Stop Harlow North
Email: MBBUCK1991@yahoo.co.uk 09 / 03 / 2007.
Yr ref.:
My ref.: B446_090307.
RSS Proposed Changes@ Go East.GSI.gov.uk
Dear Sirs,
Re : Stop Harlow North.
Changes in patterns of living and settlement are common enough, but structural changes are much rarer; thus in planning issues the physical features normally stay constant. The Stort Valley separates Outer Suburban Essex and Hertfordshire from the more rural areas to the north, and that dividing line played a major part in the rejection in 1986 of Harlow Council’s expansion bid to add another 20,000 people to the population. After that public enquiry both the inspector and the Secretary of State were emphatic in turning down the proposed development in this attractive, but fragile, part of the Home Counties. Since then there have been major changes, such as the vast increase in Stansted Airport’s traffic, (now said to be 24 million passengers annually) and the construction of the dual carriageway on the A.414, which latter has greatly improved East-West communications. However, the present proposals to construct 32,000 dwellings, straddling the Stort valley North of Harlow threaten to cover a sensitive and attractive part of East Anglia with another suburban dormitory.
The present advocates of the proposed North Harlow development invoke a national strategy to provide much needed dwellings in a fast growing region in South-Eastern England, but their arguments are faulty. People needing homes mostly seek social housing or modestly priced houses and flats near their places of work. East Herts and North Essex do not contain industries and commercial undertakings crying out for extra workers. The projected additional population would therefore be likely to commute, mostly down the Lea Valley, towards Greater London, using transport links which are already congested and overstrained. In social terms, such journeys would involve a good deal of stress and prolong an already long working day, so contributing to unnecessary tensions and ill-health. The prospect of providing local employment on a sufficient scale to absorb the likely new residents is remote. Other matters such as infrastructure, e.g., the provision of adequate water in a part of England with below average rainfall and limited water resources, have scarcely been considered. Drainage and sewage disposal systems will require major improvements at a high capital cost, and the outlays on constructing the suggested development are unlikely in the long run to prove economic.
The moral is clear; major pump-priming projects cost a great deal and should be undertaken only after careful thought for a purpose which is necessary. This ill-conceived plan for East Herts and North Essex is based on panic over housing shortages elsewhere, coupled with the zeal for short-term gains of certain entrepreneurs, who have assuredly miscalculated.
Yours faithfully,
Michael B. Buck.
Yr ref.:
My ref.: B446_090307.
RSS Proposed Changes@ Go East.GSI.gov.uk
Dear Sirs,
Re : Stop Harlow North.
Changes in patterns of living and settlement are common enough, but structural changes are much rarer; thus in planning issues the physical features normally stay constant. The Stort Valley separates Outer Suburban Essex and Hertfordshire from the more rural areas to the north, and that dividing line played a major part in the rejection in 1986 of Harlow Council’s expansion bid to add another 20,000 people to the population. After that public enquiry both the inspector and the Secretary of State were emphatic in turning down the proposed development in this attractive, but fragile, part of the Home Counties. Since then there have been major changes, such as the vast increase in Stansted Airport’s traffic, (now said to be 24 million passengers annually) and the construction of the dual carriageway on the A.414, which latter has greatly improved East-West communications. However, the present proposals to construct 32,000 dwellings, straddling the Stort valley North of Harlow threaten to cover a sensitive and attractive part of East Anglia with another suburban dormitory.
The present advocates of the proposed North Harlow development invoke a national strategy to provide much needed dwellings in a fast growing region in South-Eastern England, but their arguments are faulty. People needing homes mostly seek social housing or modestly priced houses and flats near their places of work. East Herts and North Essex do not contain industries and commercial undertakings crying out for extra workers. The projected additional population would therefore be likely to commute, mostly down the Lea Valley, towards Greater London, using transport links which are already congested and overstrained. In social terms, such journeys would involve a good deal of stress and prolong an already long working day, so contributing to unnecessary tensions and ill-health. The prospect of providing local employment on a sufficient scale to absorb the likely new residents is remote. Other matters such as infrastructure, e.g., the provision of adequate water in a part of England with below average rainfall and limited water resources, have scarcely been considered. Drainage and sewage disposal systems will require major improvements at a high capital cost, and the outlays on constructing the suggested development are unlikely in the long run to prove economic.
The moral is clear; major pump-priming projects cost a great deal and should be undertaken only after careful thought for a purpose which is necessary. This ill-conceived plan for East Herts and North Essex is based on panic over housing shortages elsewhere, coupled with the zeal for short-term gains of certain entrepreneurs, who have assuredly miscalculated.
Yours faithfully,
Michael B. Buck.
posted by Michael Buck at 2:38 PM
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