A huge swathe of green belt land north of Bournes Green Chase has previously been touted as having the potential for 7,000 homes to be built.
Now, Tony Cox, leader of Southend’s Conservatives fears it could be put on the table after Southend was set the target of building 1,372 new homes annually by the new Labour Government.
Back in 2022, both the Labour and Tory party in the city ruled out building on the land but Mr Cox fears “all green belt” will be at risk by the new targets.
He said: “It is a huge amount, especially as well when developers are not developing.
“We already know that the green belt is at risk, Labour have confirmed that.
“What that means is that we will be building higher and taller, and using sites the size of postage stamps.
“We are already heavily density area. Where are they going to crammed in.
“I have major concerns around land north of Bournes Green Chase being used. It will merge Southend with Rochford and Great Wakering.
“With those targets, doesn’t come added infrastructure. There isn’t the infrastructure at Bournes Green Chase.
“More and more green belt will be gone and once that has gone, it is gone for good.”
According to figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the proposed target for Southend has been set at 1,372 new homes annually.
This is an increase from the current target of 1,173 homes a year.
The rise is part of housing secretary Angela Rayner’s plan to reinstate local housing targets and help build 1.5 million new homes across the country by 2029.
Across the East of England, the target has risen from 35,101 new homes a year to 44,858 homes.
Daniel Cowan, leader of Southend Council, said: “Housing targets are nothing new for local government, but we must ensure housing is delivered in a way that suits the local context, government understands this and will bring in an overdue planning reform.
“We will be developing our local plan, which will consider how we deliver our housing targets.
“I want to see an emphasis on infrastructure improvements and how we can work across the region with government to deliver infrastructure investment.
“We will need to have sensible discussions about how Southend can deliver the housing targets provided to us.
“The council has limited land it owns on which to build so the target will need to be fulfilled by the private sector.
“It is really important that we do not allow Green Belt fearmongering to creep into the conversation about home building and recognise that any plans to develop on areas like Bournes Green will be driven by the landowner.”
