1970

The Joker public house at the new Laindon Shopping Centre opens.

Barstable Community Centre, off Long Riding, opened. Built at a cost of £35,000, the facility is used for a wide variety of functions.

18 June

Robert McCrindle (47,719) elected Conservative MP for the Billericay constituency including Basildon. Majority 3,954. Conservative's win General Election.

11 August

Basildon United F.C. opening game at The Stadium, their new ground at Gardiners Close (formerly Rectory Road), against a West Ham United XI. The match, held on a Tuesday with a 6.30. p.m. kick off, was watched by a 3,600 crowd including West Ham stars Jimmy Greaves and Geoff Hurst. They are also granted full senior status by the Essex FA. United, nicknamed The Bees, can still be watched there today though there is growing uncertainty over the future of the ground due to landowner English Partnerships regeneration plans for the area.

October

Century cinema in High Road, Pitsea closes. Opened as the Broadway in 1929, it became the Century in 1955 following a takeover by Granada, who following closure changed its use to Bingo and renamed it Granada Social Club. The building is still standing and now owned by Bass and renamed Gala.

1971

25 April

Population Census for Basildon district; 80,252.

13 September

Basildon College of Further Education opens in Nether Mayne. The college opened ahead of schedule, and the first term, which commenced on the 13th September, featured a wealth of courses including a novices 'computers in business' lesson. It was later renamed Thurrock and Basildon College.

5 September

The A.B.C. (Associated British Cinemas) cinema opens. Love Story & On the Buses are the first films shown at the new two screen cinema. ABC 1, with seating for 644 and larger screen, was also used for the popular 'Saturday morning picture shows' which ran throughout the 1970s. The smaller ABC 2 seated 455. Another feature of the building was a restaurant which was later converted to a third 91 seat cinema which opened on 5th July 1979. From 1986 it became Cannon following the Cannon group's takeover of all ABC's operational cinemas. This lasted until 1994 by which time Cannon, who were then part of MGM Cinemas, opted to close the cinema citing competition from Thurrock's new Lakeside Warner Brothers and UCI multiplexes. Later in 1994 cinema chain Robins took over through to what may appear to be the final closure in December 1999.

15 September

Laindon Health Centre opened by Alfred Morris Esq., M.P. Among others taking part in the opening ceremony were Urban District Council Chairman, Joe Morgan; Councillor John Costello and Town Manager David Taylor. Basildon Council architects Adrian Neaves and Kenneth Cotton were responsible for the design, which cost more than £180,000 to build.

October

Pitsea railway station refurbishment completed. Among the new British Rail funded changes is a modern single story entrance and ticket office, built at a cost of around £20,000, which replaces the former station house and booking hall buildings that dated back to the 1800s.

5 November

Basildon Round Table hold their seventh annual Firework Fiesta and bonfire at Laindon Link, Lee Chapel North. Providing additional entertainment were the Basildon Drum & Trumpet Corp. The field used is now part of the Parklands housing estate and the Holy Trinity church and hall.

10 November

Marks & Spencer opens its new store in Town Square. The upper third floor was later extended to the full length of the building.

1972

Bluehouse Farm Community Centre in Laindon Link, Laindon opened. Built on a site close to the former Bluehouse Farm at a cost of £92,000, the new centre was a joint venture between Basildon Council and the Basildon Development Corporation.

The first Basildon town centre multi-storey car park in Great Oaks is completed. Built on five levels with parking for 1,100 vehicles, the car park has lifts, a toilet block and a ground floor security office. A later addition on level 3 was a pedestrian bridge spanning Great Oaks which was removed in the 2000s.

Automated car parking barriers installed at car parks in Basildon town centre as charges are introduced.

New Basildon Town Square shops, office and leisure complex called Block S reaches completion during the year. Built between Marks & Spencer and No 19 Town Square, the new development is linked to the town via an escalator and stairway. Caters supermarket and Russell's Jeweller's were the first new shops to open in the block, which would later include Taylor's department store, The Highway public house and Sweeney's discotheque. The office complex was named Northgate House.

The first homes on the new Woodlands Estate, Kingswood Road, Kingswood completed. The new development, a mix of bungalows and split level houses with flat roofs, was built by Nationwide Homes Ltd on an 18 acre site. The design architects were Peter Phippen, Peter Randall & David Parkes.

The Thalian Theatre Group formed. Basildon based amateur dramatics company with regular stage performances right up to the present. Their first production was Kevin Laffan's Zoo Zoo Wildershins Zoo, performed at the Arts Centre (later renamed Towngate Theatre), Basildon.

Essex Centre Hotel in Pipps Hill Road South (now Waterfront Walk) opens. Later becoming Crest Hotel, Forte Post House, and now Holiday Inn, it boasts executive features & 120 bedrooms (148 by 2005), and fine views overlooking the newly created Aquatels recreational lake. Builders Costain were involved in its construction.

August

The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints in Laindon Link, Laindon opened.

1 September

St. Anselms Roman Catholic secondary school in Ghyllgrove, Fryerns opens. In 1996 the school was renamed De La Salle.

