A 1960s housing block in Pilgrims Hatch is to be replaced with new flats, with one councillor describing the existing development as “not fit for purpose”. 

The proposed Brentwood Borough Council development will see the demolition of 29 social housing units, together with a community room and garages in Harewood Road, to be replaced with 40 one- and two-bedroom flats. 

The existing buildings were constructed in the early 1960s as part of a post-war increase in social housing provision and have since been managed by the council. 

The size of the units at only 19 square meters are significantly below the current national space standards for housing, meaning the tenants have to cope with “cramped and poor living conditions”, the council said. 

The buildings are not energy efficient and are considered no longer fit for purpose. 

Cllr Vicky Davies (Lib Dem, Pilgrims Hatch) told the planning committee on December 20: “When I first became a councillor of Pilgrims Hatch, I was on the housing committee then and I went down and I met these lovely residents and others in the current accommodation there and I was horrified, I was horrified, to see that people were being asked to live in what were little boxes that weren’t really absolutely not fit for purpose in this day and age.” 

Cllr Davies described the new plans are “state-of-the-art”, adding: “I think once people know just how wonderful it is to live there, we will be inundated with people wanting to live in there or in similar properties, because to actually be able to get that level of eco-economy in housing properties is a challenge, but it’s something that hopefully will come.” 

The application was carried unanimously.