Protect Dartford’s New Homes – Stop Large-Scale Purchases by Outside Councils
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UPDATE: Basildon’s 86 Knights Reach flats reportedly sold – but our investigation continues
2026-10-13 07:16:44Thank you again to everyone who signed Protect Dartford’s New Homes.
We now have a significant update.
After our investigation established that Basildon Borough Council had purchased 86 flats at Knights Reach, we have been reliably informed that those properties have now been sold.
We are still awaiting the formal documentation confirming completion of the sale, but Basildon Council’s own records now provide important supporting evidence. An official Equality Impact Assessment dated 8 September 2026, entitled “Knights Reach Dartford: Disposal”, confirms that Basildon was actively pursuing the sale of the properties, that a higher offer had already been received, and that the Council was seeking authority to widen the range of potential purchasers beyond local authorities and registered providers. Enc. 1 Equality Impact Assessme… Enc. 1 Equality Impact Assessme…
The same document states that the Knights Reach homes were not intended to be occupied before disposal. Enc. 1 Equality Impact Assessme…
We have subsequently been told directly by a senior source at Basildon Council that the 86 properties have been sold. We are continuing to seek the formal records confirming who purchased them, the final price and the complete transaction history.
For everyone who supported this campaign, this is an important development. The Basildon purchase was one of the events that prompted us to start asking much wider questions about how Dartford’s new housing is being acquired and used by councils from outside the borough.
But there is still much more to establish.
Our investigation has now widened well beyond these 86 flats.
We have submitted Freedom of Information requests across London authorities asking them to disclose what residential property they own, lease, reserve or otherwise control within Dartford, as well as the number of households they place here.
Those responses are now beginning to arrive. Some authorities have provided useful information; others have given incomplete answers, redirected requests or responses that require further challenge or internal review. We will continue pursuing each one until we have as complete a picture as the available records allow.
We are also still pursuing Basildon Borough Council itself. One of the questions we are trying to resolve is how its previously published reference to “more than 150 units in Dartford” relates to the 86 Knights Reach flats we already know about.
And we are scrutinising Dartford Borough Council’s own response.
In December 2024, Dartford Full Council formally resolved that its Leader should write to London and surrounding councils and relevant developers about bulk purchases of homes in Dartford. The resolution was carried.
Our subsequent Freedom of Information investigation has raised important questions about what happened afterwards.
DBC has told us that it obtained no legal or planning advice on what powers might be available to prevent, restrict or influence significant purchases of Dartford homes by outside councils, and that it had undertaken no assessment of the wider effect at Knights Reach on matters such as infrastructure, services or tenure mix. We have challenged parts of that response through a formal internal review.
We have specifically asked DBC to establish:
- what it knew about the Basildon and Newham proposals and when;
- whether the December 2024 Council resolution was actually implemented;
- which councils and developers were contacted and what responses were received;
- what action followed;
- what legal or planning options were considered;
- and what monitoring DBC has undertaken to understand the overall scale of outside-authority housing activity in Dartford.
DBC’s internal review remains outstanding.
So while the reported sale of Basildon’s 86 Knights Reach flats is a welcome and significant development, it does not end the campaign.
The bigger question remains:
How many Dartford homes are being acquired, leased or used by councils from outside the borough — and what is being done to protect Dartford’s interests?
That is what we intend to establish.
Thank you to everyone who signed the petition and helped put this issue under sustained public scrutiny. We will continue following the evidence, challenging incomplete responses and publishing what we find as the remaining Freedom of Information replies arrive.
There has been progress. Now we need the full picture.
Ryan Waters
Knights Reach investigation – an update for everyone who signed
2026-09-22 12:43:01Thank you to everyone who has signed Protect Dartford’s New Homes.
When I started this petition, the immediate concern was what was happening at Knights Reach in Stone. Since then, local press coverage and a series of Freedom of Information requests have allowed me to investigate much further.
We now know that Basildon Borough Council purchased 86 flats at Knights Reach in June 2026 — two separate purchases of 43 flats. Newham Council had also progressed a proposal to acquire the freehold of 153 homes at the same development. That proposal was subsequently recorded as withdrawn, but no public reason was given.
I have therefore submitted detailed Freedom of Information requests to both councils.
The Basildon requests are asking for the exact properties involved, purchase price, seller, funding arrangements, valuations and due diligence. I am also investigating a separate reference in Basildon’s own budget documents to “more than 150 units in Dartford”, because the 86 confirmed Knights Reach flats do not by themselves explain that figure. Basildon told me both responses were due by 21 September; that date has now passed and I am chasing them.
Newham has not yet provided its substantive response. I have asked for the reason its 153-home proposal was withdrawn, the properties concerned, the proposed purchase price and seller, its business case and due diligence, and what it knew about other councils acquiring homes at Knights Reach. Newham has extended its response while it considers whether some information is commercially sensitive and now says it intends to respond by 20 October.
I have also obtained a response from Dartford Borough Council. That response has raised further questions.
DBC said it first became aware of Basildon’s interest in November 2024 through a news report, that there had been no formal communication with Basildon before its purchase, and that it had not obtained legal or planning advice about what powers might exist to influence large-scale acquisitions of homes by outside councils.
I have requested an internal review because parts of that response appear difficult to reconcile with DBC’s own published records. In particular, an April 2025 council meeting recorded the Head of Housing saying that “other authorities had already shown interest in the site.” I have asked DBC to establish what information that statement was based on and to carry out further searches.
But the investigation is no longer limited to Knights Reach.
I am now systematically trying to establish how many homes anywhere in Dartford are owned, leased, reserved or otherwise controlled by councils from outside the borough, and how many households those councils are placing here.
That means sending comparable information requests across London authorities, obtaining Dartford’s own records of out-of-area placements, and seeking government data so the different figures can eventually be cross-checked against one another.
The aim is to replace rumour and partial information with a proper evidence base: which councils are involved, how many homes are involved, where they are, what arrangements are being used, and what Dartford knew about them.
There is still a lot of information outstanding, and I do not want to make claims before the evidence supports them. But the investigation is progressing, and I will continue updating everyone who signed the petition as the responses come back.
Thank you again for your support and for helping put this issue under proper scrutiny.
— Ryan Waters
Ryan Waters