THE second phase of a development aiming to provide more than 600 homes is set for refusal.

Plans to build 33 homes on the corner between Gardiners Close and Gardiners Lane, Basildon, will be discussed at length by the council next Tuesday.

The homes were planned as the second phase of development of the site, with more than 40 homes already under construction.

The Gardiners Lane South area redevelopment is set to provide a mix of employment and homes.

But the plans have been recommended for refusal by council officers, who stated it was a ‘piecemeal’ development and that it would result in a loss of employment land that doesn’t fit with wider plans for the area.

Ward councillor for the area, Allan Davies, said: “What we have always planned, and what I want to see on the land, is a mixture of employment and residential, and I don’t think we should deviate from that.

“If these plans are recommended for refusal, I imagine it would be because it doesn’t fit with the plans.

“It is all about balance, Fryerns has huge economic success so we want to maintain that while adding homes.

“I’m not a member of the planning committee, so of course I have no say, but you would hope that the members of the committee maintain that need for balance between residential and economic.”

Inland Homes were granted planning permission in August 2016 to build 43 homes on the land, and had hoped to earn planning permission for a further 33.

The houses would have been a mixture of one, two, three and four bed houses and apartments, with 30 per cent of those proposed.

The site forms part of the larger Gardiners Lane South area which was highlighted as Comprehensive Development Area in the 1998 Local Plan by Basildon Council.

The major redevelopment would include 660 houses as well as business space, which could lead to up to 7,000 jobs being created.

But officers came to the conclusion this proposal would compromise the overall development.

Planning officers recommended the plans for refusal, they said: “The proposed development represents piecemeal development which would result in the loss of employment land and reduce the flexibility of adjoining employment land contrary to Saved Local Plan Policy BAS E1 and the Gardiners Lane South Supplementary Planning Guidance.

“The proposed development by virtue of its layout, scale, bulk, height and appearance would have a detrimental impact upon the character and appearance of the industrial area contrary to the Local Plan Policy”