Council sets out major plan to buy neglected Strawberry Star site in Harlow Town Centre
Business / Wed 19th Mar 2025 at 05:40pm
HARLOW Council plans to buy more land and buildings to support the rebuilding of Harlow town centre with a proposal to acquire a neglected 4-acre site owned by developers Strawberry Star.
Development on the site known as the Harlow Quarter, which runs from Primark down to Market Square and across to the Old Odeon, has stalled. As a result, the council has become increasingly frustrated and concerned about the lack of security on the site. This has made it a no-go zone in the town centre attracting antisocial behaviour, criminal activity, and trespassing.
The council says that due to the lack of progress on site it will buy the 4-acre site to support and help the delivery of its plan to rebuild the whole town centre.
A report, which will go to the Council Cabinet and Full Council meetings next Wednesday (27 March), sets out a proposal to buy the site, using Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) if necessary.
The whole site covers three plots in the middle of the town centre. Planning approval for all three sites is up to 741 homes with substantial new retail, leisure, drinking, community and commercial space.
If successful, the council plans to demolish the empty buildings and completely clear the site to enable a plan to be put forward to kickstart the regeneration of the area. This would complement other schemes in the town centre such as the rebuild of Harlow bus station, the transformation of Terminus Street, Broad Walk and Market Square and the new arts and cultural quarter in Playhouse Square.
Councillor Dan Swords, Leader of Harlow Council, says it’s time to sort out the Strawberry Star site once and for all with no stone left unturn in the council’s plan to rebuild the whole town centre, he said:
“We are on a mission to rebuild our town with several Town Centre regeneration schemes now underway, but in the middle of the town centre is this neglected and derelict privately-owned site which is causing unnecessary concern for everyone including our residents, the police and surrounding businesses. It has become a no-go area which is unacceptable, and we will buy the site as part of our rebuild of the whole town centre.
“The scheme has clearly stalled with very little progress being delivered on site by Strawberry Star. We are left with several buildings which are not being looked after or kept secure. We have done everything possible to work with Strawberry Star as the site has remained empty, but we have become increasingly frustrated by a lack of action on their part. Just before Christmas the council had to step in to take interim security measures to stop unauthorised access to the site and we have had to take further action since.
“We will not put up with this any longer. We will buy this site and if that is through a Compulsory Purchase Order then so be it. It is an absolute disgrace and no longer will we allow this company to blight our town.”
Frank
2025-03-19 18:01:49
I’ve been banging on about CPO for years especially against the greedy owner of the old cinema, causing a nuisance in the area with dirty pigeons that can spread disease. When I see it I will believe it, this could be the best thing a politician as ever done to the town centre.
AB
2025-03-19 18:32:42
Demolition Dan to expand the rubble-covered wasteland that the town centre has become.
Resident
2025-03-19 19:32:34
If this goes ahead and is done properly it will finally be good news for the area. No wonder people are suffering poor mental health, it's a depressing eye sore and spreading further down Broad walk as more shops close or relocate
Resident
2025-03-19 19:35:39
Housing, as long as it's for people already living in the area, can only be a positive thing, as long as there's adequate parking and open green spaces that are properly maintained. And not expensive housing for London commuters who will increase the local population and add to the strain on local services. Sadly I fear that is what it will be though
Jason Fryer
2025-03-19 19:42:26
Housing is all well and good - Need roads , schools and a hospital to support the people in an ever expanding town. Along with GPs in surgeries that are open longer hours and a shopping area worth visiting. And a police station that is open fighter appalling Harlow crime rate.
Peter
2025-03-19 20:02:03
This is good news but why is there not also a plan to acquire the eyesore Odeon and the Square site
Resident
2025-03-19 20:25:35
Jason if it's for people already living here, like 2nd and 3rd generation etc, then it won't be an additional strain. sadly I doubt this will be the case though, I expect it will continue to be commuter housing for those priced out of london as originally planned. which will increase the population massively
Well Done Dan
2025-03-19 20:29:25
Well done Dan Swords and Harlow Council! I emailed Strawberry Star a month ago and they said they had no plans to recommence any work on the site. They simply tried to landbank and should definitely have the land taken back off of them with a CPO which would be generous. They deserve nothing after land banking with no intention to deliver apart from selling the land for a profit
Seamus
2025-03-19 20:39:31
If built, I suspect they will do the same as they did with the Burnt Mill flats. A quarter for people on the Harlow social housing list with the rest put on the open market for rent by anyone and any council, it's the only way they could afford to build it. It does however look like a substantial footprint to build upon and as Jason has mentioned, infrastructure simply is not there. Addison House surgery was already swamped before the two Wych Elm builds and Burnt Mill build, no expansion in the hospital and no close schools. The council would be naive also to think none of these people will have cars to add to the already gridlocked town.
David Forman
2025-03-19 22:15:43
Well done Dan Swords. This land banking is a pure greed exercise when so many need a decent, affordable home. However, it does raises questions about the credibility of Angela Rayner's plans to build 1.5 million homes over 5 years when developers who have planning permission just sit on them. The developers have been whining about delays in the planning system is a barrier to building quickly more homes. Strawberry Star prove otherwise, but Starmer and Rayner's government have either been incredibly gullible or willing accomplices?
Wil
2025-03-19 22:16:34
I have to give credit to the council for stepping up and trying to something about this even if, in the end, it still does result in another big apartment block (if I remember correctly, the space next to the old Odeon was meant to be half parking for the block). Maybe it's because I'm old but I still believe a good town centre is something people want from their town. It's not just a shopping area but a central social space. Or, at least, it used to be. Maybe people think the Water Gardens is enough, nowadays.
Ekb
2025-03-20 11:26:23
This is good news. The council should CPO for less than the site was bought for as when it was bought it was an occupied site with tenants and therefore an income stream. The site is now dilapidated, fire damaged and empty so the value should be far less.
Nostradamus
2025-03-20 12:33:27
Sounds like a good idea: a first step it would provide the opportunity to develop the town centre in ways residents would like to see and support. This would need a thorough, real and extensive community consultation. A Neighbourhood and town plan. Extend the area of the Compulsorily Purchase and hey presto there could be a publically owned site upon which the rebuilding and redevelopment of PAH could be sited instead of the current proposal to move to an unsecured, inaccessible site out of town that's not in Harlow district but within Epping!
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