New face of Basildon and Wickford

9:00am Thursday 21st February 2008

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HUGELY ambitious plans to change the face of Wickford and Basildon are beginning to look achievable.

A shortlist of four groups want to deliver the £120million Wickford masterplan, while three contenders are fighting to build and run the £30million sports village planned for Gloucester Park, Basildon.

The news comes just over four months after the Echo revealed the four international development consortiums battling for the £1billion Basildon masterplan contract.

Excited council leader Malcolm Buckley said: "We have made real progress.

"We expect to be able to announce the development consortium for Basildon by the summer, and before that we are already in a position to choose between consortiums which have applied for the Wickford and sporting village contracts.

"All the companies involved have the clout and finances needed to deliver these projects."

Basildon Conservatives now hope the calibre of the companies involved will silence claims by political rivals the plans are a pipedream.

Soon after the Tory-controlled administration took over in late 2002, they talked of regeneration for Basildon and Wickford on a previously unimaginable scale.

Consultants were quickly hired, much to the criticism of rival politicians, to devise large-scale redevelopment projects for both towns.

The council soon unveiled plans to turn Wickford into a Continental-style town with tree and cafe-lined squares, and transform Basildon into a vibrant town with town centre homes, bustling nightlife and its own sports mecca.

This would include an Olympic-sized swimming pool in Gloucester Park.

However, the ambitious proposals were branded pie in the sky by sceptics.

Tory councillors were also criticised for jetting off to a glitzy developers conference in the French resort of Cannes last March, and for hosting a costly evening for private firms at central London's Commonwealth Club, in November, 2006.

But Mr Buckley said: "We have been criticised for attending and hosting these events, but to bring about regeneration on the scale we are proposing we need to be in constant dialogue with the type of firms which have the ability to invest and deliver.

"Our current shortlists should show the critics this is now achievable."

The four shortlisted for Wickford are: * Barratt Homes * Bellway Homes working with CoPlan Estates, NCP car parks and Assura * Community Solutions for Regeneration - made up of Family Mosaic, Morgan Sindall Investments and Lovell * St Modwen Properties.

Family Mosaic was the applicant for the Wickford swimming pool rebuild, as well as the 99 flats development just agreed by Basildon Council. However, the council is keen to stress this does not mean they will be favoured over any of the others.

The three groups on the shortlist for the sports village are: * DC Leisure Management, working with constructors Wilmott Dixon and Limbrick Architects * Orion Land and Leisure and Parkwood Leisure * Community Solutions for Leisure Ltd - made up of Morgan Sindell Investments, Sport and Leisure Management and S&P Architects.