1973

The A13 realignment scheme is completed. The new duel carriageway road linking the Five Bells roundabout at Vange with London Road, Pitsea, was planned back in the 1950s. A second phase, linking Pitsea with the Sadlers Farm roundabout, was completed in the 1980s.

Aquatels Zoo and Ecology Centre opened in Pipps Hill Close, Basildon. The Zoo grounds were later extended when development corporation compulsory purchase orders were issued against Pipps Hill Close homeowners. One of the occupiers fought a lengthy battle over compensation, which eventually reached a satisfactory conclusion. The zoo closed in the 1980s and the Festival Leisure Hall opened in the main building. The whole site is now lost to the Festival Leisure Park, which began opening attractions in 1997.

Langdon Hills open spaces at Westley Heights and One Tree Hill are declared Country Parks.

1 April

Basildon Hospital in Nether Mayne opens. A campaign for a hospital to serve Basildon had begun as early as 1954. As the towns population grew, resources at the two existing hospitals serving the area namely; Orsett and Billericay's St. Andrews, were often stretched to full capacity. After a number of lengthy delays and consultations construction work finally began on the 32 acre site in 1967.

April

Basildon Zoo in London Road, Vange, opened. The Zoo, situated on a 4.6 acre site close to Vange primary school, was one of two in Basildon opened in the 1970s. It closed in November 2001.

April

Sweeney's Discotheque in High Pavement, Basildon town centre opens. Named after the fictional 19th century character Sweeney Todd 'The Demon Barber of Fleet Street', it has a capacity of 275 and cost around £30.000. It closed in the 1990s.

29 April

The Temple of Light Spiritualist Church in Bedford Road, Laindon opens. Construction of this new building had begun in 1965. Prior to the opening date Temple of Light services were held for approximately 27 years at the British Legion Hall in High Road, Laindon.

21 July

Gloucester Park athletics track officially opened. Costing 22,000, the 400 metre 8 lane track, sited at the northern end of the park, was opened by the director of the National Sports Council, Walter Winterbottom. The centre area has hosted many local area football finals, where the venue is often referred to as Gloucester Park Bowl, due to the hilly landscaping.

August

Basildon Samaritans move to a new address at 16 Little Lullaway on the Lee Chapel North estate. The development corporation owned bungalow predates the new town; being one of around 14 to escape demolition when the estate was first constructed in the early 1960s. Prior to the move they had been based as 35a The Fremnels, Fryerns.

31 August

Langdon Hills primary school closes after 64 years. A new larger school, Lincewood Infant & Junior, was built in nearby Berry Lane to replace the High Road site, which remained open until the mid 1970s as an annexe. The building is still used for educational purposes, now being an Essex County Council run Integrated Support Service.

5 November

Basildon Round Table hold their firework fiesta and bonfire at Markhams Chase Recreation Ground, Laindon. This annual event is now held at Gloucester Park.

1974

28 February

Eric Moonman (33,499) elected to serve as Labour MP for the Billericay constituency including Basildon. Majority 11,000. Labour win General Election.

1 April

The Basildon Urban District Council becomes The Basildon District Council.

10 October

Eric Moonman (32,298) re-elected to serve as Labour MP for the Billericay constituency including Basildon. Majority 10,551. Labour win General Election.

25 November

Basildon Railway station opens. After a long campaign begun in the 1950s, the first train to stop was the 4:45am bound for Fenchurch Street. The original proposed site was further east at the junction of Clay Hill Road, on land now occupied by a car park. The chosen site when completed included a new underbridge and subway network.

1975

March

Station House office complex, built alongside the new Basildon Station in Cherrydown East, completed. The eight storey high building, occupying 741,000 sq. ft. of floor space, remained empty until 1977 when it was renamed Trafford House & became the headquarters of the Ford Motor Company's European Truck Division.

1976

Basildon Yellow Advertiser newspaper launched. Initially based in Northgate House, the paper is delivered free to over 50,000 homes in a distribution network that includes Billericay & Wickford. The advertiser group is now based at Acorn House in Great Oaks and combines adverts with local news stories.

October

Pitsea Swimming pool in Rectory Park Drive opens. Situated opposite the Leisure Centre, the Basildon Council run facility offers general swimming and a lesson programme in its 25 x 12½m dimensions and maximum depth of 6 feet (1.8m).

1977

Eversley County Primary School in Crest Avenue, Pitsea opened.

16th century Great Chalvedon Hall in Tyefields, Pitsea purchased from its final residential owners by Basildon Council. It would subsequently find use as a public house.

September

Local fanzine "Strange Stories" begins publication priced at 20p. Mainly covering the local music scene with gig reviews, it ran to 20 monthly editions through to 1979. It was succeeded by a new magazine entitled "Some of That", which offered a wider topic whilst retaining the local musical aspect of Strange Stories.

1978

Tesco's supermarket in Pitsea opens. In 1997 the store was upgraded to become the first Tesco Extra to open in the UK.

20 August

First use of Gloucester Park's bandstand with all day "Rock Festival" featuring local bands including The Vandals whose singer was Alison Moyet.

1979

The Chalvedon Hall public house in Tyefields, Pitsea opens.

3 May

Harvey Proctor (37,919) elected to serve as Conservative MP for the Billericay constituency including Basildon. Majority 5,180. Conservative's win General Election.