Harlow Conservatives oppose Epping Forest Local Plan to build thousands of homes on Harlow’s border
General / Thu 5th Jan 2023 at 10:13am
THE Harlow Conservatives have raised significant reservations over the proposed modifications to the Epping Forest Local Plan, saying it undermines the future of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town (HGGT) and will congest Harlow’s roads and local services.
The council inherited the HGGT deal from the previous Labour administration. “The deal was not a good one,” explained Cllr Michael Hardware, cabinet member for strategic growth. “Little thought appears to have been given by Labour into the impact of these huge Epping developments on the existing town; to the traffic impacts or the effect on the existing infrastructure.
“This is why we opposed it when in opposition, re-affirmed this when we took control of the council last year.
“These inherited issues are being further exacerbated by Epping’s Local Plan to build even more homes on our borders. Their plan would also water down developers’ adherence to HGGT principles and standards, meaning poor quality homes being built, and wants to relax the requirements for developers to fund proper transport infrastructure for Harlow.”
The proposed modifications remove the requirement for developers to adhere to the HGGT Town Vision, which are included in both the Harlow and East Herts local plans.
Cllr Hardware continued: “This would mean poor quality development on Harlow’s borders with no adherence to the high-quality planning requirements we have put into Harlow planning policy as part of the Garden Town”.
The modifications also remove the housing targets from being clear and specific numbers for each site, changing them to a minimum instead. “This means there is potential for many more homes to be built on the sites south, east and west of Harlow,” added Cllr Hardware, “which we have always and continue to oppose”.
The third modification which is of concern is the developer contributions to the Sustainable Transport Corridors. These will provide public transport, cycling and walking routes direct to the town centre, mitigating the potential traffic impact and helping the town achieve its modal shift targets. The inspector wants to water down the requirement for developers to contribute. Cllr Hardware added: “These have to be fully funded by the developers as their developments will be creating the traffic. Why should we pay for the mitigation of more traffic on Harlow’s roads?”
Harlow Conservatives support the Garden Town and the growth of Harlow as it will bring significant benefits to the existing town and deliver Harlow homes for Harlow families. The growth, however, has to be in the right place and has to have the right mitigation in place, as well as steps to ensure proper integration of the new with the existing town.
“The Harlow Conservatives have always opposed development to the south and west of Harlow and Epping’s local plan proposes to allow poor quality development on our borders and that is not something we will ever agree to.” concluded Cllr Hardware.
Kim Oconnor
2023-01-05 10:31:04
It may of been labour's plan. But all councils agreed to put plan forward. Destruction of our green belt, wildlife, and destroying a complete Ecco systems. Theses are not homes for HARLOW PEOPLE AT ALL. Because most of us would not be able to afford them. If they are homes for Harlow people, does that mean that the 5OOO people waiting on homes will be housed ??? Theses unaffordable homes, will bring in thousands of people from out side Harlow, creating more and more chaos on roads, not to mention our hospital and other services. You need to concentrate on the needs of Harlow first and foremost. With no infrastructure in place it will be a disaster, not just for Harlow, but to the destruction of our only peaceful place in Harlow, our river stort valley. .. you are all big talkers on wellbeing,, then don't destroy this beautiful river.
Tomcat
2023-01-05 10:47:52
Kim Here we go again with jealousy hitting the debate! Why should anyone wishing to build homes just build them for Harlow people on waiting lists! when I was educated I was taught to go earn your money then buy a home and then have a family! Now its have kids get on a waiting list and blame everyone else for your woes! In Harlow you say there are 5000 on waiting lists then why don't they go and rent a property from a private landlord! Why should people have homes given to them at knocked down rates then park a brand new car or van given to them by government then buy the home from the council at a knocked down rate later on! hence why we have no homes left for them! It makes me very angry to see people bleeding the council for anything and everything yet wont accept any blame themselves. I am aware before you try and educate me there are genuine disabled people and they do need assistance yet take a look around the town and you will see lots of people getting all the help they dont need IE Cars, Scooters, free homes, free bus passes cash handouts yet who helps the genuine working class people who are struggling No one!
