Over the border: Plans for sixty homes near Thornwood Common
General / Tue 15th Mar 2022 at 10:46am
A BID for a housing development of more than 60 new homes has been launched for a hamlet near Harlow reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
Epping Road Ltd, the applicant, submitted an application for 62 houses in Thornwood to Epping Forest District Council last week.
Existing buildings on a field roughly the size of four football pitches could be demolished to make way for the houses and flats, according to a design and access statement.
The statement continues to say the development would be designed to have a traditional village feel.
A section reads: “The original design concept was that of a traditional Essex village with housing grouped around a village green and pond.
“The development is looser and more dispersed at the countryside edge to the west and more dense near High Road to the east, as is typical of the villages studied in the early analysis work.
In addition to the housing, the application is seeking outline permission from the council for a community orchard, landscaping, access onto high road, parking and almost two hectares of public open space.
A central block of flats would also be built and 40 per cent of the units across the development would be affordable homes, according to the statement.
A new pedestrian crossing on high road has also been planned.
The current site is located west of North Wealth Airfield, just opposite Thornwood Common.
One edge at the north of the field runs alongside the Canford business park, an industrial site, and would be landscaped in order to mitigate impact on the future occupants, the statement says.
There is an existing house on the site called “Rosario”, along with a number of outbuildings, but the statement says their condition means it would not be viable to retain them, and they would be demolished should the application be approved.
Each house would have at least one parking space, as well as a 22kW passive electric charging point.
Parking spaces for the flats would also be provided with electric charging infrastructure, with 80 per cent being passive and 20 per cent being active.
A substation may also be required in the development.
Planning application: http://planpub.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/NIM.websearch/(S(vpnvebqtfzpc2155f4dkcjjs))/Results.aspx
Kim Oconnor
2022-03-15 13:17:12
Theses developers won't be happy till every piece of land, wild life is destroyed. When you say affordable housing, are they housing association, which are private. There not villages, no matter how you dress this up. And there not affordable housing for people who have been waiting for years. It's council housing we need for future generations. If your going to take green belt away from us, let it be for council, and for people that live in theses ereas. All theses builds are unaffordable to most.
Mark Collins
2022-03-15 14:49:14
Looks a rather good development and pleasant location. Any information on designs and prices? As more businesses move this way, new housing will be required. I don’t really understand why people say that new developments are ‘unaffordable’. If they were, developers would not build them. Most new property in and around Harlow is being sold without problems. Look at Newhall for example. The socio demographics are changing.
Kim Oconnor
2022-03-15 19:01:38
The amount of people on benifts. The amount of people living still at home with family's. The amount of family's in bed sits, and tiny one bed flats . The amount of people going into private accommodation, being paid for by benifts. Need I go on. We need structure in theses places, that benifts the people who are in need. People in need of homes that have waited years . And theses people carnt afford to buy . It's council homes we desperately need. For our children and grandchildren. For future generations.
Connie Sosa
2022-03-15 21:58:35
Kim O’Connor, I can sympathise, but Harlow needs to attract investment (jobs), skills and high paid jobs so the town can raise its standards. We need higher calibre people who will demand better services, options for leisure and entertainment to restore the cultural levels the town had in the 1960’s and 70’s. It has gone badly down. We need new blood to rejuvenate and regenerate. All these new developments will help in this process. Please don’t be so pessimistic. I believe Harlow can and will improve.
Jamie Henderson
2022-03-15 22:00:42
Kim O’Connor, I understand where you are coming from. The problem is that Harlow has much more social housing than neighbouring districts and property prices in Harlow are comparatively lower, which given its location ( near London, good trían and motorway access, Stansted airport) makes it a great place for businesses to base here and for their employees to move. Just think how the original people living in the villages in what is now Harlow felt when it became a new town. Places evolve. Look at dock lands in London, dockers, Eastenders….all gone. It is now a financial and IT centre. The inhabitants have completely changed and the ‘locals’ moved elsewhere. It happens everywhere. In Cornwall locals are moving away as second home buyers have pushed property prices so high. In Harlow, we have so little space to build and Councils can only build on land they own. Also, if they could build, tenants acquire the right to buy at a discount so it ceases to be a council house any longer. It is not easy. In the end mobility is a factor. Those who set up business here, those who move here for work, or those who find it convenient to sell in London and buy here to work from home and commute a day or two a week are the new residents. We have to accept evolution and change. Those without the skills or ability to afford to stay will move, just as happened in Docklands and other places. With change, there are always winners and losers. I know a number of people in Harlow, who are selling up and moving to nice market towns in Norfolk and Lincolnshire where they can afford better properties. It is a constant cycle. Harlow is pretty cheap given its location and it will attract investment which will push prices. Markets always correct themselves.
Nicholas Taylor
2022-03-15 22:50:26
O that's all right then Jamie, all those who cannot afford to buy have to move elsewhere. That's the economics of the mad house and just why there is a housing crisis. So where do all low paid workers go to live and who does such work in the towns where such people have moved out from? The work of dockers simply moved to places like Harwich, where even now there are thousands of people employed in such work. So Connie, you seem to think that those of us who already live here are not worthy of or demand better services, the fact is that 70% of homes are already in private ownership, the same argument you put was put when Church Langley was planned. What we need is more social housing at truly affordable rents, not homes costing over half a million pounds. Lets not forget that the residents of the thousands of homes around Harlow will not contribute any Council Tax to help the regeneration of Harlow and that there is very little space for new businesses to set up in the town but up to 30,000 more people of working age will be living within three miles of Harlow Town centre.
Jamie Henderson
2022-03-16 05:05:25
Nicolas Taylor, I think the point you overlook is that administrative boundaries also change to reflect population movements and administrative expediency. Take the creation of Greater London which absorbed most of Middlesex and parts of Herts, Essex, Kent and Surrey. Even Harlow’s own boundaries were changed to the East from the Old London Road to the M11, taking land from Epping Forest DC to accommodate what is now Church Langley and Newhall. Future changes are highly likely to bring the whole HGGT under one roof. Just look at the growth of the Harlow Parliamentary constituency, which is again to be enlarged and now stretches well beyond the boundaries of Harlow itself.
Nicholas Taylor
2022-03-16 12:15:23
Jamie, I would expect Epping Forest and East Herts DC to fight tooth and nail to keep their boundary where they are, after all, they will receive millions of pounds in New Homes bonus payments and of course years of Council tax payments from the new residents without having to do little more than empty the bins. The publicity that went with the Latton Priory development site alone said that EFDC would benefit to the tune of £25 million. The last time wholesale changes were made in Local Government was way back in 1974, things were very different then and changes were made for reasons which would not apply now.
Jamie Henderson
2022-03-16 15:11:49
HGGT cannot function under 5 authorities. I will bet what you like that it becomes a single District or within a new larger unitary authority. As I mentioned, Harlow was expanded for Church Langley and Newhall.
Janet Cussens
2022-03-16 17:10:44
This is the type of development we are looking to buy. We are looking to move from London. Both myself and husband are now working remotely and only go into the office once a week. It is almost quick to go from Harlow or Epping as it is from where we are in London. Property is just so much cheaper in this area without hardly any sacrifices regarding London. We are checking schools for the children in the area. We are also looking at the developments in Newhall. Given the price differential, might make sense to buy in Newhall and then one of the more rural properties once completed and rent out the Newhall one. I am surprised more people aren’t doing this. Seems a smart option.
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