Basildon New Town

Extract from the Technical Report of the 1951 Master Plan

Part I: Sections 1 - 8 - Historical Background

PART III. PROPOSALS FOR THE CREATION OF THE NEW TOWN.

BASILDON IN THE REGION.

64.     Before considering the creation of a viable town in its immediate setting, it is necessary to consider the relationship of the future Basildon with the surrounding region.

65.     Basildon lies in the centre of a group of small townships, which according to the latest figures in the County development plan are to be expanded with the result that, outside the Designated Area, but within an eight mile radius of Basildon there will by 1971 be a total population comprised as set out below:-

66.     It is considered that with the possible exception of Brentwood none of these towns will be large enough to provide all the facilities it requires in the way of education, shopping, or recreation, and there is little doubt that they will in future look chiefly to Basildon for these requirements.

67.     The relatively small amount of north and south traffic passing through the Designated Area has already been commented on in this report. Discussions with the Ministry of Transport and County Council on this point have, however, led to the provisional agreement that bye pass roads shall eventually be provided by them to the east and west of the New Town. To the west, road A. 128 will be improved to take the traffic from Tilbury, Purfleet and Corringham to the north; to the east a new road will be constructed from A. 13 at Tarpots Corner for traffic to and from Canvey and the North east.

THE PROBLEM - SUMMARY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS.

68.     The problems facing the planner on the completion of the survey of existing conditions may be summarised as follows:-

69.     The shape of the area concerned (6 miles long by 3 miles wide) bounded on the north and on the south by major roads.

70.     The bisection of the area by a railway running from east to west; the ground to the north being undulating (40 feet to 190 feet above above ordnance datum) and the ground to the south being hilly (10 feet to 370 feet above ordnance datum); the unsuitability of much of the latter for development, not only on account of the slopes, but because its landscape value over a wide area.

71.     The existence of two centres of suburban sprawl, Laindon in the west with a population of 12,000 Pitsea in the east with a population of 13,000, their centres being 3½ miles apart.

72.     The existence of two considerable areas of land difficult to drain, in the centre running out to the northern boundary, the other in the south east corner of the area.

73.     The existence of a large number of substandard properties at a very low density, many miles of unmade roads without sewers, and metalled roads where they exist harking back to the time when the area was agricultural.

SUMMARY OF MAIN PROPOSALS.

74.     The erection of a town with a balanced population of 80,000 being an increase of 55,000 people over those already in the area.

75.     A main road plan forming a wide letter H has been selected to knit the area together and link it with the towns in the region. The extremities of the letter H stand on the major east west roads A. 127 and A. 13. The horizontal stroke of the letter H is continued to the west to provide a link with the existing development at Laindon and Langdon Hills

76.     The vital function of the Town Centre, if it is to succeed commercially, is to be the focus of town life and of the region. The Town Centre has therefore been sited in the centre of gravity of the area, between the horizontal stroke of the H and the railway. The land to the north, (being difficult to drain if the rate of run off is increased by building much upon it) has been left open for a sports stadium, the town park, playing fields for the higher education colleges sited there, a Territorial Army training area and other recreational uses.

77.     Industry has been sited in two areas of reasonably level ground alongside the Arterial Road, it being considered that good road communications were of more importance to the industries that were likely to come to Basildon than direct access to railway sidings. These areas will provide work for about 16,000 people and have good communications with all parts of the Town.

78.     Inside the framework so far created three new housing neighbourhoods have been disposed, making with the six existing housing areas of Lee Chapel, Laindon, Langdon Hills, Vange, Basildon and Pitsea nine neighbourhoods. In the detailed planning each has been provided with its requisite number of primary schools, playing fields, shops etc.

79.     The existing major shopping centres of Laindon and Vange-Pitsea have been retained more or less in the existing positions, but reduced from a straggle along classified roads to compact shopping area. No other major shopping areas are proposed (other than the Town Centre) but minor shopping groups are disposed in each neighbourhood to provide local shopping facilities.

80.     Thirteen secondary schools on eight sites have, in the main, been sited between neighbourhoods, partly to break up the continuous flow of housing, but also because the sites there are easily accessible to the catchment area they serve. Two of these sites are existing ones. A College of further education and a County College have been sited in a central position North of the Town Centre.

81.     The needs of service industry have been met by the provision of four sites, three of them next to the railway stations of Laindon, Pitsea and the new station at the Town Centre. The fourth site to the north of Laindon being ripe for development, can be used to meet the immediate needs of the community while the others are being established. It is also proposed that minor service industries should be accommodated on sites behind shops in the neighbourhood units.

82.     Provision has been made for public open space and playing fields on a scale of 8.8 acres per 1,000 population. This has been disposed throughout the developed area of the town in such a way as to preserve the best landscape features and to provide a continuous flow of unbuilt on land on strategic lines within the town. Over two thousand acres of land within the Designated Area will remain in agricultural use either as farmland or as smallholdings.

83.     Sparsely developed shack land to the extreme west, north of the Arterial Road, and in small areas elsewhere has been earmarked for ultimate return to "agriculture and related uses".

84.     Owing to existing conditions it has been impossible to provide a green belt all round the town within the Designated Area. The provision of this green belt must therefore rest with the County council by the control of development outside the boundaries of the Town.

85.     These proposals cannot represent the ideal pattern for a town of 80,000 population as if it were built on virgin land. The existing conditions in the area, both natural and man-made, are strong factors in the planning (or replanning) of the town and the result must be judged from this standpoint.

Publisher: Basildon Development Corporation

Date: 1951.