James
2023-01-05 10:56:03
Kim O’Connor, Cllr Hardware’s comments could not be clearer: the Conservative administration has and continues to oppose the proposed developments around our borders with Epping Forest Council. As for you wishing to build more homes in Harlow, whether council or private, where is the land? We have seen our population increase from about 81,000 in 2011 to over 93.000 today within the existing confined borders. You are supposed to be a Green Party supporter. How can extensive housebuilding occur without destroying our treasured green spaces. The only solution is a change to our boundaries or merger into a larger unitary authority.
David Forman
2023-01-05 10:57:41
I remember under the last Labour administration Cllr Tony Durcan was keen to sell access strips of land to facilitate the building of Sumners West development. This was despite opposition from Labour Party members living in Sumners including myself.
Theman
2023-01-05 11:33:30
Rid dings lane, fern hill lane and rye hill road cannot support the extra traffic. I would suggest Harlow council put forward plans for traffic calming measures on these lanes ASAP. This should be possible as the council has closed off other roads in Harlow that are used as rat runs, which these lanes will no doubt become. Most residents of this new estate would most likely use the M11 access, but as this is gridlocked at peak hours already, So I don’t see where the capacity for another 1000 vehicles is going to come from. If you look at the plans for this development, it appears to be poorly planned. Oh and good luck moving the traveller camp!
Mari
2023-01-05 11:34:36
Tomcat your are 100% right Agree with you people dont take responsibility for anything ( kids,family, homes)they want government to look after everything and everyone. Thats why oir country is in a such a bad condition
James
2023-01-05 11:38:38
Kim O’Connor if you wish to voice your views why don’t you register for free to take part in the Latton Priory Q&A online session this evening. See the YH article today on this. It is very easy to register.
Kim Oconnor
2023-01-05 11:41:26
Tomcat, your fake name says it all. Jealousy of what of what. I say again if you don't like what I say, then don't read it,, I don't expect a reply. We are allowed to air our views, are we not. Your Harlow...
James
2023-01-05 11:55:02
Tomcat raises some very pertinent points regarding social responsibility and the theme of self-reliance v a culture of entitlement. I too was raised to seek independence. Council and social housing is not a right: it should be for those in genuine need, not just those who want a cheaper rent. We hear there are 5,000 on the housing waiting list. That is about 5.3% of the current population of Harlow. How many are in genuine need, e.g. disabled, infirm, etc. How many are already renting private accommodation? If we scrutinised the numbers and cases more stringently, I am sure the numbers would be reduced significantly. Kim O’Connor has also failed to answer the rather pertinent question as to where the land is for such building.
mike
2023-01-05 11:55:11
kim is always banging on about the housing register tomcat but the sad fact of life is only 10% of these homes go to the housing register, i currently live in a council flat and have done for 16 years and now have a 15% deposit for a affordable home, some will never get a council flat/house and most will never own a property, it does sound like kim is a wee bit jealous of others
Kim Oconnor
2023-01-05 12:38:21
I say again Jealous of what, don't make a point with out following it up. Jealous of trying to save green belt. Jealous that thinking people needs should come first. Jealous that they can sell lands to developers, but not build council for people waiting. It was conservatives who sold of council property s, the right to buy should be scrapped, for future generations. I'm Jealous because I see people in desperate need, people sleeping ruff , service men, house break ups, life's not black and white, people are waiting on housing for all different reasons. Is it so wrong to feel for theses people, is it so wrong to air views, weather indiffrent to others, but you can all air yours. If this is Jealous, then so be it. And James there's plenty, of empty houses up and down this country, that could be turned in homeing people in need, they choose to sell of to property developers,, and this is what's happened to our green belt, sold lands to developers, and not a thought to people s needs. If that's Jealous so be it. And quite honestly I don't really care about any body else's opions. Have a nice day.
