The Borough of Basildon is a local government district in south

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

in the

East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

, centred on the town of Basildon. It was formed as the Basildon District on 1 April 1974 from the former area of Basildon Urban District and the part of

Thurrock Urban District Thurrock was a local government district and civil parish in south Essex, England from 1936 to 1974. The parish and urban district was formed from the former area of the following civil parishes which had been abolished in 1936: *From Grays Thu ...

that was within the Basildon New Town. The population of the district as of 2010 is about 172,000. The local authority is Basildon Borough Council. The council made an application for borough status in February 2010 and this was given approval that year, with Mo Larkin becoming the first mayor in October. Junction of Wickford High Street and the A129 - geograph

Junction of Wickford High Street and the A129 - geograph

History

The Basildon District was created on 1 April 1974 as part of the local government reorganisation of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. It comprised the former area of the Basildon Urban District and the part of Basildon New Town that had been in

Governance

Elections to Basildon Borough Council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 42 seats on the council being elected at each election. Both the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and Labour parties have controlled the council at different times, as well as periods when no party has had a majority. The Conservative party controlled the council through a cabinet system of governance after winning a majority at the

2003 election The following elections occurred in the year 2003. Africa * 2003 Beninese parliamentary election * 2003 Djiboutian parliamentary election * 2003 Guinean presidential election * 2003 Mauritanian presidential election * 2003 Nigerian parliamentary ...

. In May 2017 the council switched to a committee system with no party in overall control. The council is currently composed of the following councillors:

Parish and town councils

There are nine town, parish and village councils at present. They cover one quarter of the district and are: *Billericay Town Council *Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet Parish Council *Great Burstead & South Green Parish Council *Little Burstead Parish Council *Ramsden Bellhouse Parish Council *Ramsden Crays Parish Council *Noak Bridge Parish Council *Shotgate Parish Council *Wickford Town Council

Boundaries

To the north it borders the Borough of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Lond ...

, to the east it borders the District of

Rochford Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a population of 8,471. History ...

district, to the south east the Borough of

Castle Point Castle Point is a local government district with borough status in south Essex, east of central London. The borough comprises the towns and villages of Canvey Island, Hadleigh, South Benfleet, and Thundersley. The borough council is situated at ...

and to the west it borders the Borough of Brentwood. To the south the district has a boundary with the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...

Geography

The

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

has three main population centres. The towns of

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...

and Wickford are two of the areas which both have surrounding villages. Occasional proposals have been made to move Billericay and Wickford to other districts, leaving Basildon more focused on the new town.LGCE. ''Final Recommendations on the Future Local Government of: Basildon & Thurrock, Blackburn & Blackpool, Broxtowe, Gedling & Rushcliffe, Dartford & Gravesham, Gillingham & Rochester Upon Medway, Exeter, Gloucester, Halton & Warrington, Huntingdonshire & Peterborough, Northampton, Norwich, Spelthorne and the Wrekin.'' December 1995. The other, largest, population centre is commonly referred to as Basildon and comprises three original settlements: Laindon, Basildon and

Pitsea Pitsea is a small town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Basildon, in south Essex, England. It comprises five sub-districts: Eversley, Northlands Park Neighbourhood (previously known as Felmores), Chalvedon, Pitsea Mount and B ...

(from west to east) which have merged with other minor settlements to form the New Town, which is a continuous urban area. The remaining land, approximately half of the district is designated as

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenway (lan ...

, has several sites of special scientific interest. Two are around Billericay and the remainder are to the south of Basildon New Town. There are also wildlife areas of varying sizes around most of the district, except in the East. The source of the River Crouch is in the district. The river runs across the district, through Wickford before it leaves the district. The district is linked well by road and rail with significant surrounding destinations, including

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In the west of the Basildon district, the Dunton Plotlands is an area of small plots of land used as weekend cottages or smallholdings inhabited during the mid twentieth century.

List of settlements

It contains the towns of: * Basildon (the administrative headquarters) ** Laindon **

Langdon Hills Langdon Hills is a township and former civil parish located in Basildon in Essex, England. It is located south of Laindon railway station on the London, Tilbury and Southend line. It is the location of the Langdon Hills Country Park, which i ...

