Basildon became a New Town in 1948 to house the London overspill.
Basildon was made up from four villages, Pitsea, Laindon, Basildon and Vange the larger district founded in 1974 also included Billericay and Wickford plus rural villages.
Basildon is easily accessible with good transport links to London. Trains connect to Fenchurch Street and this is a thirty-five minute journey.
The A127 to the north of the town is the Southend Arterial Road and to the south is the A13 giving easy access to the M25 motorway.
The High Street has many chain stores plus independent shops. A retail centre housing around 100 shops is the Eastgate Shopping Centre. This includes one of the largest Debenham stores in the UK. There are other outlets at Westgage Shopping Park and the town has a fairly large market selling such things as clothes, household goods and fruit and vegetables.
Some of the shops that can be found in town include Adams, Evans, New Look, Dorothy Perkins, Atlantic Fashion, Base and Burtons.
There are large development plans for the town to include improvements to playing fields, and sports facilities, investment in the Basildon Enterprise Corridor, the creation of a wetland nature reserve and investments in housing estates.
The Leisure Park is owned by Norwich Union and it is of importance to the whole area. It houses several restaurants, bowing and arcade centre, two health clubs, 12 screen cinema and two hotels. Gloucester Park is a short walk away with acres of greenery and lakes.
There is always property to rent in Basildon with prices of £400-£685 for a l bed flat, £725-£695 for a 2 bed flat and £725 to £950 for a 3 bed house.
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