Harlow Council moves ahead with building social housing in Staple Tye
News / Tue 27th Aug 2024 at 11:09am
YOU may have seen a number of news items, where the Conservative-run Harlow Council invite the press to chronicle the demolition of a building or area as part of their regeneration agenda.
Last week, we were invited to see how construction is getting on at a number of social housing sites across Staple Tye including the former Lister House surgery.
The building is a partnership between the Hill Group and Harlow Council.
We spoke to apprentice bricklayer and the leader of Harlow Council, cllr Dan Swords about the work being done and projected completion dates.
Anonymous
2024-08-27 12:19:13
Sounds great & if the housing was granted to people born in Harlow that would be perfect but we all know where these homes will be going, the council housing , private housing group’s & associations all take ‘incentives’ to house people from other towns & cities ,leaving the locals with no option ,look how Harlow is now , the town centre is a rough place , i remember a different time when Harlow was a decent town , that is long gone thanks to the local council & housing groups who are on the make
gary roberts
2024-08-27 15:36:31
Cllr Swords does like a video and photo shoot. But the real issue is: How many of those homes will be given to those on the housing needs register? Will the number on that register be over 6,000 come next August? What was the £20m, currently delayed, going to be spent on specifically? Was Osler House in Potter Street sold to the MIND charity or transferred to them? In legal terms there is a difference. As my local councillors' have an aversion to replying to me perhaps Cllr Swords can answer these questions on this platform. I suspect he wont but then what is new?
David Forman
2024-08-27 21:36:44
Well done Harlow Conservatives for getting on with the job of regeneration, despite the Labour government's attempt at sabotage.
Nicholas Taylor
2024-08-27 22:15:10
The building of new Council homes is of course to be commended, it is so unlike the Conservative Party nationally which took so many steps for a decade or more to stop the building any new council homes. However, the Conservative pre-election claim to build 103 new council homes this year actually turns out to mean that the first of these will be completed in 2025, over 4 years since the Conservatives came into power at Harlow Council. In the meantime other sites such as at Arkwrights and Tye Green remain derelict. And what of the Sherards House site? Well, as residents pointed out, 14 homes on the site was a case of over development, we now hear that the four bedroomed houses are to be replaced with three bedroomed ones, there is no turning circle in the road so vehicles may have to back out on to Three Horseshoes Road and 11 of the houses will be accessed by a narrow road on which vehicles cannot pass at the same time. The Conservatives were heavily critical of Labour when they had to change plans, I wonder how much the present administration has been charged by architects to change the present ones?
David Forman
2024-08-27 22:31:28
Nicholas, Hill Group have their own dedicated in-house Design and Development teams, so no need for expensive external architects. See https://www.hill.co.uk/design-planning
gary roberts
2024-08-28 08:51:04
The removal of the right to buy council homes in England must be a priority for Angela Rayner. This council will not do it and I do not know if the Harlow Labour group would do it. Would MP Vince vote to remove it? Scotland and Wales have done it so why not England. The Green party candidate confirmed they would do it and got my vote.
Nicholas Taylor
2024-08-28 10:44:10
David, that may be so at Lister House and some other sites, but the architect for the Arkwright development was a firm called McBain and at Sherards House it is a firm called Architecture and Design Services Ltd. The former was used by the council to assess the viability of building on sites identified in the Local Plan of 2020, as it turned out, some sites such as at Pollard Hatch were deleted from the Plan The latter firm was also the one used by the council back in 2018 when they came up with the original plan for the re-development of Elm Hatch. This had to be abandoned and subsequently needed a complete re-think. At Sherards House, literally dozens of changes have had to be made to the original plan, the most significant being the downsizing of the four bedroomed homes to three bedroomed ones. These changes must be costing the council tens of thousands of pounds.
Christine Randle
2024-08-28 11:31:18
Just drove past,no work,no workmen perhaps should have camera's there everyday
Colleen Morrison
2024-08-28 18:31:11
Great work, Dan, well done. In these depressing times it's great to see more council homes being built in Harlow. Re Christine's "no work, no workmen" comment, work on every construction and roadworks site across the land tends to proceed in this stop start manner these days. The reason for this tends to be due to waiting for the relevant teams to finish work on another site in order to free them to move onto the next stage of the development on this site.
Colleen Morrison
2024-08-28 18:41:38
There's no scaffolding on this site yet, perhaps the wait is for scaffolders, who move from site to site, and who can be rarer than hen's teeth. The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation has long been highlighting staff and skill shortages in the scaffolding profession.
Bryan Saunders
2024-08-29 06:28:46
David for an. I terference from a Labour government? They have been in power for a month! 27 years of conservative government ( con maj. Hung parliament, lib dem con coalition and the 15 years of pure con government) has seen devastation to this country unless your rich. The rich have most certainly gained and gained and gained. So what makes you think that the Government would interfere with some social housing? The question remains who the houses will be allocated too ie people from Harlow or people from other local authorities that pay money to the council to house them.
Gary Roberts
2024-08-29 09:49:22
Ms Morrison can you tell me how many of these homes will go to people on the council's housing needs register? Further as you were a local councillor when the Burnt Mills development was apparently bought how many of those have gone to those on the same register?
Seamus
2024-08-29 10:47:34
I have a concern when Councillor Swords uses the "Harlow homes for Harlow people". Any London Overspill as can be seen in the town centre, become "Harlow People the minute their feet touch Harlow ground. There should be a 10 year solid Harlow connection before anyone is allowed to be on the Harlow council social list. Much was made of the Burnt Mill Tower Block and it's 172 appartments with the headline of "Harlow Council pulls off major deal to buy 172-home Burnt Mill development for local residents". Then you start to look at the small print. "All 172 homes will be available to anyone who lives in Harlow. Thirty percent of homes (52 apartments), will be allocated to Harlow families on the Housing Needs Register at affordable rent levels (at least 20% below market rent). The remaining 120 homes will be available to Harlow residents at market rent levels." If people on the council/social housing list's could afford market rent prices, they wouldn't be on that council list. To claim victory for Harlow renters but then say "70% of what we've just bought will be exempt from the housing needs register for the poorest" , is little more than the pea and three shells con. It needs to be reversed where two thirds are for the register and a third for market rents.
Marie
2024-08-29 13:55:49
Once such a lovely Town. A good town to raise a family. That was then and this is now How sad it is too see what it's become. Crime going up faster than those ugly blocks of flats. Homelessness. Children born and bred in this town that have no hope in hell of being housed. Ppl from London etc being moved here by London boroughs that wash their hands of them. Harlow is not the town it once was. It's only going to get worst. When the government start robbing from pensioners is it any wonder where their priorities lie. They are the biggest muggers of them all !!
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