LOCAL researcher and teacher, Jake Shepherd, will be representing Harlow at the New Towns All-Party Parliamentary Group’s Conference on Friday the 17th of November, in East Kilbride, Glasgow.

Jake’s appearance follows from a successful virtual guest lecture at the University of Liverpool in 2021 as well as featuring in the Town and Country Planning Association’s (TCPA’s) virtual study tour of Harlow in 2020.

Promoting the Conference, the TCPA said: “The New Towns programme remains the most ambitious urbanism initiative ever undertaken in the United Kingdom. The programme sought to provide jobs and affordable homes in healthy, balanced and thriving communities. The 32 New Towns delivered through the New Towns Act today provide homes for over 2.8 million people.

They represent some of the fastest growing and most successful, but also some of the most deprived communities in the UK. Do key issues of housing, green infrastructure, stewardship, public art and land ownership mean their growth and renewal could put New Towns back at the heart of exemplar development?

Meanwhile, cross-party interest in the role of New Towns in tackling the housing crisis continues to be high on the political agenda. What transferable lessons can we learn from the New Towns programme to inform the creation of a new generation of ambitious places?

Mr Shepherd said: “The Conference is an important event and opportunity, occurring only every few years, to put Harlow on the map”.

Jake Shepherd has long campaigned on issues of social inequality, particularly in education, and gave a TEDxYouth@Harlow Talk at Passmores Academy in 2018 on the links between Harlow’s geography and local participation rates in higher education. 

As a Trustee of Parndon Mill, Jake is also keen to promote Harlow’s cultural heritage and celebrate the town’s very own ‘Hub of Creativity’ at the Conference, which is UK’s largest meeting of New Towns.

Jake’s presentation will be touching on three broad themes, which will then be discussed amongst a panel consisting of John Laverick, CEO of Warrington & Co. (representing Warrington), Emma Street & Victor Nicholls, from Henley Business School (representing Bracknell) and Katy Lock, Director of Communities (representing the TCPA):

1. Introducing Harlow
2. Opportunities and Challenges in Harlow’s Growth & Renewal
3. What could the Government be doing to help Harlow’s Growth & Renewal?

Jake runs an online blog (Re)Telling the New Town Story, which captures his research, engagement and reflections around all things Harlow New Town related, and followed from his undergraduate research in 2019.