Councillors backed the Baytree cinema plan unanimously on 16 September, with up to £6.52m of council money. Willmott Dixon and Milligan are now appointed.

Brentwood councillors have approved the plan to turn the Baytree Centre into a cinema-led leisure quarter. They also agreed to put up to £6,520,000 of council money into it.

The decision was taken unanimously on Wednesday 16 September by the Assets and Strategy Committee. It only became public when the minutes were posted on 23 September.

Updated 3 October: the council issued a statement on 1 October, two weeks after the meeting. It says Willmott Dixon Developments and Milligan have now been formally appointed as development partners, that the council keeps ownership of the site throughout, and that “no commitment to construction is yet made”. Next steps it lists are finalising the development agreement, design work, a planning application and “early engagement with existing occupiers of the centre” (Brentwood Borough Council, 1 October 2026).

The discussion itself happened in private. The minutes record that the committee agreed to “move the meeting in private session and exclude the press and public” in order to discuss the item in detail (Assets and Strategy Committee minutes, 16 September 2026).

What the committee agreed

Cllr Barrett, the chair, moved the recommendations and Cllr Munden seconded them. The vote was by show of hands and was unanimous. The committee:

  • endorsed the design principles: a leisure-led anchor, a food and drink offer, other leisure and community uses, a better setting for the Chapel Ruins, and longer-term redevelopment of the rear of the site
  • approved entering a conditional development agreement, subject to further approvals, due diligence, financial viability and statutory consents
  • handed the director of assets and investment the power to negotiate and finalise that agreement, in consultation with the finance and legal chiefs and the committee chair
  • authorised officers to start design work, a planning strategy, tenant engagement and a vacant possession strategy, and to prepare a hybrid planning application
  • approved a maximum equity contribution of £6,520,000, with extra borrowing to be built into the council’s 2027-28 budget
  • recommended a development contingency reserve of £800,000 for specialist legal, financial, valuation, tenant and vacant possession advice

The minutes do not give the amount of the extra borrowing. They refer to a financial summary that is not in the published record.

The report before the meeting named Willmott Dixon as the developer, appointed through an existing framework route. The heads of terms are exempt from publication, as is the feasibility study that picked the preferred option.

When anything changes on the ground

The council’s own statement before the meeting said work on the Chapel Ruins would start next year. It said the redeveloped centre would reopen in summer 2029 (Brentwood Borough Council, 9 September 2026).

Nothing in the minutes changes those dates. Nor do they set any date for the planning application. Our preview of the plan has the full detail of what the officer report proposed.

The Brentwood Centre vote was not unanimous

The same meeting took the next step on the £25 million rebuild of the Brentwood Centre. That vote was recorded, at the request of Cllr Barber:

  • for: Cllrs Barrett, Munden, Aspinell, Davies, Barber, Hirst, Kendall and Parker (8)
  • abstained: Cllr Quirk (1)

Before the vote, the minutes record that Cllr Quirk “requested the percentage over budget the tenders came back as”. The answer is not in the minutes. They say the director of assets and investments confirmed the initial business case would be circulated.

The officer report says three tenders came in for the main building works. It says the tender report “identifies that further cost efficiency measures, cost assurance and risk reviews are required before a final delivery recommendation can be made”. It does not give the tender prices (Brentwood Centre project gateway update, September 2026).

The committee agreed that a final business case comes back to an extra meeting in October 2026, before the council signs a final agreement with Everyone Active. Cllr Hirst asked for regular briefings for councillors before then. The council’s own statement on the day after the meeting called it a “green light”; our report on the Brentwood Centre plans has the detail of what is being built.

Two more decisions, both in private

Two other items were taken in private session:

  • the sale of Four Oaks, part of the council’s housing delivery programme, agreed unanimously
  • a quarterly update and strategic asset review for Seven Arches Investment Limited, which was “carried” rather than agreed unanimously

Neither minute records what was decided.

What it means for you

If you shop at the Baytree or run a business there, the part of this to watch is the tenant engagement and vacant possession strategy. The committee has now authorised officers to start that work. The officer report calls vacant possession “of the whole site” a key enabling requirement. It says the council will talk to occupiers early and look at moving them elsewhere on the High Street or in the town centre where possible (Baytree Centre report, September 2026).

The £6.52 million is the council’s ceiling, not a final bill. The borrowing behind it goes into the 2027-28 budget.

The council’s calendar has an Assets and Strategy Committee on 20 October. The minutes do not say whether that is the extra meeting for the Brentwood Centre business case. We will report the business case, and the tender figures, when they are published.