Plans for Billericay 150-home Potash Road mini village

P&A Investments and P D Developments have submitted a planning application to Basildon Council detailing the major plans on land northeast of Potash Road, Billericay.

The proposals, which would see the houses at numbers 41 and 65 Potash Road bulldozed to make way, include a 50-bed care home and 47 “affordable homes” on land identified in the council’s now defunct local plan as a potential site for 250+ new homes.

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Residents have voiced their opposition to the proposals in a bid to protect the green belt and protect infrastructure from becoming overburdened.

Plans (Image: DAP Architecture)

A spokesman for Billericay Action Group (BAG), a group of non-party political volunteers campaigning on planning matters, said: “We have long believed this to be a bad site for any development. It will put a considerable amount of traffic onto Potash Road, which is busy today and dangerously narrow in places. There is also great potential for increased rat-running through the existing housing estate nearby.

Plans (Image: DAP Architecture)

“The site is on the very extremities of Billericay and is far from schools, health facilities, shops and the railway station. As a result, short car journeys are inevitable, adding to existing congestion in Billericay as public transport is inadequate.”

Location (Image: Google Maps)

The group has called for the council to expedite the process of preparing a new local plan after councillors voted to bin its 18,000-home building blueprint in March.

“The right place to determine and set out the long term future of the green belt is via a new local plan, not through ad hoc speculative planning applications,” the group said.

The site (Image: DAP Architecture)

Basildon councillor Kerry Smith has warned a new plan may not be ready for another five years, adding this planning application was a direct result of the council’s decision to axe the last plan.

“This is what happens when you play with matches, your fingers get burnt,” he said.

“If the applicant goes to appeal, we are in a weak place to defend ourselves as seen with the tower blocks in Basildon town centre.

“It’s like Christmas for developers at the moment, and it may not be until 2027 that we have a new local plan in place.”

P&A Investments and P D Developments have been contacted for comment.