Selling Land in Basildon

• Fields on the edge of Billericay, Wickford and Basildon, where Green Belt boundaries are most likely to be reviewed.
• Land around Crays Hill, Ramsden Bellhouse, Noak Bridge and the Bursteads that is enclosed by existing homes or roads.
• Old plots, yards and former nurseries with lawful buildings or hardstanding.
• Land within walking distance of any of the five stations.
• Holdings with a road frontage, or a clear route to one.
• Larger areas of land that could help meet the growth the new plan must provide.

On every site we check the flood maps and the sequential test in our flood risk guide first, and land beside the A127 or A13 needs early work on traffic noise and junctions.

In Basildon, with a plan heading for examination, our work on a site often starts with written representations and can run through hearing sessions before any application is made. The option price is fixed on the day we sign, above what the land is worth today, and every report, representation, application and appeal along the way is paid for by us. Once permission is secured we complete and you receive that agreed price; if it never comes, the land stays yours with nothing owed, and you farm, graze or let it as before in the meantime. The stages are laid out on our how it works page.

• An outright sale. You sell the land as it stands today, privately or at auction. The price is what a buyer will pay for it without planning permission, and the buyer takes on everything that follows.
• A conditional contract. You agree a sale now, but it only completes if planning permission is granted. Until then you keep the land, and the agreement sets out who applies for permission and who pays.
• An option agreement, the route we use. We agree your price at the start, in writing, set above what your land is worth today. We then pay for and run all of the planning work, at our own cost and risk. If permission is granted, we complete the purchase and you receive the agreed price on completion. If it is not, you keep your land and owe nothing.

For land that needs planning permission before it is worth more, an option means you know your price before any work starts and never spend a penny on planning. The ways to sell land for development, compared sets out each route in full.

On 21 July 2026 the housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, wrote to the council using his powers under section 27 of the 2004 Act. His letter noted that the council was at least five months behind the timetable it set itself in October 2025, that the latest housing land supply the council had published stood at only 1.96 years, and that it was one of only five authorities without a plan adopted under the 2004 Act.

The directions in the letter were specific:

1. Publish the plan. Start the formal Regulation 19 consultation by 10 August 2026 and run it for at least six weeks.
2. Submit it. Send the plan to the Planning Inspectorate by 31 December 2026, with only minor changes after publication.
3. Keep going. Do not withdraw the plan, send the government monthly progress reports and carry on through the examination.
4. Publish a timetable. Issue a revised Local Development Scheme by 10 August 2026.

The letter explains why the minister acted. The council's October 2025 timetable had promised the Regulation 19 consultation in winter 2025/26 and submission in spring 2026, and both dates passed. The minister also recorded that the council had stated its opposition to the government's standard method for housing need and to a plan that meets that need in full.

What the Direction Means for Landowners

For the first time since 1998, Basildon has a date by which its Green Belt boundaries will be argued over in public. Once the plan is with the inspector, the council has to defend its sites against a supply position its own latest figure, cited by the minister, puts at 1.96 years. If the inspector finds the chosen sites around Billericay, Wickford or the edges of Basildon will not deliver enough, the search for more land starts from sites that already have access, drainage and landscape evidence in hand. Written representations on the published plan are the last chance to make that case before the hearings, and our call for sites and local plans guide shows what a good one contains.

The Green Belt figures explain why the draft plan is so contested. As reported when it was published, up to 16,928 of the 27,111 homes in the November 2024 draft were proposed on Green Belt sites. The largest proposals named at the time were:

• Wick Country Park, up to 2,100 homes.
• South East Billericay, up to 1,500 homes.
• South of Great Burstead, up to 1,000 homes.

The same draft set aside land for at least 235 Gypsy and Traveller pitches and a yard of 13 pitches for travelling showpeople, and between 65 and 82 hectares for employment. Two further rounds of consultation followed, and the last closed on 16 January 2026, so the published plan may name different sites or different numbers. If your land was left out, the council's reasons often show what would need to change for it to come back in.

If you are thinking of selling land near Wick Country Park, South East Billericay or Great Burstead, a site's own evidence on access, drainage and landscape will count for more before the inspector than whether an earlier draft named it.

The Housing Delivery Test is reissued every year and each edition adds up three years of building, so a council at 23% would need several strong years in a row before the 75% line came into view. It is hard to see the next edition changing much for landowners: policy S5 will keep treating unmet need as established. The numbers that matter more through the examination are the plan's own supply figures, which the inspector will test against need under the standard method.

A South West Essex Council Withdrawn, and a Plan Due by December

Reorganisation has been withdrawn for now. On 25 March 2026 the government confirmed that Basildon and Thurrock would together form a South West Essex Council, with elections in May 2027 and a handover of every service, planning included, in April 2028. After fresh legal advice, it withdrew that decision on 7 September 2026 and began a review. Local elections in May 2027 will go ahead on existing council boundaries, and Basildon Borough Council remains the planning authority.

Set that beside the minister's deadline. Basildon Borough Council must submit its plan by the end of 2026, but appointing an inspector, holding hearings and consulting on changes all take time, so the examination is likely to run well into 2027. As things stand, the borough council would adopt the plan itself, and whatever is adopted for Basildon would be the starting point for any larger council that later takes over this area.

Plan Land in 2027, Town and Brownfield Land Now

• Land relying on the plan: 2027 is likely to be the deciding year, with the case made in writing first and then, if the inspector invites it, at the hearings.
• Land inside the three towns, or previously developed land in the Green Belt: none of this needs to be waited for, because those routes do not depend on the plan.
• Owners unsure which applies: our review answers that first, at our cost.