Exciting plans for 169 flats on former car park site in Harlow town centre
News / Wed 27th Aug 2025 at 07:27am
INITIAL plans have been drawn up for 169 new homes on a former car park, which is currently being used as a temporary bus station reports the Local democracy Reporter.
The proposals are for the redevelopment of the Post Office Road Car Park in Harlow, constructing two buildings up to six storeys high. The plans include keeping part of the existing car park to provide around 73 parking spaces and providing “extensive, safe” cycle storage areas.
The plans state the site plays a “crucial” role in the Harlow Town Centre masterplan. The site is currently being used as a temporary bus station until 2026, while the existing bus station is transformed into a new sustainable transport hub.
The plans state: “Post Office Road car park was identified in the Harlow Town Centre masterplan framework as a key area to deliver new homes and public open space. The key principles for development of this parcel of land in the framework are: create a new garden square under the mature plane trees with large areas of soft planting and lawn, consider incorporating sculpture and or artwork and a water feature, incorporate safe pedestrian crossings on Fourth Avenue, improve the streets around new developments with sustainable drainage and a playable street.
“Working closely with local residents and Harlow Council officers, we are committed to delivering new homes which Harlow needs whilst also providing the local community with social and economic benefits.
“The proposals have been designed to form two six-storey apartment buildings that bookend the public open space and sit comfortably within the tree-lined boundaries. For the larger apartment block, a prominent corner feature has been proposed that would angle towards the roundabout and the approach from Harlow Station to create a landmark gateway into the site.
“The materials take inspiration from the 1950s new town aesthetic to reflect the architecture seen in the wider town centre. The proposed apartment buildings have been broken up with a series of projecting bays and balconies with a contrasting material banding to provide visual interest.”
Scott H
2025-08-27 08:18:14
According to my conversation with the developers - not one for council stock, all will be privately sold to those who can afford them. Insufficiency of car parking (96 spaces short of number of dwellings and that's if single occupancy) will create need for an overspill into nearby parking capacity impacting availability for shoppers. For the new occupants, majestic views of a busy roundabout or backing onto the Market Square redevelopment which Cllr Dan Swords intends as a hospitality zone - so traffic one side and potential late night revelry the other. Apart from the developer, exactly who should be excited by this development?
Stuart G
2025-08-27 08:22:40
Looks good to me - bring a bit of life to the town centre.
Sam
2025-08-27 08:46:40
Great news! Looks good
Nicholas Taylor
2025-08-27 09:40:05
Exciting, really? This is what the Conservative administration supported by Labour call regeneration, cramming more and more people into what is already one of the most densely populated areas in the East of England. Scott H makes a good case against this development, add to these the fact that Planning permission has already been granted for a tower block on the Kitson Way car park, two tower blocks at Wych Elm, another block adjacent to Terminus house, on the former Gate House site, part of the Harvey Centre and in Broadwalk. Thousands more needing the services of doctors, schools and the hospital. little if any play space for children and little if any affordable housing let alone council owned homes. Unless the current administration are removed from office the Town Centre will become little more than a huge housing estate.
Joan
2025-08-27 09:52:44
Infrastructure please! More doctors, dentist school places. Essential in this area as Addison House. Is overstretched, and parking for only blue badge. Hospital is on its knees! How much social housing?
James Gamble
2025-08-27 10:06:42
More empty dwellings, just what this town need. Affordable, social housing that no one can afford, least of all our young adults.
Nessa
2025-08-27 10:11:42
This housing plans have been around awhile.. saw them as work started on the Harlow and Gilston Garden road development .THEY WILL get planning permission who ever will build them. I feel that the general public are being drip feed the developments going on in Harlow.. next we will hear about the development of playhouse square homes that are already plans. The developers told me at the consolation days, that Infrastructure comes AFTER accommodation as ‘ why build schools, doctors etc to lay empty waiting for the people to fill the development ?’ ….. or near enough to these words
Steven
2025-08-27 10:26:43
Was in the town the other night to pick up some food! Horrible place. Sod living there.
