Opinion: Is this what we want for our Town Centre?

by
Davida Ademuyiwa, Conservative Spokesperson for St Martin's Ward

As a resident of St Martin’s Ward, who lives literally a five-minute walk from the Town Centre, I often stop to speak to neighbours and other local residents to find out their concerns about the area. The residents that I have spoken with are, by and large, totally unaware of the Council’s plans for 4,000 flats in high-rise towers, some to be more than 20 storeys high, in the middle of the Basildon Town Centre.

One might have thought that, in planning these major changes for Basildon, we – the town residents – would have been properly and thoroughly consulted and at least have some say in these plans and developments that are taking place. But the Labour-led Administration think they know best.

The Town Centre does, of course, need renewal but it needs to meet the residents’ aspirations, not the social engineering this administration would see forced on us. Running a consultation is not the same as consulting the people, especially if the residents have not been engaged in an effective way, empowering us to voice our views on how our town should be developed. The sham consultation recently conducted by Basildon Council, in the middle of a pandemic and exclusively online, would be laughable were it not so insulting to residents.   

Ineffective consultation is no consultation at all. What is the use of saying that the public have been consulted if most people still do not even know about these developments? Of what use is a consultation if the residents have not been properly engaged? Consultation methods and strategies need to be effective for it to be said to have taken place.

Yes, we want a fully utilised Town Centre. One that serves this community and its surroundings to its fullest capacity, and we should be working for a better balance of retail, homes and employment opportunities in the town. But do we need to resort to high-rise high-density developments in the Town Centre?

This is a question that Basildon’s residents need to answer and need to be given the opportunity to answer.

Ineffective consultation is no consultation at all. What is the use of saying that the public have been consulted if most people still do not even know about these developments? Of what use is a consultation if the residents have not been properly engaged? Consultation methods and strategies need to be effective for it to be said to have taken place.

Currently, there is no transparency on the total scale of this development. Neither is there transparency on time scales for its delivery but it looks increasingly like there is a real potential for the Town Centre to remain a building site for the next 20 years, with residents lumbered with a huge tax bill. It will take decades to pay off the debt Labour are running up. It seems as if these decisions are not so much being “made for us” as “done to us” and we will be left with a legacy of poor town planning due to ineffective consultation.

It must be remembered that these high-density high-rise flats were only first mentioned in February of this year, in the run-up to the cancelled May 2020 local elections. This would have been an issue that was democratically decided by you, the electorate, during those elections. Thanks to the Coronavirus, none of these plans have been presented to the electorate and these major changes are being pushed through by councillors with no democratic mandate. 

The Leader of Basildon Council, along with the Mayor (one of the ward councillors here in St Martin’s), were both due to face the electorate in May and they are using their extended terms of office to promote these plans, claiming their lip-service consultation gives them the legitimacy to do so. The danger is that, by the time voters are given the chance to have their say at the ballot box, these decisions will have been made. It is, therefore, vital for us to speak up and let our voices be heard on this most important issue.

This is a landmark project for our Town Centre, that will change the face of Basildon for years to come and it will not be a change for the better. We can ill afford to be left with the aftermath of these decisions, which repeat the mistakes of the local planners of the 1960s and ‘70s, largely being foisted on us by councillors living in the leafy suburbs of Billericay, Wickford and Laindon. Would they choose to live in one of these high-rise tower blocks?

It must be remembered that these high-density high-rise flats were only first mentioned in February of this year, in the run-up to the cancelled May 2020 local elections. This would have been an issue that was democratically decided by you, the electorate, during those elections. Thanks to the Coronavirus, none of these plans have been presented to the electorate and these major changes are being pushed through by councillors with no democratic mandate. 

Basildon Conservatives are calling on the Council to rethink these plans and to launch a proper, thorough consultation, with transparency and accountability, and for proper democratic processes and procedures to be adhered to. 

In essence, we are asking for these plans to be put on hold until residents are given the opportunity they deserve, as residents and taxpayers, to see them laid out in a roadshow and are given a chance to respond to them and be listened to. If the Administration are so confident this is the right plan for Basildon, they should have the courage of their convictions and let Basildon people have a proper say.