agency just couldn't make the development work.

“We’ve offered to take the land off their hands because I’m pretty sure we could get together a scheme suitable for everyone.

“Not everybody wants to live in the middle of a business park, so there could be issues with these plans.”