County council hits back after being accused of not spending £140m earmarked for roads and schools

An Essex county council has not spent £140million in funding from housing developers, which was meant to be used for roads, schools and communities, according to a council leader and a construction federation. Gavin Callaghan, Labour leader of Basildon Council and the Home Builders Federation, claims Essex County Council has £140.4million in contributions from housing developers which has not been spent or used.

The county council has hit back and denied the claims with bosses saying the cash “is not unused” and it “is allocated and committed to a number of projects and schemes across Essex.” The Home Builders Federation names the county council in its latest reports which states, new research estimates local authorities in England and Wales are sitting on over £8 billion of infrastructure payments by developers, including over £6billion from section 106 agreements and almost £2billion raised through the community infrastructure levy.

Mr Callaghan claims the county council is "sitting on a fortune” and that it is "a betrayal of our borough." In the debate on the local plan, at a recent meeting, Mr Callaghan spoke about the “moral, economic and social” case in favour of housing growth in the borough. He said: “Who truly wants to live in a place where those who make our borough vibrant—our teachers, nurses, care workers, hairdressers, police officers and young families—are priced out or left to scrape by?

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"We need to have more housing that’s affordable, diverse, and available, alongside schools, roads, and public spaces that serve their residents. That is the only way we’re going to deliver a bigger, fairer local economy, with businesses thriving because they can attract employees who actually live nearby.

“Basildon faces an urgent need for more affordable homes and those holding up our housing plans and infrastructure are pricing our children out of the borough, pushing essential workers to commute from miles away, and ignoring the reality that families are struggling right now. Those who oppose housing growth on the grounds of ‘preserving character’ are choosing stagnation over compassion, exclusivity over opportunity, and fear over vision.”

According to the HBF report, Essex County Council is among the five councils with the largest amount of unspent highways and roads contributions, with £35million sitting with Essex County Council. The report also states that the county council has £101.40 in unspent school and education contributions. The federation report says that Essex County Council has returned £5.4million to developers over the past five years after it was not spent on communities and or infrastructure projects.

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “It is important that we help the Basildon Council leader understand the facts. The £140 million he is referring to is not unused. The funding is allocated and committed to a number of projects and schemes across Essex.

“These allocations range from highways initiatives to improving our libraries to building new schools. For Basildon schools in particular, the funding has supported the secondary school expansion at Beauchamps and the new Chapel Hill Primary School. We are more than happy to explain to Basildon Council how the allocation of this kind of funding works. We are also happy to point them in the direction of our report that breaks down the spend, which is publicly available on our website.”