Tomcat
2023-01-05 12:59:11
Kim please deal with facts IE we allowed over 1 million Hong Kong residents to relocate to the UK as well as taking in 47000 small boat people in 2021 then there is the Ukrainian people staying here so tell me Kim? where are these people housed! Im guessing but I feel you would sooner have them housed in the old converted factories in and around Harlow! The world is getting bigger and unless we have better birth awareness and ownership it can only get worse
gary roberts
2023-01-05 13:47:33
James, I would ask that you justify your various statements above: "We hear there are 5,000 on the housing waiting list." What figure is the correct figure if not 5,000? "How many are in genuine need, e.g. disabled, infirm, etc." Again answer your own question please? "If we scrutinised the numbers and cases more stringently, I am sure the numbers would be reduced significantly." Really? Why haven't your party done it already? I am sure the last Conservative councillor who held the housing brief would have done it in an effort to correct any inaccuracies, wouldn't he? I walked the Potter Street area and found empty properties and was told they had been empty for months: Why? Perhaps as our local councillor you should do the same.
Kim’s at it again - moaning for a free ride
2023-01-05 14:46:21
People like Kim are why Harlow is so run down in the first place. Too many people getting everything given to them from the tax payers (us). Harlow needs more people with proper jobs paying council tax etc. adding to the local economy not taking from it. Kim, please try to move to a nearby council that will solve all your problems. I really hope you get the council house you wish for in another location so everyone can be happy and Harlow can get on with regeneration
James
2023-01-05 14:57:31
Gary Roberts, Thanks. I can assure you that I have been most forthright in pressing for a performance target set regarding the number of empty residential and council owned commercial properties. This is now reviewed monthly. I believe that such properties need to be repaired as a priority so that the waiting list is reduced. The recent announcement regarding progress on roof repairs ties in with this theme and shows the determination of the present administration to remedy housing issues after years of neglect and mismanagement by the previous administration.
James
2023-01-05 15:26:24
Kim you say ‘they are selling land to developers’. This ‘they’ is not Harlow Council but rather private landowners. Surely, they are entitled to sell their own property to whomsoever. What has that got to do with the Council? If the purchaser is a house builder, well, it will submit a planning application for the proposed development that is assessed in strict compliance with existing Planning laws and regulations. I think you are mixing apples and oranges here.
gary roberts
2023-01-05 15:34:45
James, if you have the current figures on the questions you poised in an earlier post, please could you tell me what they are. Blaming previous administrations is like the phrase I have encountered over many years from politicians, "don't look over here, look over there". It is the reason why many politicians' are treated with mistrust on their election promises and lead to very poor turnouts. I am never surprised when I hear stories from residents that tell me they have been let down by the council. By the way is Osler House part of the roofing programme? I suspect not, but surprise me.
Nicholas Taylor
2023-01-05 17:51:38
Picking up on some of the issues raised by readers, lets deal with some facts. Firstly, the developers have given assurances that neither Riddings Lane or Fernhill Lane will give vehicular access to the proposed new development, the latter will only be used for buses on the new sustainable transport corridor. The effective of this of course that all the new residents wishing to enter Harlow by car will have to enter via Rye Hill Road. Secondly, people cannot just go on the Housing Register of Harlow Council, you must have an income or joint income of less than £41k per annum and lived in the town for at least 5 years. Single people in the main are not eligible. Even if people do 'better themselves' there are still more people coming along who fill the vacancies (cleaners, shop workers and thousands more) who cannot afford to buy, there is and always will be a need for more Council homes. Harlow Council has reviewed who can go on it's list numerous times in the past, the true number needing a Council home is far greater than the number recorded. The point Kim makes is a valid one, 16,000+ new homes of which only about 400 max will be Council. The latest estimate is that over 600,000 homes are empty in this Country, not counting all the second, holiday homes that stand empty for most of the year. Finally, lets dispel the myth that tax payers are subsidising Council house tenants in some way. They don't. If anything, Council tenants help support other Council services.
