More houses needed for young people, says council

Developers should prioritise building cheaper homes for young people in Basildon over out-of-town buyers, the borough's council leader has said.

Andy Barnes said there was a "glut" of large, expensive properties failing to sell across south Essex and a change of direction was needed.

Conservative-led Basildon Borough Council is under pressure from the government to allow the construction of 28,000 homes by 2043.

A public consultation on what its emerging local plan should look like has been launched, ahead of a 31 December deadline for the council to submit it to the government.

Basildon - which last adopted a local plan in 1998 - is the only council in the country said to have not submitted a plan to the government for examination so far.

A local plan is a key local authority document that sets out a long-term vision for an area about where housing and infrastructure projects will be built and which places will be protected from development.

"We need homes that actually work for the next generation of people that live here now," Barnes told BBC Essex presenter Sonia Watson.

"Not homes that are going to sit unsold, waiting for people from elsewhere to come in and purchase them at inflated prices, which is what's going on now."

Barnes said the 28,000-home target - which would require about 1,600 properties to be built annually - was unrealistic and that it should be revised to 20,000 at most.

He also took aim at developers, accusing them of pricing young people out of getting on the property ladder.

"Because developers want to maximise their return on investment, we're getting a glut of larger properties that there doesn't appear to be any demand for," he said.

Intervention by the government in July has only increased the pressure on the council.

In a letter to Barnes, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said it was of "serious concern" that the authority had not advanced a local plan.

"The continued absence of an up-to-date local plan leaves the council vulnerable to piecemeal and speculative development, with reduced public engagement and fewer guarantees that it will make the most of the area's potential," Pennycook wrote.

The government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes in England by summer 2029.

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