The small Essex town of Pitsea sits between the busy centre of Basildon to its north and Green Belt marshland and Sites of Special Scientific Interest to the south, which border the mouth of the River Thames. Pitsea itself is a typical commuter town, with a rough around the edges town centre, with a few amenties like supermarkets, pubs, cafes and barber shops, and a more industrial area around London Road. There’s plenty of modest postwar terraced and semi-detached housing to the north of the high street, and a slightly more upmarket area south of the busy A13 Pitsea Flyover towards Pitsea station. The station can take commuters to West Ham in under 35 minutes. Typical of an Essex commuter hub there’s plenty of greenery in the form of parks and the aforementioned Green Belt marshland. Schools are also in abundance here and in nearby Basildon, making the area popular with families as well as older residents who enjoy the space and quiet that is difficult to find closer to London.

Anglo-Saxon in origin, the area of Pitsea remained a sparsely populated rural area for well over 1000 years, until the railway connected it with London in 1855, with a second line introduced in 1888. Land around the station was quickly snapped up by developers keen to entice Londoners out of the city to the fresh air of the countryside. It wasn’t until 1925, however, that any real development took place with mansion blocks, a cinema and a market all opening in this year. The marshes south of Pitsea played an important role as a defensive line during the Second World War given its proximity to the mouth of the Thames. Some remnants such as pillboxes and defensive instruments can still be seen today. With the new town development of neighbouring Basildon, the 1960s saw more intensive development of the Pitsea area, and the building of residential zones of semi-detached and terraces homes which remain to this day. The Pitsea Flyover was completed in 1970 to handle the increased traffic that came with the dramatic increase in population.

The viral internet football team Hashtag United is based in Pitsea. Founded in 2016, their men’s team now compete in the Isthman League and contain players who have played internationally for Jamaica and Somalia, and their women’s team won the 2023/24 National League Division One South East. Continuing Pitsea’s footballing heritage but at a slightly higher level still, are Michael Kightly and James Tomkins, who have both played Premier League football for Wolves and Stoke, and West Ham and Crystal Palace respectively.

Given its Green Belt location, residents are unsusprisingly worried about the impact that certain development will have on the rural nature of the town and have been historically opposed to any development on Green Belt land. However, land for 31 homes has been secured to help tackle a local lack of housing, and derelict flats near the Pitsea Tesco are slated for demolition and redevelopment as social housing bringing 21 new units to the area.