** Vange *

* Wickford Villages within the district are: * Bowers Gifford * Crays Hill * Dunton Wayletts *

Great Burstead Great Burstead is an urban settlement in Essex, England - it is contiguous with the town of Billericay. History By tradition, the origins of the church, St Mary Magdalene, at Great Burstead are linked to Saint Cedd (d.664). Cedd, a missionar ...

Havering's Grove Havering’s Grove is a village in Essex, most of which lies in the Borough of Brentwood, with part in the Borough of Basildon. It is situated on the A129 London to Southend Road. The settlement, which developed in the twentieth century, cove ...

(part) * Little Burstead * Nevendon * North Benfleet * Ramsden Bellhouse * Shotgate * Great Berry

Regeneration plans

Basildon District is a prosperous business location and has in recent years seen significant inward investment and jobs growth. Throughout Basildon District there are major developments planned estimated to total nearly £2 billion. These include: *The regeneration of Basildon, Wickford, Pitsea, and Laindon Town Centres *A new Sporting Village and improvements to playing pitches and sports facilities throughout the District to make Basildon the Centre for Sport in South Essex. The sporting village is expected in 2010, and is being highly sought after as an Olympic training base for one of the top teams, including the Russians. Its combined benefits, of having some of the top facilities so close to London, including one of the few Olympic (50m) size pools in the UK, will make it a true asset to whatever team(s) use it. *The creation of a health and education research centre near Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital and FE College *Investment in the Basildon Enterprise Corridor, the largest business area in the Thames Gateway outside London, home to 45,000 jobs and over 5,000 businesses, including Ford, Selex, Visteon, Case New Holland, First Data Europe, International Financial Services Limited, RBS, and Starbucks *The creation of one of the largest wetland nature reserves in Europe in the Thames Marshes by the RSPB, Land Restoration Trust, Basildon District Council and Veolia *A strategic review of the District's housing, with investment in housing estates such as Craylands, Five Links and Felmores to create first class places to live Coordinating and promoting this programme of investment is the Basildon Renaissance Partnership which was set up in 2003 by Basildon District Council. Its partners also include the East of England Development Agency, English Partnerships, Essex County Council, and the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership with support from the Department for Communities and Local Government. The BBC noted the council had decided to sell for £1 a plot of land it bought next to the golf course for £1m in order to build a 4 star hotel. The Conservative leader described the sale as an exciting step forward.

Transport

The district is connected to

and Southend via two train operators: c2c and

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the Ja ...

. The route operated by c2c is the London, Tilbury and Southend line. Three principal stations of the railway line are in the district: Basildon railway station,

Laindon railway station Laindon railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line, serving the Laindon area of the borough of Basildon, Essex. It is down the main line from London Fenchurch Street and is situated between to the west and to the east. Its t ...

and Pitsea railway station The former Great Eastern service (now

) operates on the

Shenfield to Southend Line Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...

. Trains stop at

and Wickford railway station. At Wickford, the Crouch Valley Line diverges from the Shenfield to Southend line. Three primary routes are within the district. The A127 goes through its centre, the A13 goes through the south-east at Pitsea. Both these primary routes connect the district with

Greater London Greater may refer to: * Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality * ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film * Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record * "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014 * Greater Bank, an Austra ...

and Southend-on-Sea. At Bowers Gifford at a terminus of the A13's primary status there is a junction with the beginning of primary status for the A130 with runs along a small section of the western boundary of the district. The A130 connects the district with

. The A129 is the major road link between Billericay and Wickford, which are linked via

A-Roads A roads may be *motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * main roads or highways, in a system where roads are graded A, B and sometimes lower c ...

to the urban area of Basildon, Pitsea and Laindon by the A176 and the A132, respectively.

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Basildon.

Individuals

* Max Whitlock: February 2016. * Stuart Bingham: February 2016. * Trudi Westmore-Cox: September 2019. * Donald Sheppard: September 2019.

Military Units

* The

Royal Anglian Regiment The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...

: April 2011.

Organisations and groups

* Basildon & Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group: 27 May 2021. * Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust: 27 May 2021. * North East London NHS Foundation Trust: 27 May 2021. * Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust: 27 May 2021. * The East of England Ambulance Service

NHS trust An NHS trust is an organisational unit within the National Health Services of England and Wales, generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several ...

: 23 October 2021.

References

External links

Basildon District Home Page

Basildon Renaissance Partnership

Basildon Heritage

Basildon Borough History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basildon, Borough of Non-metropolitan districts of Essex Boroughs in England