BATTLE lines have been drawn over a scheme to build 2,800 tower block homes in Basildon town centre.

A planning appeal hearing is underway over proposals to tear down the parts of Eastgate Shoppitn Centre to make way for tower blocks, up to 21 storeys tall, along with retail and commercial space.

The plans were originally given the green light by the then-Labour administration in April 2021, however, were ditched by the Conservatives after wrestling back control of the council in May of that year.

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Developer InfraRed launched an appeal on grounds of non-determination and on Tuesday, the government's planning inspectorate heard opening arguments on whether the development should go ahead.

Charlie Banner QC, lead counsel for the developer, argued Basildon was failing to provide enough new homes following the council’s decision to ditch its local plan – a blueprint to build almost 18,000 homes over the next 12 years – in March.

“Basildon is a new town that has been struggling to adjust to the needs of today,” he told the hearing.

“It has been variously described as having a tired air, being on a well-advanced downward spiral of decline and run down.

“The scale of Basildon’s housing need is considerable… Yet the council has recently withdrawn its local plan from examination and therefore Basildon has a sizeable shortfall but also no plan on the horizon for dealing with that shortfall.”

Conservative councillor Davida Ademuyiwa told planning inspectors Mark Dakeyne her residents had used the 2021 local elections to demonstrate their opposition to the plans.

 “The residents are highly opposed to the overdeveloped high rise concrete jungles called flats from taking over our town,” she said.

“They live here, they have to deal with it. The faceless developers and politicians making the decisions do not.”

Basildon Council has lost two major appeals since December, with almost 1,000 new homes set to be built in buildings up to 23 storeys tall known as Town and Market Square

As part of the appeal process, Basildon Borough Council’s planning committee voted to say it would have refused the plans at a meeting last month.