The 400 proposed homes on the Warley Hospital site could be just the start, property advisors DTZ Debenham Thorpe admitted this week.

The first 15.2 hectare swathe, covering just under one quarter of the massive 63 hectare site, is now on the market and is earmarked for 400 homes and a new primary school.

But for the first time this week the company held out the promise of more homes on the site by converting buildings currently used by the BHB Healthcare Trust - a fact they denied in the face of residents' concerns a year ago.

In a press release DTZ Debenham Thorpe says: "It is anticipated that these buildings will be vacated in the near future and it is the intention to then agree a planning brief with Brentwood Borough Council for the conversion of the remaining buildings for residential use."

But Brian Keane, deputy town clerk at Brentwood Council said: "It is premature to say that. We have not discussed with them the future of these buildings at all."

"We have not discussed with the Health authority the future of the core and we would ask them to do so as a matter of urgency if they were planning to vacate."

The whole site covers more than 60 hectares. A substantial amount of this is green belt and public open space which will transfer to the council.

Some of the remaining buildings are listed and cannot be destroyed. Just over a year ago Richard Jones of DTZ denied that there were plans for an additional 150 flats on the site, saying people had got the "wrong end of the stick".

Local councillor Michael Taylor accused the developers of "jumping the gun."

He said suspicions were raised when an application was put in to move the access road away from BHB buildings.

Cllr Taylor said: "It seems the developers are rather jumping the gun. It is a listed building and the council will look for a proper use for it. Whether it is residential or not remains to be seen."

Cllr Alan Earl, who also represents Warley, said: "It is news to me, we will talk about it when we have seen plans, that doesn't mean to say they are going to get planning permission."

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