WITH all three parties (Conservative, Labour and Reform) all voting in support of the council budget, we asked Harlow Reform for their reflections on the evening.

A spokesperson said: “We broadly welcome the budget for Harlow put before the Full Council Meeting on 5th March 2026 and voted in support of it accordingly.

Any budget which is appropriately costed and apportioned and that does not saddle the authority and therefore Harlow residents with further unmanageable debt in a time of profound economic difficulty for so many, must be welcomed.

We appreciate the diligent, behind-the-scenes work of council officers in producing a detailed document that sets the Council’s financial course for the forthcoming period and safeguards important and valued local assets such as Pet’s Corner, the paddling pools, Harlow Museum, The Playhouse and so on.

Regarding this Conservative led authority’s drive to redevelop Harlow town centre, we again support the principle as, for too long, Harlow has been in decline, a decline painfully obvious in the dilapidated form of town centre buildings and infrastructure.

However, we remain concerned at the rush to ‘demolish and rebuild everything-all-at-once’ approach which, by any rational analysis, cannot be regarded as a sound and financially responsible strategy. The spiking costs of construction and labour, and the potential impact of economic shocks which we have all had to become too often accustomed to in recent years, would hit not one project, but all of them. No one council can be far-sighted enough to infallibly hedge against such risks. The result could be that Harlow goes from a declining townscape to a semi-finished building site for many years. While we would of course hope otherwise, this could be the Conservative party’s legacy long after it has been ejected from the Council Chamber, much as has been the case when considering the state they left the economy in nationally, after 14 years of misrule.

A second concern is the lack of imagination to the town’s rebuild and understanding of modern retail trends. The town centre serves around 100,000 people and yet, over the years, has been unable to retain its flagship retail outlets and hospitality venues. The reality of so much retail now happening online must be recognised. It may be that our town centre retail zone should be smaller in footprint but higher in quality and developed as a desirable place for our residents to visit. After all, major shopping centres such as Lakeside and Bluewater are only 30 or so minutes away.

Stone Cross aka the market square, after so many false starts including astro-turfed play areas, bizarre giant plant pots and concrete table tennis tables, is earmarked by this Council as a hospitality zone. ‘Buy the buildings, tear them down and the bars and restaurants will come’ is the Council’s gamble. This ignores the fact that again habits have changed, the envisioned bar culture belongs to the 1990s and the fact that the planned arts quarter, which it is hoped many will visit, is at the town centre’s opposite end to the intended hospitality zone. A further self-defeating act by this council is the erosion of town centre parking at the Market Square end of town as a further disincentive to those who may not wish to cycle or take a bus to a town centre restaurant! More muddled thinking and overreach perhaps.

So while the investment in the town and the long overdue refurbishment of council property are grounds for cautious optimism, it is right to be concerned that the Conservatives have sought to reserve all of the big decision for themselves, even down to their cowardly and appalling attempt to cancel this May’s elections to shut down public opinion on their plans. The effect could be that their actions will saddle any future council, whatever its shape, form or colour, to the decisions and whims of this Conservative Council.

“One thing is for sure; that we ALL share an ambition for Harlow, that its decline is reversed, that it is restored to a place of pride and opportunity, particularly for its long-standing residents, and Reform Harlow are wholly committed to the sensible and measured achievement of that goal as we head towards the 7th May local elections”.