A 1m trench dug three days before the deadline has kept permission for 45 homes on the Westbury Road car park alive. Councillors agreed 9-2 on 13 October.

Planning permission for 45 homes on the old Westbury Road car park in Brentwood is still alive. A trench one metre long was dug and filled with concrete three days before the permission ran out.

Brentwood Borough Council’s planning committee voted 9-2 on Tuesday 13 October to confirm that counts as a legal start on site. Persimmon Homes Essex, which asked for the ruling, is named in the committee papers as the prospective buyer of the council-linked site.

What the committee decided

The application, 26/00846/S191, asked for a lawful development certificate. That is a formal ruling that the 2023 permission was started in time, so it can still be built.

Permission 21/02100/FUL was granted on 15 June 2023. Like most permissions, it had to be started within three years, so the deadline was 15 June 2026.

The officer’s report sets out what was done before that date:

  • the five conditions that had to be met before any work, covering archaeology, dust, construction management and landscaping, were signed off on 10 June 2026
  • a trench 1.0m long, 0.6m wide and 1.0m deep was dug and filled with concrete, on the footprint of the protruding bay of one of the planned homes, Unit 5
  • the developer emailed photographs of it to the council at 16:48 on Friday 12 June 2026, three days before the permission expired
  • the case officer saw the works on site in mid July

The law counts “the digging of a trench which is to contain the foundations, or part of the foundations, of a building” as a start. The officer concluded the evidence met that test on the balance of probabilities, and recommended the certificate (officer report, Planning Committee 13 October 2026).

Some councillors thought it was not enough

The draft minutes record that some members “expressed concern that the extent of the works appeared limited”. They asked whether a more substantial start should be required.

The officer said there was “no statutory requirement for the commencement to be ‘significant’”. Other members said the committee had to apply the legal test whatever their personal views of the scale of the work.

The vote was:

  • For (9): Cllrs Mynott, M Cuthbert, Baldock, Barber, Dr T Barrett, Gorton, McCheyne, Patel and Rigby
  • Against (2): Cllrs Bakhsh and Thomson

The minutes also note that if the council did not have an interest in the land, the application would normally have been decided by officers without a committee (draft minutes, 13 October 2026).

Why the council is involved

The original application was made by Brentwood Development Partnership, a joint venture company part owned by Brentwood Borough Council. That is why it went to committee.

The report also quotes a letter of 25 June 2026 from the council’s Director of Assets and Investments to the developer. It said the council was “satisfied that a material start has been made on site”, with works starting on 12 June. It advised the developer to apply for a certificate anyway, for protection “in the event of any challenge from third parties” (officer report).

What the 45 homes are

The scheme approved in 2023 replaces a car park of about 97 spaces near the High Street end of Westbury Road, in Brentwood West ward. The 2022 committee report says the car park closed in June 2021, and that it had been used for contract parking rather than as a public car park.

The plan is for:

  • 36 flats, 5 duplexes and 4 town houses
  • two main buildings of up to four storeys, dropping to two storeys at the western end
  • 36 parking spaces, in undercroft, car port and open parking
  • vehicle access from Westbury Road, roughly where the car park entrance is now

When the scheme first went to committee in 2022, the developer’s viability report said it could not support any affordable homes on the site. It offered about £440,000 towards affordable housing elsewhere instead (committee report, 21/02100/FUL).

What it means for you

  • The homes can be built without a new planning application. A fresh application would have been judged against today’s policies, including the affordable housing rules.
  • The certificate is not a sale. The committee papers call Persimmon Homes Essex the prospective purchaser. We have found no published council decision on the sale yet, and we will report it when one appears.
  • No parking is lost now. The car park has been closed since 2021. Town centre car parks and charges are in our parking guide.
  • To follow other schemes in the town, see our Brentwood planning news page.