Planning permission for 10,000 new homes in the Gilston area granted by East Herts Council.
News / Fri 10th Jan 2025 at 10:56am
PLANNING permission for 10,000 new homes in the Gilston area has been issued by East Herts Council.
The outline planning permissions comprise 8,500 homes for Places for People across six villages and 1,500 homes for Taylor Wimpey in a seventh village.
Alongside new homes, the development includes facilities for business, retail, sports and leisure and healthcare, as well as community spaces, parks and open spaces, new primary and secondary schools and early years facilities.
Together with the earlier granting of permission for new transport infrastructure schemes known as the Central and Eastern Stort Crossings, the outline permissions are a significant milestone in the process of bringing forward the Gilston area development proposal identified in the Council’s 2018 District Plan.
The planning applications were considered by the District Council’s Development Management Committees on 28 February 2023 and 23 March 2023, where it was resolved that permission be granted subject to the finalisation of conditions and completion of a Section 106 agreement to secure the necessary infrastructure.
Councillor Vicky Glover-Ward, Executive Member for Planning and Growth, said: “We are pleased to issue the planning permissions for the delivery of 10,000 homes and associated infrastructure in the Gilston area. This is a major milestone and an important step in achieving sustainable growth in East Herts, and the wider Harlow and Gilston Garden Town.”
Councillor Richard Roberts, Leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “The Section 106 agreement represents a significant milestone for Hertfordshire and the Harlow Gilston Garden Town project. It demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that growth is accompanied by the infrastructure needed to support thriving communities.
“My thanks to all five Councils, who have strived to get the best possible deal for existing and new residents, yet to arrive. We will be proud of this development when it meets the highest build standards with the right infrastructure creating the homes and communities of the future.”
Tim
2025-01-10 13:44:43
Here we go............. How many of the "business, retail, sports and leisure and healthcare, as well as community spaces, parks and open spaces, new primary and secondary schools and early years facilities" will not be built ? Cannot wait for people from these houses getting on the M11 in the mornings and evening !
Darren
2025-01-10 14:14:01
Traffic is bad already
Matt
2025-01-10 15:23:02
*grabs a bag of popcorn* Right then, moaners....GO!
William Harris
2025-01-10 15:41:12
What about the New Hospital Ha Ha
About time
2025-01-10 17:13:09
Roadworks from tonight onwards correct? Work at the weekend and nights too?
Peter Lamb
2025-01-10 17:31:20
Not a single home should be built until the infrastructure is in place.
Anthony W
2025-01-10 18:18:57
Council's should only be approving these projects based on a phased implementation. Phase 1 - build the infrastructure, schools and health services that they say they will, along with a smaller number of houses. Phase 2 or more - Build the rest. They would then have a vested interest in finishing it off instead of vanishing as soon as the houses are done!
Colin
2025-01-10 18:33:01
Another overload on the capacity of Rye Mead sewage works,more spills into the river Lee. When talking about infrastructure this important facility is never mentioned
Seamus
2025-01-10 18:48:56
Average household has two cars minimum. That's 20,00 extra vehicles everyday going through Harlow, Ware and Hertford before you even include service vehicles. There is absolutely NO benefit to Harlow as all the council tax revenues will be going to other councils building on the border of Harlow. We get all the problems with none of the benefit. How on earth could they approve this given our hospital in Harlow is swamped, has one of the worst performing A&E departents in the country and no new hospital insight, let alone a new doctors for 10,000 new homes? Councillors of other districts are happy, developers are happy (even more so knowing they will reneage on the schools and social housing numbers) but the population of Harlow gets shafter once again. Where was our council and m.p. when other councils where shafting Harlow? M.I.A. is where they were.
TonyB
2025-01-11 10:19:13
I am sorry to say this is ancient news to me. This project dates back decades to Conservative-run Hertfordshire Council “Harlow North,” where the Conservatives threatened to inflict 20,000 homes on Hunsdon. This project failed, so Hertfordshire Council picked another village near Harlow and the M11, Gilston. The Conservative-run Hertfordshire Council does not want to connect the A414 directly to the M11, so it is running all of the Gilston and A414 traffic through Harlow. Our former Conservative MP Robert Halfon and the current Conservative councillors Essex and Harlow were all for it. Colin mentions Rye Mead sewage works, a very good point: How about the six new tower blocks planned for the town centre, four of which are sixteen-story tower blocks. In addition, the Conservatives have already granted planning permission for Broad Walk and parts of the Market Square, where developers can build another six floors above the shops. The town centre might have to be dug up repeatedly, installing larger sewage pipes to cope. This is what could be described as the early stages of planning. In the coming months, “developers”/ speculators will undoubtedly require even more height with higher densities while demolishing even more of the town centre. For a decade or more, Harlow residents have watched over the money being made by property speculators in the town centre. Most people can remember what happened to The Square, Harlow’s Live music venue, which the Conservatives sold off to property speculators in 2017, and the site that sits there demolished. Land and buildings have been bought, and new plans have been submitted. Harlow Council agrees on the plans, but nothing happens except demolishing the original buildings. Once the developer has approved the building plans, the project is sold to another developer, and the new developer changes the plans, which, in most cases, increases the housing density. The new developer then sells their latest project to another developer, and so it goes on. Nothing is ever built, only demolished. All the Harlow Conservative Party has is plans and a demolished town centre.
