21st January

Basildon Council issue a Traffic Regulation Order restricting all motor vehicles to a speed of not more than 30 miles per hour along a short length of Laindon Link between Great Knightleys and the Roundacre roundabout. The Order was issued on January 15th following the decision reached to implement a traffic light system at the busy road junction. Great Knightleys, which was under construction during 1960, was built as the main 'feeder' road on the Lee Chapel North housing estate, where the first properties were in occupation the following year. In the years following the estates completion, as with many other areas within the 'new town', the increase in car ownership and other factors linked to road designs, caused the road at its 'Town Centre' exit/entry junction with Laindon Link to get heavily congested. In the years since the lights were installed speed humps and sections of double yellow lines were also introduced, along with a 'mini' rounabout at the Ballards Walk junction.
BASILDON DISTRICT COUNCIL - ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - The District of Basildon (Restricted Roads) (No. 1) Order 1985.
Source: The London Gazette, publication date: 23/01/1985, issue number: 50015, page: 941.
The Order came into operation on Monday, 21st January, 1985.

14th February

Laindon Community Centre is destroyed by fire. The hall, which was built in Aston Road in the 1950s, was thought to have been the victim of an arson attack. A new community centre was built by Basildon Council on an adjacent site which opened in 1988.

11th March

New Towns and Urban Development Corporations Act 1985 receives Royal Assent.

May

Mrs Eileen Gelder becomes the first elected woman Chairman of Basildon District Council. Mrs Gelder, who represents the Nethermayne Ward, is also the first female Labour councillor to hold the title which can be traced back to 1894 when Billericay Rural District Council was formed. Four more women served as Chairman or Chairperson before the title was replaced with that of Mayor when Basildon became a Borough in October 2010.

13th May

Basildon Bowl in Southernhay, Basildon closes. Opened in 1962, the 26 lane alley had been reduced to the first 10 lanes from June 1975 when Basildon Council took over from former operators Ambassador Bowling. Following the takeover the building was divided into two and converted by Coral Social Clubs Ltd. to a Coral bingo hall which then expanded to the whole building following the closure, and continues today under the name Gala Bingo.

June

36 new flats and bungalows for retired people at Bridgecote Lane on the Noak Bridge village development are completed. The new homes, known as the Noak Bridge 9 (Bridgecote) scheme, were built by Woolwich Homes in partnership with Basildon Development Corporation. The Government Housing and Construction Minister and Conservative MP for Eastbourne, Ian Gow, performed the opening ceremony.

31st August

Springfield Primary School in Honeypot Lane, Fryerns closes. The school, which was the second of three temporary schools built during the early years of the new town, first opened in 1962 as separate infant and junior; later becoming a primary in the 1970s due to falling pupil numbers. Ghyll Grove Nursing and Residential Home and a number of residential homes in Ghyllgrove Close now cover the site of the former school.

6th September

Toys "R" Us superstore opens in Southernhay, Basildon town centre. The American based retail chain, founded in 1957, chose Basildon along with Woking, Wood Green in London, Bristol and Cardiff in South Wales (the later two opening a week later) as the first five locations of its new UK based arm of the company. The store and adjacent multi-storey car park was built partly on an undeveloped green, dating from the towns inception and once earmarked in the 1960s as a potential cinema site, some of which had been used for a small temporary car park, and a short closed section of Long Riding which was shortened when Southernhay was realigned during the construction of the first phase of the Eastgate Centre in the late 1970s. In the 1990s the store had its floor space reduced and a new unit created for use by sportswear retailer JJB Sports and now occupied by SportsDirect.com.

9th September

Phase II of the Eastgate International Shopping Centre completed. The indoor shopping complex comprising 70 shops on two levels, with 42 additional shops on an upper gallery and an open 1st floor food court with seating for 200, was built on a seven acre site that formerly comprised car parking, open land and a small stretch of Southernhay, which for motorists no longer linked to Broadmayne. 39,100 sq. metres of retail space was created in the new development; the centrepiece of which was an Allders department store with entrances on each level. John Laing Constructors Ltd. were awarded the contract for its completion and work began on the £25 million project, titled Eastgate Phase II, in early 1982. During construction local newspaper Evening Echo deposited a time capsule 3.0 metres below the surface close to the main Allders (now Debenhams) entrance on 14/2/1982. Also part of the development is the Eastgate Business Centre and a nine storey office block which owners Norwich Union Life Insurance Society, who also funded the project, took occupation of shortly after completion.

18th October

Essex Police open a small section police station at 11a Worthing Road, Laindon. The station, which formed part of the Basildon Sub Division, is housed in a formerly residential detached bungalow owned by Basildon Development Corporation as one of their miscellaneous properties. Two Laindon residents, Mr. R.F. Holman and Wayne Carpenter, performed the "ribbon cutting" ceremony in the presence of many local dignitaries including the chief Superintendent Alan Gilling, Mrs. Eileen Gelder, chairman of Basildon District Council and Canon Lionel Webber, representing St. Martin's Church, Basildon, who blessed the building. The section station had become operational from 23rd September but proved temporary when another temporary station opened in 1991 in New Century Road at its junction with High Road. A permanent police station had previously existed in Laindon at Victoria Road but this closed in November 1967 when operations were centralised at Greak Oaks in Basildon.

November

Alison Moyet and Rod Hull and Emu are the special guests to switch on the town centre's Christmas lights. Basildon singer Alison, or "Alf" as she was known to friends, had come to fame in 1982 in the successful duo Yazoo along with Vince Clarke, also from Basildon. The duo broke up in 1983 and she then embarked on a solo career that has so far produced a No.1 hit album and 4 hit singles.