BILLERICAY: Homes hope for eyesore

By darnold

A MAJOR housing development looks set to replace a rundown community centre after 18 months of uncertainty.

The Outwood Common Community Centre, pictured right, went unsold at auction recently but it is expected to be sold off to developers for housing by the end of the year.

Legal documents obtained by the Gazette also give away massive clues as to the future of the building in Outwood Common Road, Billericay.

An overage clause has been inserted into any potential buyer's contract which means whoever buys the land will have to pay current owners Waltham Forest Council £9,000 for every habitable room they build on the site, over an agreed level of 60 rooms in the next 10 years.

It would give the owners a huge profit should developers build more than 30 one-bedroom flats.

The centre's former chairman, John Norwood, 55, said the centre had been unworkable towards the end of his tenure because he couldn't afford the rent.

He said he had heard various rumours about the centre's future but thought it would become a three-storey block of housing.

He added: "It's bound to be houses – that's where they can make the most money.

"There have been rumours it could be an old people's home and all sorts of other things but I don't think it's going to be a community centre – the rent is too high and not enough people used it."

When the centre shut down, a residents' association, a craft club, a nursery and an Elvis fan club were all thrown out.

Even though local speculation is rife about the centre's future and the Gazette has been told there have been a multitude of proposals, including an old people's home, ward councillor John Buchanan said no residents had spoken to him about it.

It was thought the members of St John's Church, next door, would make a bid but that appears unlikely because of the high asking price.

Whether or not planning permission for the build will be granted by Basildon District Council is unknown, but they are under huge pressure from the Government to build 10,700 homes by 2021.

Whoever builds is likely to enter in to a section 106 agreement with the council under which they would have to pay to improve certain facilities. They may include improving the sewage system, which currently would not cater for large-scale housing.