Harlow Council launches Rapid Enhancement Action Plan to improve estates
News / Mon 20th Oct 2025 at 07:40am
HARLOW Council is launching a Rapid Enhancement Action Plan to improve the cleanliness and appearance of estates across the town, starting with Longbanks on 27 October 2025.
This targeted initiative will see teams from HTS, including their Priority Response Taskforce, carry out a range of environmental improvements in several estates across the town.
The project follows on from the highly successful pilot scheme that was carried out in Milwards to improve the look of the area.
Works will include:
- Clearing litter and fly tipping
- Grass cutting and strimming
- Hedge trimming
- General cleaning of communal areas
- Removing old, redundant signage and railings
- Fixing and cleaning street furniture
- Repairing brickwork
- Removal of bulky items placed out by residents
To help residents prepare, leaflets will be delivered to homes in each estate in the week leading up to the works, explaining what will be done and how residents can take part.
Following Longbanks the project, subject to weather conditions, will cover:
- Moorfield (3 November)
- Fennels (10 November)
- Altham Grove (17 November)
- Bishopsfield (24 November)
- Spring Hills (1 December)
- Guilfords (8 December)
This programme is all part of the council’s ongoing commitment to creating a cleaner, greener, and more vibrant town for all.
Councillor Nicky Purse, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Environment, said:
“This is a fantastic example of how we are Building Harlow’s Future and delivering on our mission to renew our neighbourhoods. The Rapid Enhancement Action Plan is about making a real and immediate difference to the places people live. Clean, well-maintained estates help foster pride in our communities and improve everyone’s quality of life.
“I’m delighted we’re taking this action and working closely with HTS and residents to make it happen.”
To help residents prepare, leaflets will be delivered to homes in each estate in the week leading up to the works, explaining what will be done and how residents can take part.
Following Longbanks the project, subject to weather conditions, will cover:
- Moorfield (3 November)
- Fennels (10 November)
- Altham Grove (17 November)
- Bishopsfield (24 November)
- Spring Hills (1 December)
- Guilfords (8 December)
This programme is all part of the council’s ongoing commitment to creating a cleaner, greener, and more vibrant town for all.
Scott H
2025-10-20 08:57:03
Is this a new initiative with fresh funding tackling issues in a way never seen before or simply a slick repackaging of activity the council would already be undertaking? If the former, why has it taken 4 years for the Tory led council to get around to it?
Ronald McRonald
2025-10-20 09:20:09
Best of luck with that one
T
2025-10-20 09:35:48
Can not see Hollyfield on the list
Tim smith
2025-10-20 09:58:16
This is work the council cut back on then they want to make a big thing about how they making the estates look better thru new work, they must think the electorate is really stupid!!
Nicholas Taylor
2025-10-20 10:39:27
Yet another article amongst a lot of other council "news" as part of the Conservative claim that things are getting better in the town. They have been in power for four and half years and it has taken until now to revive what was done as long ago as the 1990's. At the rate they are carrying out this work it could be another four and a half years before the whole town is done, by which time the areas listed above will have needed to have work done again a long time before they get to the top of the list. As pictured, what needs to be done on many estates is a quick lick of paint on garage doors, indeed to revive the regular repair and painting of the external fabric of council houses.
David Forman
2025-10-20 11:39:35
My own interaction with the portfolio holder Nicky Purse with regards to the local environment is that she deeply cares about the state of our town. Councillor Purse has made the best of the resources at hand and the HTS gardening team also want to do their best. The work in Milwards has made a big difference to the feel of the estate. Rome wasn't built in a day and these estate clear ups are a welcome addition.
lesley
2025-10-20 12:07:11
No wonder people vote Reform if they live somewhere like that - It looks like a high-rise Jaywick - It must drain all self-respect from anyone living there - The worst bit in the photo seems to be the council owned garages - Imagine coming out of your front door straight onto the street and being faced with that every day - The Council should be ashamed.
Ronald McRonald
2025-10-20 13:18:27
People vote reform lesley because the uni party has failed us for 28 years,not because of longbanks,although I see your point.
Ted
2025-10-20 13:21:59
MILWARDS!!!! Are you all blind , have you seen the state of the outside of the flats. It looks like stig of the dump lives there. For God sake give them a coat of paint.
Ted
2025-10-20 13:24:55
Lesley. Most of the properties linked to those garages are private. So Harlow residents are as bad as the Council.
