WICKFORD is getting “battered” by a lack of infrastructure funding, Basildon Council’s leader claims.

Gavin Callaghan said the town is getting hit hard by huge new developments on its borders, but is receiving no financial help to improve residents’ lives from the Government.

His comments come after the Government announced it would give Chelmsford £218million to build a new railway station at Beaulieu Park, and £99.9million for a new relief road in East Colchester.

Chelmsford’s Tory MP Vicky Ford said a second station is “crucial” for the growing city and that residents “have been waiting years” for it to arrive.

But Mr Callaghan states that many of the new residents of the Countryside Homes 575-house development will use Basildon’s facilities as they are easier to get to for them.

He said: “They are travelling down to use Wickford train station.

“They use the Wickford GP, but we don’t see any money from the section 106 agreement come to Basildon.

“We want to do infrastructure first.

“The Government tell us we need the homes, and we want to build them, but we don’t want to build all the houses and must wait five years for increased capacity at the railway station.

“We have Brentwood building right up to our border, and Chelmsford building up to our border at Runwell. Wickford as a result is getting battered, but we don’t have the infrastructure we need.

“I’m not expecting the Government to have all the answers and to know all of this, but I expect there to be a certain level of engagement before they announce funding.”

Mr Callaghan said there is a “growing appetite” among south Essex authority leaders to review the governance structure and said that having separate unitary authorities lobbying the Government would be “much more powerful”.

Peter Holliman, councillor for Wickford north, said: “Housing, infrastructure, transport and people all go hand-in-hand. You can’t just pick one out of a hat and say we are going to put a lot more houses here.

“Wickford has been highlighted as a place for significant growth over the next few years.

“At some point, someone needs to sit down and say thank you for the money, but can we please come up with a plan to see what we are trying to achieve. It’s difficult to see a plan from the Government. But we can’t afford to not accept it, which is the problem.”