Seamus
2025-08-27 11:03:49
Exciting? When you remember that only recently Market house was approved in height to now be 5 floors and now they are after tearing out all of the tree's currently in post office car park and building flats there too. Post office road facing flats from both Market House and this proposed development will leave those residents with no foreseable natural light, it will be like the tunnel of doom. You can't help but notice that nowhere in the proposal does it mention any of these new flats being allocated to those on Harlow's social housing register. Nor does it mention how Addison House and Harlow Hospital will cope with yet another substantial build and the people who will come with it.I also noticed that many statutory partners in this build are witholding thier decisions due to lack of full information from the proposer. If this council land is being sold to the developer, I pressume this income will be declared at the planning proposal stage by the council? Are we likely to know the developer, although I think most can guess who they will be. One last thing I would add, when the council applied to move the bus station to the post office car park, there was a great deal of concern over damage to the multiple trees on site. We were assured that they would not be removed but pruned where damage from a bus may harm them. Now, only a few months later, they want to rip out completely, the trees that have been there since post office car park was built. I'm not okay with that or the lies told only months before.
Frank
2025-08-27 11:34:29
How will the council transform the town square with no parking spaces?
RJC
2025-08-27 11:46:28
Loss of more car parking spaces, where will shoppers park now ?
Tim
2025-08-27 12:12:10
Words mean nothing, action is everything
Michael
2025-08-27 13:57:55
Most big towns with limited parking offer a "Park and ride"
TonyB
2025-08-27 14:16:01
The Market Square area of town should have been the site of a new Playhouse theatre, with the population set to double once all of the new towns and villages around Harlow are built, capable of providing comfortable seating throughout, unlike the current one. Cinemas have built comfortable seating, but sadly, our Conservative-run council is doing nothing to address the situation in Harlow; they are still stuck in the 20th century. For example, anyone who looks to book to see a performance will find only the uncomfortable, squashed rear seats available. Check it out yourself, one month before a performance, they do not sell easily. The current seating has a capacity of 404. The back row typically has six to eight seats reserved for the sound person. Then, the producers and friends of the artists who are performing. I’ve counted well over 24 seats unavailable to the public. That’s 380 seats for a population of 93,000; future Harlow area population estimates are 140,000 to 240,000.Harlow Council are not putting up tents; this development will be sold to the private sector. Harlow residents will gain nothing but lose an asset. The Post Office car park would and should be an asset to the town, possibly providing a parking space for a new theatre. Harlow Conservatives are turning the area into a restaurant area if the Conservative-run planning gets its way. Planning has already passed six-story flats along the roofs of Broad Walk shops. Planning has also been given to another two residential floors above Aylmer House, "Wetherspoons". Planning has also been given to two residential tower blocks, plus four more residential sixteen-story tower blocks. Anyway, enough said. I’m off to Southend again to watch a performance for the second time this month. I can't find a comfortable seat in Harlow Playhouse.
resident
2025-08-27 14:25:08
this development is all wrong on so many levels, we dont need any more housing, the roads cant cope, just think of trying to get to the town at Christmas, the roads and parking will be a nightmare !
Julie sneddon
2025-08-27 14:37:00
I was a Tennant at jrh i been move out of harlow to Suffolk when I didn't want to go my daughter had suffer a breakdown during to this move 2 years ago and me and my partner got health promblems I find it very unfair tho I was at jrh fir 14 years and got told by harlow council I have no connection I have family and friends there
Starslider
2025-08-27 15:29:49
Demolition Dan strikes again!! Build more accommodation and sod the fact that the infrastructure can't cope, let alone the loss of all the parking spaces. Demolition Dan and his cronies are destroying what little good was left of the town.....time to leave methinks!!
Jeannette Morley
2025-08-27 16:00:05
"Working closely with local residents" ; are those the people who will not be consulted when it comes to no upgrades of infrastructure like schools and healthcare? Not to mention more disruption to the Town Centre. I can't wait to leave this hellhole.
Michaci
2025-08-27 16:15:40
No car park need as they have reduced the road at the roundabout and now pedestrian crossing so it will hold the flow of traffic so you will walk ect Great plan and the make it look like a good thing, but you might be able to see the drug and other deals going down with out leaving you front door
Derek Clark
2025-08-27 16:16:03
Don't forget that tall vans need to park, these drivers still must have the right to park and go shopping or attend to business at banks and so on, as far as I can remember the right hand side of what was a car park allowed tall vans to park and the left side where the post office is cars and small vans parked, there is nowhere else.
