THE time has come for councillors and campaigners to meet about plans to sell off playing fields across Basildon to fund the £38million sporting village.

Basildon Council has announc-ed the dates of three public meetings and a special meeting at the Towngate Theatre, in St Martin’s Square, to discuss the plans.

The first three public meetings, to be held next week, have been arranged so residents can talk about potential housing developments at land off Kent View Road, Vange, Pound Lane, Laindon, and south of Felmores, in Pitsea.

The council wants to sell off the sites to help pay for the sporting village being built in Gloucester Park.

The final meeting will be held at the Towngate on September 16, at 7.30pm and replaces a full council meeting last month which was postponed because too many residents turned up to squeeze into the council chamber.

Despite the public being invited to the Towngate meeting, they will not have the opportunity to address council members.

Campaigns to save the three pieces of land sprung up after residents saw the council’s plans.

Yesterday members of the Vange Community Group were at Kent View Road, in a bid to disprove the council’s report on the district’s open space, which classified the land as scrub and said it was troubled by antisocial behaviour.

Member Neil Hart said: “The council just describe it as scrub land, but it is used all the time.

“There was some antisocial behaviour with people that used to go around on bikes, but that was eliminated around two years ago and it was happening in other parts.”

Mr Hart said the group would be at the public meeting about Kent View Road and at the rearranged council meeting.

The council is hosting the public meetings to give the public the chance to question the plans.

Before each meeting there will be an exhibition where residents can look at the developments proposed for each area.

Deputy council leader Stephen Horgan, councillor responsible regenerating the district, will be at each of the meetings.

Malcolm Buckley, councillor responsible for environmental issues, urged residents who were concerned to attend and find out all the facts about the potential developments before making a choice.

He said: “It clearly makes sense for people to make a decision once they have been fully informed about the plans, rather than listening to some of the speculation around the issue.”