A Grade II listed high rise block of flats will be "uninhabitable" for around three months after a "major" flood, Basildon Council's leader has said. 

Brooke House in Basildon Town Centre was hit by the flooding on July 18, which meant 10 households were moved out into alternative accommodation.

Images shared on Facebook, at the time, showed cars partly submerged under water and the water level almost up to knee height in some parts of the building. Workers from Essex and Suffolk Water and Morgan Sindall Property Services attended the block of flats to help with the leak and flooding on the day and days after the flood.

Cllr Gavin Callaghan, Labour leader of Basildon Council, insists the council will carry out its proposed £16million revamp of the block to make it "as safe as possible for people to live in and raise their families in."

Speaking on his latest Facebook live video, he added: "Basildon Council has £16million in the budget to regenerate Brooke House. Now unfortunately we've had a major flood with Brooke House in the basement and that has damaged the electrics in the building.

"As a consequence that building is uninhabitable and it is not likely to be inhabited for the next three months.

"I don't look at Grenfell and think that's a good idea, let's try and repeat that, I look at it and say how do we make these buildings as safe as possible for people to live in and raise their families in. 

"And right now thanks to 25 years of chronic underinvestment in that building, it requires a £16million investment from the council and it requires a bit of structural work to be done as a consequence of this flood. Our plan, as a council, is to keep Brooke House in the council housing stock and to use that £16million to regenerate it and get it back open to council house tenants and families as quickly as possible but the idea that this is a quick job and the idea that it's a small fix is for the birds. It absolutely isn't, we want it for council housing, we want it council house stock and that is what we are working on at the moment." 

The high rise block which is 14 storeys was built in the 1960s and has 84 flats. Basildon Council, which owns the block, agreed the major £16million regeneration of the block back in June 2022. The major refurbishment includes  a ground-floor extension to create a new entrance, as well as upgrades to the roof, fire escapes, CCTV, insulation, cladding, and windows. The council has been relocating the residents before works begin.