GREENBELT land close to Hannakins Farm could have 27 houses built on it if planning permission is granted.

An outline planning application has been submitted by Millwood Designer Homes Limited and MatPlan Limited to build the houses on land to the north of Linda Gardens, in Billericay.

There will be 84 parking spaces provided for the houses as well as “plentiful” cycle parking.

According to the documents, the site currently lies within the Basildon borough’s greenbelt, but the council’s Greenbelt Study confirms that it lies within a greenbelt sub-area that has been assessed as having capacity to accommodate development, as it only partly fulfils a greenbelt purpose and as not warranting special protection.

There will also be seven affordable dwellings, comprising two one-bedroom flats, two two-bedroom flats, one two-bedroom house and two three-bedroom houses.

The report reads: “Currently, just three-and-a-half years’ worth of deliverable housing land supply exists in Basildon borough and the borough council has made no effort to put in place special measures to boost the supply of housing land whilst the emerging borough local plan is making its way through the process to statutory adoption.

“Given these circumstances and the application site’s evident suitability and availability for housing, it can and should be brought forward for housing now, with the full planning policy support of paragraphs 14 and 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework and moreover, without any risk of prejudicing the outcome of the emerging borough local plan.”

However, Billericay Action Group chairman Mike Andrews disputed that the land had been reclassified as being eligible for housing. He added: “The land can only be reclassified through the local plan, which the council is currently in the middle of. The study the application refers to is just a consultation. A similar application was put in recently for an area nearby and that was turned down because it was on the greenbelt. We have to be confident that it won’t be approved and will be keeping a close eye on the application.”