Nostradamus
2023-01-05 18:16:50
Most of our young and not so young people simply don't earn enough to buy homes in Harlow. Most rentals are inordinately high. There are many sites in Harlow suitable for Council housing that won't impinge on green wedges. Also what is being ignored is that like any area building, town, city or vehicle like an aircraft there's a design spec that once overloaded results in disaster. Growth is not the solution sustainability is. Property developers and private landlords thrive off the backs of working families. The shift that occurred in the 1980s that meant that mortgages on buying property meant that it became essential in order to purchase that two people's earnings were necessary effectively doubled the purchase prices and placed extreme pressures on families. Such a strategy together with the withdrawal of support strategies for children and elderly (eg closure of youth clubs, extremely high costs of child care and poor social care for the elderly) and the abject failures to build social housing, affordable housing and housing generally has resulted in the catastrophic situation we have today. Harlow has declined and remains one of the most disadvantaged towns in England. (See recently published data). This is in the context of decades of government strategies that has generated a low income low skills country, the gig economy, underpaid public workers not helped by actually actively recruiting workers from abroad as a short sighted means of saving businesses money and short changing our education system. This has happened since Windrush. (Hypocritical because the government's like the Tories persuing such recruiting policies always publically shout against immigration whilst lining the pockets of their donors). The social contract was broken by Thatcher, the deal before Thatcher was the kind of deal upon which Harlow was built: come and as an employee have a new job, fair pay and conditions, a new high standard fair rent home new schools in a well designed ecologically good healthy environment with good health provision. There was opportunity to start local business. The town had significant companies that provided employment and social clubs. All that was thrown out of the window. The Thatcher experiment and crazy politics of austerity for the working class whilst big business, nom doms and many other top end companies, even today, are making record profits. The debate a personal mud slinging at Kim is uncalled for, stick to the facts of where we are the absolute mess that governments have made of matters by policies that local Cllrs have slavishly followed. When our sons and daughters move out of Harlow because it's too dangerous, because housing is too costly, because the town is just too dull and lacking in opportunity then we need to take note. The rush by Harlow Labour and Conservative Cllrs to trash the Stort Valley, invite congestion, traffic gridlock, support East Herts District Council to meet their housing targets at the expense of Harlow smacks of incompetence and a failure to act in the best interests of those who they are meant to represent, Harlow residents. Harlow Torys claims to defend Harlow by opposing Epping Councils building programme on our borders are crocodile tears and a smokescreen. How is this clear, it's clear because Latton Prior development was facilitated by property consultants close to Harlow Council and all of the developments proposed are under the hggt pfp development scheme, a scheme in which Harlow Council: Labour and Conservative with Essex, Herts, Epping and East Herts Councils are participating partners.
Kim Oconnor
2023-01-05 19:57:01
Well said again nosradamus, and Nicholas , spot on, and more importantly the truth. And thank you.
Nicholas Taylor
2023-01-05 20:09:50
Nostradamus whoever you are, a very good summary. Politicians are supposed to represent their constituents but are clearly not doing so. 6000 signed petition opposing the Stort crossings, not a single person in favour. Lots of objections on facebook to building on the Green Belt. The Harlow Alliance Party's petition against these proposals now numbers over 800 people. If readers have not already signed they can find the petition here. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-building-on-harlow-s-green-belt
FRANCES SUTHERLAND
2023-01-06 08:02:16
Thank you Nicholas, I’ve signed the petition and shared to Facebook. My grand-daughter (13) is horrified by the destruction of green belt, it’s a pity we can’t get a ‘children’s voice’, perhaps ‘they’ might see some sense if younger options are sought!
Yasmin Gregory
2023-01-07 06:58:08
The destruction of Harlow begins. This is from Essex Highways who have no interest in fixing potholes on roads and pavements. Please use this weekend to take your children and grandchildren to see these trees that have protected us from pollution and form part of the ecosystem. The planting of new trees is lip service. As you travel to J7a, cast your mind back to the days when lush green trees formed a welcome corridor to Harlow. “Advanced works on the Harlow sustainable Transport Corridor (STC) scheme are due to start next week. This will see the removal of a number of trees and vegetation along the route to enable the main works. This work is being done now ahead of the upcoming bird nesting season. Ahead of these works, we have written to all residents in the vicinity to inform them of the works and the future landscaping plans. A press release is also being issued today with details. These are both attached. Details and a short FAQ can also be found on the scheme website: https://www.essexhighways.org/harlow-sustainable-transport-corridors.
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