BH.
2025-01-11 11:04:33
New hospital first to deal with the capacity of at least 100,000 people in this tiny part of Essex. Then sort the road systems out ,then build your houses. I am dreaming.
Guy Flegman
2025-01-11 12:14:19
Call me old fashioned, but did we not used to build homes where the jobs were, not build the homes and hope the jobs will come. Our current housing strategy sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. As for this particular development, the sewage plant has the capacity, but the pipe under the A414 does not, and I know of no plan yet to replace this pipe.
TonyB
2025-01-11 12:29:29
I agree a new hospital is needed before any more housing is built, but where? The proposed site in Sheering is often flooded, so reconfiguring rivers and brooks would be needed before building work begins. Of course, this would require buying more land. As of June 2024, the Conservative Party had kicked the hospital project into the “long grass.” They had not bought the land, so Taxpayers only have to pick up the bill for the many civil servants and project managers. Essex County Council Highways proposes a design with many bus lanes oriented towards the hospital site, including traffic lights on roundabouts: The Stow, Old Harlow, and New Hall. If the authorities find another site, all of the Highway's plans for bus lanes and traffic lights will have to change. Remember, the Essex County Council Highways will still have a major impact on Second Avenue and current hospital staff when they finish incorporating the rest of the Gilston bus lane at the Water Gardens / Police Station roundabout. If you thought the traffic jams were bad, wait until they start work on this roundabout. I predict long queues on the M11.
Mr Grumpy
2025-01-11 12:39:30
Authories complain about littering yet still allow large chunks of green land to be buried under concrete. Litter can be easily removed. Concrete cannot. Soon there will be no vegetation left in this country, only concrete, tarmac and bricks 😢
ratboy
2025-01-11 14:14:52
Please will those councillors explain to people on housing waiting lists why even when these new houses are built very few will be for a social rent.The notion that there will be "affordable" houses within these developments is just a ruse by developers to maximize their profits.Whats the betting that none of these houses will be truly affordable for working families.Next time developers and councillors come up with new housing plans please make it inclusive for those people because this country is getting dangerously close now to pricing out even people who just want a fair rent.All these houses are going to be probably half million pound gaffs not council houses .The US and Canada should be a lesson to us where vast numbers of people are priced out and end up living in tent cities just because some greedy developer wants to buy up another Welsh village on their ludicrous profits.Politicians seem to be blind to this but theres probably some insidious reason for that.
Nostradamus
2025-01-11 15:28:29
Harlow will truly be swamped by flooding with sewage filled water (as predicted by hggt's own consultants in their planning submissions), gridlocked by traffic diverted across the raised road barrier Eastern Crossing and through east Harlow from the Gilston estate development and overloaded generally with no benefits or housing improvements in Harlow itself. It's the biggest raid of genuine green belt and prime farmland in the country and both Labour and Conservatives are to blame. Harlow Council has been sold a pig in a poke. The major beneficiaries are property developers, East Herts and Epping Councils. Harlow Council could have at least and easily stopped the destruction of the River Stort Valley and flood plain and prevented the flooding and traffic congestion by rejecting the planning application for the Eastern raised road culverted barrier crossing, the Central Crossing and the unsustainable Sustainable Road routes that are literally strangling trade in the town and a town centre that's being reduced to rubble and will remain so at least for five to ten years. Even Robert Halfon MP said they should go back to the drawing board.
*issed off resident
2025-01-12 15:15:29
STOP BUILDING MORE HOUSES. SORT HARLOW OUT FIRST. TRAFFIC IS DIABOLICAL, THE TOWN LOOKS LIKE A 3RD WORLD COUNTRY. SORT THE HOSPITAL OUT, ITS DISGRACEFUL. STOP ADDING MORE UNAFFORDABLE CARDBOARD HOMES AND SORT THIS ****HOLE OUT FIRST!
JingleBellBall
2025-01-13 16:06:35
Do any Councillors read these comments here? If not, they should. I think many people who have commented here make very valid points regarding infrastructure, the hospital, all blindly obvious solutions to anyone with common sense and a brain. Perhaps Harlow Council could take notice of what residents of Harlow are saying, instead of blithely ignoring those who live here.
Benny
2025-01-13 18:18:20
People saying sort Harlow out first, this isn't our council. That's like asking your next door neighbour to fix your drive before they start their own.
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