THE Mayor of London has requested for Basildon Council to help fill the capital’s homes quota - by building homes for Londoners in the borough.

Basildon Council, as a local authority within the vicinity of Greater London, has been asked if it can contribute homes in London’s bid to complete a 66,000-home local plan to meet housing needs for the area.

London has allocated 65,000 of the 66,000 homes, and is calling on authorities in the wider area to make up the additional 1,000.

But Basildon Council is set to reject the offer with a draft letter in response to Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

The council has stated it is unable to meet its own housing needs, let alone prop up the capital city.

The letter also states it would not sacrifice the borough’s green belt for the sake of homes for London-based commuters.

The council’s consultation response and neighbourhood planning sub-committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss the proposal, and have been recommended to approve the response rejecting the offer.

The council also took the opportunity to urge London to incorporate gypsy and traveller patches in its local plan, like Basildon has, with 53 pitches planned for the borough.

The draft letter reads: “Basildon Borough Council is currently finalising a local plan, and intends to submit its plan for Examination in Public in Summer 2018.

“In order to address its own needs it has had to carefully consider the opportunities presented by development, Green Belt constraints and the capacity of infrastructure to accommodate growth.

“At this time, it has reached a view that it is unable to meet its own objectively assessed need for housing within its plan period.Therefore, in respect of any unmet need for housing arising from London, Basildon Council would not anticipate being able to accommodate additional housing need, particularly in the absence of significant infrastructure investment outside the London boundary.”

Councils across Greater London have been contacted.