Harlow Alliance Party express concerns over Lister House flats
Politics / Fri 11th May 2018 pm31 03:34pm
The Harlow Alliance Party have a number of concerns about this site, which does not bode well for Labour’s Local Plan. These are the facts:
1. This site is owned by Harlow Council, who swapped the land where the new Lister House is being built. The latter piece of land is much bigger and must have been far more valuable, so one has to wonder if the Council got a good deal.
2. This site is one of 21 on the Local Plan, which has not even been out to it’s final public consultation, and yet specific plans have been brought forward already. The Local Plan states that the shopping Mews and Council depot nearby are to be included and that 42 homes will be built on it. However the Mews are not owned by the Council and thus 42 homes are having to be squeezed onto just the Lister House site.
3. Luxury flats indeed, is this what Harlow needs to be built on Council land? We think not.
4.The homes will be just a few yards from Southern Way, the noise from traffic and fumes must surely be of concern to Councillors when looking at this planning application. The homes should be built as far from the traffic as the size of the site allows. Surely a sound barrier will be needed?
5. The consultation undertaken by the council was very poor, If Cllr Durcan thinks this was a success, he should try and find a document that was produced by the council in the 1990′s for all staff and councilors which explained how proper consultation should take place. Everyone living in the Staple Tye area should have been leafleted and an article placed on the council’s website well in advance.
6. A similar exercise was undertaken about land at Bushey Croft recently, a planning application has now been made. This site is not even on the Local Plan list. Harlow Council seem to have two systems running in parallel when it comes to housing sites. How many other green field sites are going to come forward in this way?
7. Finally, plans are afoot to demolish part of the Terminus Street car park to be replaced with 155 flats. A consultation exercise was undertaken in March, I wonder how many Harlow residents were aware of this? Not many I suspect.
JerryFromQueens
2018-05-13 17:06:11
Well at the risk of sounding like I'm stating the obvious, this is why I think it's called a plan. An idea gets put forward then opinions are taken from residents, councillors etc in a consultation process and then changes are or are not made. Isn't the whole of Terminus House being transformed into accommodation anyway? Having observed part of this process, from street level admittedly, I'd have thought that further demolition of the car park would be unnecessary. But I could be wrong.
MickyB77
2018-05-14 10:34:40
How presumptuous of jfq. "I could be wrong". I've got news for you, you're very rarely right. Somebody trying to put a different slant on the goings on with this dodgy labour set. Not before time. You appear very much on the ball HAP. Good Luck. Socialism breeds poverty.
tenpin
2018-05-14 13:33:56
Well JFQ, It will be interesting to see if the views expressed by residents at the open evening are taken into consideration before a formal planing application is made. All to often, Harlow Council say they are consulting with residents when in fact they are in reality informing residents. At the recent Bushey Croft consultation evening we did not meet any resident who expressed a positive view about the council's proposals, but here we are, just a few short weeks later, faced with a formal planning application without significant if any changes. In the last two months or so, residents at three sites have been consulted, all involving council land and it looks very likely that there will be no council homes to rent at council rent levels.This lays bare the Labour Parties claim that a substantial number of the 16000 homes to be built in and around Harlow will be owned and managed by Harlow Council. If only they were, at least the thousands of people on the council's housing waiting list would have some hope of getting a home, without spending a life on housing benefits.
tenpin
2018-05-16 16:37:07
Well JFQ, like most people in Harlow, you do not know what is going on, because so many things are happening behind closed doors at the Council. The plan I refer to is nothing to do with the existing Terminus House, it is the demolition of half of the car park and the building of a new block between Terminus House and the hotel, consisting of 155 flats.If it gets the go ahead this will reduce the number of car parking space for shoppers, with little space for the new residents and will do nothing to enhance the shopping experience in the town centre.
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