PLANS for a multimillion pound creative and technology campus and new homes in Basildon are set to be scrapped – with council bosses set to draw up new regeneration plans for the sites. 

Basildon Council is set to scrap the plans for the creative campus for screen and digital immersive technologies on the site of the former Robins Cinema and British Heart Foundation store off Great Oaks in Basildon.

Proposals for the nearby former Post Office site in East Square, which included 64 flats in a 12 storey block, are also set to be thrown out too. 

The council was previously granted huge sums of money for the developments and the authority has been told withdrawing from the agreements "may have a reputational impact on the council." 

The council secured £683,000 Brownfield Land Release Fund from One Public Estates for the housing plans for the former Post Office site as well as £9.8m Housing Infrastructure Funding from Homes England, which aimed to develop infrastructure to unlock new homes. 

The authority was also granted £4,490,000 of Cultural Development Funding from Arts Council England and The Department of Culture Media and Sport for the creative and technology campus.

The council is set to agree scrapping both the proposals at a meeting on Tuesday, 10 September. 

Regarding the creative and technology campus, the meeting papers state: "Following the decommissioning of the project, the council will be able to reassess how to make best use of the site as part of the refresh of the masterplan and town centre visioning process, to ensure that the site aligns with the wider ambitions for the town centre and explore future external funding or commercial opportunities within the site."

The papers add: "Following the decommissioning of the project, this also provides the ability for the council to retain the former Post Office site to temporarily support future development and regenerative opportunities across the town centre, alongside potential meanwhile uses, whilst a review is undertaken to assess the best use of Council assets in offering greater flexibility to meet the growing needs of a changing town centre. 

"Following recent national and local elections, the regeneration landscape has moved on significantly strategically and economically, both nationally and locally, residential development of this scale and nature has faced significant economic challenges, coupled with the logistical challenges this site faces it has been increasingly difficult to progress the development of the site as originally intended."

The former Conservative administration had drawn up the plans and had hoped the creative and technology campus would attract businesses and freelancers working in the film, TV, gaming, VFX and animation sectors to the town.