THE former leader of Basildon Council has warned the authority is leaving itself vulnerable to costly planning appeals after councillors rejected plans for more than 2,000 homes in recent weeks.
Labour councillor Gavin Callaghan said Basildon was in an “incredibly weak position” to defend refusals because it still does not have an adopted Local Plan, the blueprint that guides where development should take place across the borough.
His comments come after the council’s planning committee voted down applications for more than 2,000 homes across its last two meetings, despite mounting pressure from central Government to increase housebuilding.
Last month, housing minister Matthew Pennycook intervened and directed Basildon Council to submit a Local Plan by the end of the year amid concerns over its housing delivery record.
The Government’s targets could ultimately require around 28,000 new homes to be built across the borough.
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Conservative leader of the council Andy Barnes said the planning committee’s role is to represent residents’ interests, which include preventing overdevelopment of green belt land, but accepted the Local Plan was being “forced through” by central Government.
Planning committee vice-chair and Reform UK leader Sam Journet, whose party strongly opposes the release of green belt land for development, said each decision is taken on its own merit and without pre-judgement.
Mr Callaghan argued that, without an adopted Local Plan in place, the council risks losing appeals from developers and incurring significant costs for taxpayers.
He said: “The council is in an incredibly weak position. Without a Local Plan, it becomes much harder to defend decisions to reject housing applications unless there are very strong planning grounds for doing so.”
Mr Callaghan said the failure to adopt a Local Plan had “killed the council’s negotiating position”, arguing that the authority should instead seek to secure the maximum possible contributions from developers for infrastructure and public services.
He added: “All the while, 3,600 people are on the council house waiting list, 10,000 people aged between 25 and 34 are still living with their parents, thousands of older residents are looking for smaller homes to downsize into, and the council is stalling and letting them down.
“Rejecting application after application and then facing the prospect of expensive appeals is utterly reckless.”
Mr Barnes accepted consideration should be given to potential financial implications, but said the committee’s job is to represent residents interests.
“I don’t think members should be intimidated by developers appeals if they feel a development is is not right for the area,” he said.
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