A Labour council leader who Sir Keir Starmer urged voters to support has bizarrely claimed Essex schools are empty because people are ‘not breeding’ enough.
Basildon Council’s leader Gavin Callaghan told MailOnline locals in Billericay, Essex, were ‘not breeding’ and the council was ‘five years away from closing schools’.
Despite Starmer’s backing during Callaghan’s re-election campaign, he even accused the PM’s government of limiting the NHS’s ability to build state-of-the-art GP and dentist surgeries in Essex, which the Department of Health, NHS and local integrated care system said was not true.
Callaghan approached a MailOnline reporter on social media after this site revealed how locals were furious at Basildon Council’s controversial plan to build 27,000 new homes across the borough, 17,000 of which will be on green belt land.
Asked whether he was worried the government would force extra services to be provided for the 27,000-home development, he said: ‘In Billericay we are five years away from closing schools. I know the public don’t want to hear it but they’re not breeding in the town.
‘There isn’t a shortage of schools in Billericay and there will be new ones if these homes are built.’
For the last three years on record, Basildon’s fertility rate has decreased by 0.14 but remains higher than the national average and the third highest in Essex, and all 11 schools in Billericay are oversubscribed.
Keir Starmer supported Basildon Council leader Gavin Callaghan (right) in his successful bid to be re-elected to Basildon Council
Councillor Callaghan has been caught making a series of seemingly misleading and false claims, including about Starmer’s government
Parents in Billericay were baffled by his comments about ‘breeding’ and the potential closure of schools in the area.
They said finding a school for their kids was a ‘nightmare’ and the suggestion they needed to ‘breed’ more children was ‘mad’.
Of the 11 schools in Billericay, Quilters Infant school is the most oversubscribed.
There is a rounded ratio of five applicants for one space with 318 applications for just 60 places in the first year.
It is closely followed by The Billericay School, which saw 1,026 applications for just 280 spaces, a rounded ratio of four to one.
Mother-of-one Nicola Robinson, 32, said getting a school place for her five-year-old son was ‘insanely stressful’.
The receptionist told MailOnline: ‘Oh my god, it’s terrible. There’s not enough. We live in the catchment and have been local for years but it was like going through hoops. They absolutely need to build more.
Father-of-one Callaghan then claimed Billericay residents were ‘not breeding’ and schools were ‘five years away from closing’. All of Billericay’s 11 schools are actually oversubscribed and Basildon’s fertility rate is higher than the national average
The Labour council chief then accused Keir Starmer’s government of preventing the building of GP surgeries in Essex by setting a price limit for property purchases, which the Department of Health and NHS England denied was true
Cllr Callaghan is a father of one and a career politician who became the youngest leader of a UK council in 2017
He posts prolifically on social media. He approached a MailOnline reporter on X/Twitter to launch a series of dubious claims
‘The idea that parents need to breed more children is mad. Why would you think that? That’s mad. It makes no sense when the area is so full already.’
Vicki Tomey, 48, a cleaner, said: ‘Whoever said that about breeding, well that’s just crazy.
‘The area is totally overrun. There’s absolutely not enough schools.’
Meanwhile, stay-at-home mother Jade Cox, 34, said getting school places locally was a ‘nightmare’.
She said: ‘I couldn’t get my son in his first choice around here. It was really difficult and very stressful.
‘I was on edge for months. Thankfully he is okay now and enjoys school. There is absolutely a need for more places.’
Billericay mother-of-one Erika Poole, 49, spoke to MailOnline just before she went to pick up her son from school.
She said: ‘One primary school now has three reception classes. It grew and grew to encapsulate the new people in the area.
‘How much more can they grow? I don’t think they can.’
Brian Davis, 72, said: ‘It’s madness at the moment. Billericay has always been a little oasis and that is under threat by thousands and thousands of new people turning up.
‘There’s not enough schools. It’s chaos. Trying to get places for children around here is a nightmare.
‘It’s the way of the world that places are getting bigger but those in charge never keep up with the infrastructure.’
Answering the claims from local families Cllr Callaghan said: ‘If we continue to build homes at the pitiful rate we have, schools will close. This is a really simple equation: we need the homes to keep the schools open.’
Cllr Callaghan is a career politician and became the youngest ever leader of a UK council when he was elected in 2017.
He describes himself as a ‘sucker for punishment’ in his X/Twitter bio.
Despite getting Keir Starmer’s support on the campaign trail as he bid for re-election to Basildon Borough Council this year, which he won, Callaghan criticised the Labour government with another seemingly false claim.
Asked whether he was worried the government would force services to be provided for the 27,000-home development, he said: ‘We need a tweak to the NHS rules. At the moment the NHS can’t take on property for new GP surgeries or outpatient services if the cost to rent or buy exceeds £250 per sq metre.
Billericay cleaner Vicki Tomey, 48, (pictured) said: ‘Whoever said that about breeding, well that’s just crazy. The area is totally overrun. There’s absolutely not enough schools’
Mother-of-one Erika Poole, 49, (pictured) said schools were getting bigger and bigger as they accommodated an influx of pupils
Cllr Callaghan sent the comments after MailOnline revealed locals’ fury at his plan to build 27,000 homes in Basildon, 17,000 of which would be on countryside such as this stunning green belt land
Multiple sites have been confirmed as sites to build more than 27,000 homes over the next 20 years
However, 62 per cent of the homes will be built on green belt land, which covers vast swathes of the area
Pictured: Planned areas of housing around Billericay, where thousands of houses could be built
‘In my part of the world that means that they can’t ever rent or build anything new at the scale needed.
‘If the government allowed them to double that, we’d have new state of the art GP surgeries and dentists everywhere in Essex.’
However, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed to MailOnline that the government had not set any such limit.
NHS England also confirmed it had set no such limit per square metre and that if a purchase had been blocked, it would suggest the price was way above the market value.
The Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System, which evaluates projects in the area, said: ‘All projects relating to primary care premises are evaluated by NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board for value for money on a case-by-case basis and in line with the NHS 2024 Premises Cost Directions.
‘As such, revenue for GP premises is determined by the District Value and NHS Mid and South Essex budgets for overall affordability of a specific scheme.’
Cllr Callaghan went on for so long that he also managed to disprove one of his own claims.
Talking about his council’s plan to build 27,000 new homes in the borough, 17,000 of which will be on the green belt, he initially said there was a ‘fully costed infrastructure plan’ for the development.
However, Callaghan later admitted there was no such published plan, although he claimed one would be released in January 2025.
The Prime Minister and the Labour Party did not respond to requests for comment.