Vickie Alderman
2025-08-27 19:04:17
169 flats-73 parking bays. How is that going to work?
Nostradamus
2025-08-27 20:24:19
Tall buildings generate wind especially when at located on high ground. Wrong place, wrong concept going against all the sound principles of the Gibberd Plan. Close consultation not mentioning that they must have spoken to a niche group most people think high density rabbit hutch flats is retrograde step backwards.
John
2025-08-27 22:25:07
I'd say to Starslider: Run!! Run and don't look back. My wife was born and lived in the town until we met in our mid 40's. 20 years ago a young lady wrote in the Star that people should stop moaning about Harlow. "If you hate it so much leave". So we did and now live happily in Derbyshire. We visit family in the town often and the changes over those 20 years have added nothing to the "ambience". Cars bumper to bumper on every street. Flats thrown up for the benefit of the wealthy from London and supermarkets full with couples speaking every language bar English. Thats not a racist comment but a statement of fact. The flats being built in the Stow will certainly benefit the shops nearby but where will everyone park. Never mind the shops, how will the adjacent doctors surgery cope? It's a shambles now, never mind what it'll be like when these flats are built. Then there's all the roadworks that take months to complete. The time taken to carry out the approach to the A414/Edinburgh Way roundabout was embarrassing. Even now there's two massive holes appeared where the tarmac has come away from the concrete substrate. Further up the road we had the shambles and incompetence of the new junction to River Wy. All that work yet they hadn't secured the right of way to use it!! It's mind blowing. My 98yr old mother-in-law was one of the first east end families to move into Harlow. She initially encountered a less than friendly welcome from the locals in the shops in Old Harlow. She's seen the town grow but not to the betterment of the original locals. When I lived in the town I remember the strange looks when I said hi passing people in the street, parks etc. There is no community in Harlow whatsover. Sad but true and why I persuaded my wife to leave Harlow and move north where neighbours look out for each other. So thank you to that young lady who will be heading to 40 now. We took your advice and have never regretted it. As I say we still visit often but are thankful for the new Junction 7a which makes it easier to get back on the M11 and head north for home.
Norm
2025-08-27 23:48:04
Town centres are for shops. Don't put houses in a town centre. Put shops in a town centre. If you remove the parking options and build housing instead of shops then don't act surprised when no one goes to the shops and they all close. "How can we revive the town centre?" every six months. Stop building flats where shops should be.
David Forman
2025-08-28 04:28:06
Past Conservative governments rigged the planning system in favour of developers. The whole concept of Viability Assessments in the National Planning Policy Framework introduced in 2012 was so that developers could a mechanism to wriggle out of their affordable housing obligations required by section 106 agreements with local councils. Sadly, Angela Rayner has not scrapped this like Scotland did some years ago. The Housing charity Shelter explained it in 2017: "This provides a safety net for developers, who can overpay for land to guarantee they win sites, safe in the knowledge they will be able to argue down community benefits to make their money back later. The current system rewards developers who overpay for land and works against those who try to pay the right price for land to deliver affordable housing policies. As a result, land prices have shot up while communities have lost out on thousands of affordable homes every year since 2012." See Shelter report at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://assets.ctfassets.net/6sxvmndnpn0s/4CzQDIXrSQXLFGlIGZeSVl/634340e83ce2cb1e2dec9879d19a5db3/2017.11.01_Slipping_through_the_loophole.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj6vc6a1ayPAxXWZUEAHa1tKFoQFnoECCQQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw0YXEkn8t7c4bCkzJ9QS4wr
David Forman
2025-08-28 04:32:43
In June this year the National Audit Office highlighted the disadvantages local councils planning departments are at in negotiations with developers over Section 106 agreements for affordable housing and community infrastructure. The magazine Housing Today report on this said: "councils are currently at a disadvantage when negotiating developer contributions, due to a lack of transparency and a massive disparity in the skilled staff they have available compared with large developers." See Housing Today at https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/nao-urges-government-to-level-playing-field-in-negotiations-over-developer-contributions/5136352.article
David Forman
2025-08-28 04:37:21