Ella
2025-10-20 16:56:31
So... What they should have been doing then.
Antenette
2025-10-20 17:37:23
Wonder after they given bishopsfield a luck of paint and cut the non existent bushes. They will look at the mould inside the properties and the rat problem , leaks coming in from rain. The homes here have so many problems that need repairs. 2 years an still fighting for mouldy ceiling to be repaired from property up stairs. Or maybe just knock it down like you did with Fernhill etc and started again.
Livvy Richardson
2025-10-20 19:19:54
So I keep the area I live in tidy & I'm forever picking up rubbish from my local school shops & general people going by, what is desperately needed is for people to put rubbish in their pockets until they either get near a bin or home. Unfortunately the council can do all this initiative with the best intentions but some people really don't give a hoot about what squalor they live in or around. You will always get a contingent who will ruin it for those of us that go all out to keep our areas clean tidy & free of defecation of spray paint.
Ted
2025-10-20 20:25:39
Ella , The house holders may own the garage as well , if it was me I would paint the one linked to my property if I lived there, private or not. It's the same with the litter , no one takes it on themselves to pick it up, it's a not my job attitude, so the areas look dumpy. And Ella it seems you may have that attitude also.
Simon
2025-10-20 20:58:54
Put this in the "stuff you pay taxes for" pile.
janet barr
2025-10-20 21:09:43
Well let's just see if it happens. I have lived In Harlow all my life and in Rivermill for 34 years and its a disgrace round here now weeds, rubbish in alley ways and streets the town is not as nice as it used to be (shame) people have no respect with what they have or where they live
Brooks
2025-10-21 07:13:04
I have lived in Harlow all my life it's a shame the state it has become especially with the amount of rubbish everywhere there is so much work needed to be done everywhere in Harlow l dont think there are not enough resources staff etc to enable a constant clean & tidy Harlow
Keith
2025-10-21 09:48:17
A £150 spot fine would be a priority response to rapidly enhance the braincell connectivity of all those people littering our streets with their unwanted detritus.Take your rubbish to the council dump and take your litter home is it really that difficult for you to comprehend? Council intervention whilst well needed may be more effective as a blunt instrument fine to concentrate the minds of these "tossers"
Old Man
2025-10-21 12:26:56
Lets be honest..Nobody builds slums...Its the people that live there make them slums.. You walk around some areas and there are mattress's, sofas, furniture and all manner of rubbish dumped in bushes and verges. Who in their right minds thinks this is acceptable, front gardens are tips, I understand that the council has been lacking in the property and highway maintenance however its not beyond the scope of reality that the residents couldn't take a liitle more pride in where they live instead of shrugging their shoulders saying its the councils responsibility as they drag the old fridge across the road to dump it up against a wall. The areas will be cleaned and tidied and by this time next year I bet they will be in the same state as they are now. I agree with Livvy "some people really don't give a hoot about what squalor they live in or around." HTS don't drive round lobbing MacDonalds packaging out the windows but get moaned at for not picking it up quick enough.. Rant Over
RidiculousTroll🧌
2025-10-21 14:19:09
Just knock it down... Seems to be a theme spreading across the town lol 😆
Starslider
2025-10-21 17:17:18
It seems to me that an awful lot of these issues have been created by the tennants that live in these properties. Well done HC for rewarding these people instead of fining them, what a joke!!
Tom Compton
2025-10-21 18:24:37
Rubbish is not caused by the council, it’s caused by individuals who do not care. Imagine how much better resources and budgets could be used if selfish individuals didn’t drop litter and instead bought into a respectful society, taking responsibility for their own litter, by putting in the wonderful invention called a bin.
Sandy
2025-10-21 19:54:04
These are all things that the council should be doing anyway, not as a special initiative ! Cutting the grass, maintenance of road signs etc, that's what you need to be doing every bloody week, now get on with it across the town, or are you gonna waste more money ! And stop with the cramming of people into flats in the town centre, how many units are you planning ? Is it 500, 800 more ? Terminus house, plus a new tower block next to it, 3 tower blocks in post office car park, a tower block in the market square, plus the flats you are building on top of the shops in broad walk, plus the 2or 3 blocks going up in Wych elm ! Build houses elsewhere in the town.
David
2025-10-22 07:23:19
Simon, absolutely right!!!
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