MORE than 18,000 new homes for Basildon were approved by councillors this morning.

Hundreds of people crammed into Basildon’s Sporting Village to have a say on the borough’s housing plan.

After more than seven hours of debate, councillors finally signed off on the plan in the early hours.

The future will include more than 9,000 homes in Basildon, Laindon, Pitsea and Noak Bridge; more than 3,000 in Billericay and more than 3,500 in Wickford.

Basildon Council's infrastructure growth and development committee agreed to reduce Basildon greenbelt cover from 63 per cent to 59 per cent to accommodate the homes, commercial premises, two large hotels and 53 traveller pitches and three plots.

Apart from the number of homes, the hottest topics of the night were traveller sites being situated in new housing developments and lack of infrastructure to accommodate the overall plan.

Conservative councillor Phil Turner said not enough planning had gone into road and rail improvement, especially in Billericay and Wickford.

“You’ve dumped on Billericay and you know you have,” he said. “You will carry on dumping. You’ve been led by the nose by officers.”

Labour and UKIP councillors said they were compelled to approve a housing plan. The meeting was told that Tory MP Sajid Javid, secretary of state for communities and local government, had announced a crack down of councils that fail to submit plans that meets ‘housing need’.

Councils that fail risk Government intervention.

Gavin Callaghan, leader of the Policy and Resources Committee, said: “We will not have any say in this if a development corporation takes over. That threat hangs over us.”

Apart from housing, the plan included new cycling infrastructure, air quality assessment to support planning application an electric vehicle parking.

Amendments were made on the night after locals raised objections about the loss of an ancient wood in Billericay and new traveller sites in Vange.

Conservative councillor for Burstead, Kevin Blake said: “I take my hats off to the people of Vange and Frithwood. Because they’ve changed the mind of the committee.”

Fellow councillor Andrew Baggott raised concerns throughout the meeting about traveller sites being placed within new housing sites.

Mr Baggott said: “Travellers are people. And we have sites where they integrated very well. But having traveller sites attached to a development is inappropriate.”

The plan will go to Full Council for a final vote on Thursday March 22.

Mick Toomer, chairman of the Friends of Basildon Golf Course, said after the meeting: "Our policy at the Friends of Basildon Golf Course is not to get involved in fights we can’t win, and from the beginning our sole aim was to get the traveller pitches removed from the proposed development alongside the Golf Course, rather than the wider issues.

"As such we are delighted with the result. Other organisations and residents in other areas have other issues with the proposal, and they may not be so happy.

"It was less than two weeks ago that the traveller site plan came to my
notice. It is unfortunate that the Committee did not take my representations and warnings more seriously at that time. Had they done so much of what has happened over the past week or so would not have been necessary.

"As it was the troops were mobilised with almost 500 concerned residents turning out for our meeting held just five days later. The rest is now history which means we do not have to resort to my contingency plan.

"At this point huge thanks must go to Nethermayne Independent Councillor Kerry Smith who worked tirelessly to keep residents informed, even though the procedural rules regarding pre-determination meant he couldn’t voice an opinion.

"This is the second time that The Friends Of Basildon Golf Course, an organisation with no political alliance, has been forced to show its teeth. Last time we successfully fought a High Court battle with the Conservatives over plans to desecrate the Golf Course with almost half a million tons of building waste. This time we rallied against the Labour/UKIP alliance plans to site a traveller encampment amongst a new housing estate alongside the Golf Course. On both occasions we have achieved our aim, and in doing so our actions have damaged both the administrations and the individual councillors involved.

"The press have described the Friends Of Basildon Golf Course as coming
out of hibernation to fight this latest battle. It is a very good analogy, and hopefully we can now go back into hibernation. However, I would add that if you poke the sleeping bear you must be prepared for the consequences. This is something that future Basildon Council administrations would do well to keep in mind."