To quote the National Audit Office directly: "Developer contributions support the delivery of vital new infrastructure and affordable housing for local areas, but they have significant limitations. Current policy is not reliably delivering the infrastructure funding required for new developments, even where it may be financially viable to do so. Additionally Local Planning Authorities are stretched, both in terms of finances and skills, meaning they are often unable to effectively challenge developers. The number of planners leaving the public sector and the resulting vacancies make these challenges more acute." See NAO report at https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/improving-local-areas-through-developer-funding/#downloads
Nicholas Taylor
2025-08-28 07:44:12
The key to this whole issue is the fact that our Conservative controlled Council aided by Labour have a plan for the Town Centre which includes the building of numerous tower blocks. This gives the Green light to developers to put forward plans which will see blocks built up to 16 storeys high, indeed at one time I believe up to 26 storeys high. As evidenced by the plans for the former Gate House site, on the ground floor these blocks are designed to have bin stores, bike sheds, numerous entrances ets which means there are no shops. The outcome of all this is that once completed there will be far less retail or leisure space in the town. As David explains developers are able to claim that they cannot afford to make payments to improve infrastructure or provide affordable homes. As demonstrated at Brookfield and at other shopping areas, our Town Centre could be transformed by modernising the look of the existing buildings, millions of pounds could have been saved cleaning the existing paving rather than the £7 million this council is spending on a vanity project. Has anyone taken a look at the shrub bed areas along Market Square recently, they are a disgrace, a sign of things to come for all the new ones?
RON
2025-08-28 08:05:49
Another rubbish idea. I am glad I am the age I am, old. This town has been ruined in all the years I have lived here. Good Luck!
Mitch
2025-08-28 11:05:48
I am constantly dismayed by the councils sly way of working. Let's revamp the bus station area, when in reality it's a case of let's see if we can sell off the post office car park now that no one can use it ! Stop selling my town off for profit. Stop turning my town into a toilet. Ask the towns population what they want, not your woke mates. No one, and I mean no one has ever said we need a means of cycling to the train station in the morning as we go to work. Not ever ! Yet look at the nonsense you have created, it's all about money and snouts in the trough. You didn't learn your lesson with the cycleway from old Harlow to the Pinnacles did you, a fortune spent and not one bike per day uses it ! You inept useless councillors must be brought to court of common sense, where justice can be melted out to self promoting little worms like you can be dealt with, you must be corrupt if you think your plans are viable or in any sane way normal.
Kim O'connor
2025-08-29 08:37:41
Over loading a small town is a disastrous idea, our traffic is awful now. We will end up with tower blocks and shiny new building, with no shops. Nothing to come here for... I walked round the town this week, it saddened me to see it, rows of shops boarded up, nothing really to look at. Charity shops all most all have gone, I think 3 remains. All theses million s being spent on this town, and nothing to come for.... I said this a while back, people want a regular week day market, not a fountain. Dan swords knows this, after all it's called market square for a reason, this will bring revenue into the town.. But no, it will be overloaded with high rise ,unaffordable flats. This council has not a clue.
41 year fall resident
2025-08-30 11:23:35
More housing, no parking. The road improvements where for new bus lanes... funny that more people drive than get buses here. New parking or off road parking required in every area of Harlow (yet that have stopped allowing planning permission). Instead of handling that they want to build more crap flats that fall down, take on water, have paper thin walls and look terrible a few years after being built. I have been on the housing list since I turned 16, I haven't moved up from the lowest band yet and I just turned 41. Town is a joke with no shops. My area is full of half lovely couples who look after each other and cut each other's front grass etc. New people being moved in around us are druggies, who don't work and dump old furniture in the garden and front garden. Councils answer, let's build more housing without enough parking in a town that has NO NHS dentist spaces and takes three weeks (Hamilton Practice) to get a phone consultation. Let alone PAH, I've been on the waiting list for a gall bladder removal for three years now.
William Warner
2025-08-30 13:32:56
More money in Troy people plus CLR tax go up
Dawn Hambling
2025-09-04 13:59:22
Where are shoppers supposed to park. Public transport is still not reliable enough and who wants to get on a bus with bagfuls of food shopping. If people can’t park then they won’t visit the shops and they will all close down. I can see why a lot of people shop outside the town now or visit shopping centres such as Stratford, for some decent shops and more choice. It’s all very well building all these new flats but what about the infrastructure, dentists, doctors surgeries etc.
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