An Outline Planning Application, Ref. 07/00801/OUT, was submitted to Basildon Council in June 2007 by Andrew Martin Associates, the firm of planners acting for Gleeson Homes Ltd and Gladedale Group Ltd. You can view it plus most of the 76 documents which accompanied it, together with the responses from the statutory consultees (eg. Anglian Water, Chelmsford Borough Council, Environment Agency, Essex County Council, Natural England, Network Rail, Sport England) on the Council website here.

The application covers the two fields measuring 4.3 hectares (10.6 acres), at present bisected by a hedgerow, to the north and east of Station Avenue (and abutting the rear gardens of houses in Guernsey Gardens). It proposes 3 options for 157, 189 or 200 dwellings of 2, 2.5 and 3 storeys. Most would be 2-3 bedroom flats. Some would be 2-3 bedroom houses and a few would be 3-4 bedroom houses. 35% of the total would be affordable, comprising 70% rented and 30% intermediate/shared ownership. Access would be from Station Avenue at the northern end and/or via a new mini-roundabout at the existing Silver Way junction.

This is how the developers say it would look:

plan_1 plan_2

But the developers do not just own these 4.3 hectares. They also own most of the 48.5 hectares (100 acres plus) of green countryside extending up to and beyond Waverley Crescent. This planning application is a mere ‘stepping stone’ to a much larger scale development - which could see up to 2,000 flats and houses built at Barn Hall and effectively ‘concreting over’ the lot!

Wickford North Green Action Group (WNGAG) opposes this development because:
• It would destroy nature and the Environment.
• It disregards Local Democracy.
• It does nothing to regenerate Wickford town centre and would place further burdens on the Infrastructure.