A HARLOW teacher has asked Harlow Council whether it is still committed to maintaining its relationship with its twin towns.

Jake Shepherd asked the question (virtually) at Thursday night’s meeting.

Mr Shepherd has undertaken a lot of work looking at Harlow’s past, present and future.

Many will remember signs saying “Harlow twinned with Stavanger/ Velizy-Villacoublay/Havirov”

Mr Shepherd asked:

A current Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project, led by Dr Holly Ryan of Queen Mary, University of London, seeks to “To reinvigorate policymakers’ interest in town twinning and assist policy officials by building an evidence base on ‘value’ that goes beyond ‘the economic offer’ of [town] twinning”. The last publicly recorded institutional link between Harlow District Council and our twin towns was the appointment of a Harlow District Councillor in 2013/14 to the Harlow Town Twinning Association. I further note the absence of Council representation for the current municipal year.

How resolved is Harlow District Council to sustaining its links to Havirov (Czechia) and Velizy-Villacoublay (France), when research suggests a pattern of municipalities forgetting their twin towns?

Reply from Councillor Chris Vince (Portfolio Holder for Community and Wellbeing):

As you will be aware town twinning emerged after World War Two to help try and build relations between countries involved in the conflict. Within Harlow, the Harlow Town Twinning Association helped maintain the town’s relationship with Havirov and Velizy-Villacoublay until it was disbanded in 2014.

The Council does recognise that twinned towns do offer benefits beyond just economic and can provide an opportunity for cultural enrichment. However, at this time the Council does not have the resources to actively maintain it’s linked to both twinned towns, or to assume the role of the Twinning Association.

Today we are setting out the budget for the next financial year, this is something we can look into over that year and for following years if possible. Sadly with recent events it is not a priority.

Mr Vince added that he would be happy to discuss this matter further with Mr Shepherd.