Ropemaker Properties will consider taking formal action if recommendations to exclude residential development from north Harlow are adopted as part of the East of England Plan (EoEP).
The property nominee of the BP Pension Fund has responded to an independent report into the draft EoEP which recommended that Ropemaker’s 10,000-home scheme, Harlow North, on 3,771 acres of green belt land east of Hunsdon in east Hertfordshire, be excluded from the plan.
The company said excluding ‘land north of Harlow’ from the draft EoEP had no “rational basis” and would hamper the regeneration of Harlow.
The influential report also excluded Lend Lease’s plans to develop 6 ,000 homes on North Weald airfield in Essex, arguing that new development areas should be rejected in favour of extensions to existing town centres.
Brain Tisdall, portfolio manager for Ropemaker Properties, said: “If Harlow is to attract new investment and achieve effective regeneration, Harlow needs to grow as recognised by both Harlow District and Essex County Councils.
“Critical mass of development will be essential to securing an enlarged and diversified local economy, a wider range of housing for people in Harlow and East Herts and a richer mix of local services, shops and recreational facilities.
“There is no rational basis for the panel to consider that, in principle, land north of Harlow would be likely to function as a ‘satellite’ settlement.”
The government will publish its proposed changes to the draft plan in November following consideration of the independent panel’s recommendations.
There will be a period of public consultation on the proposed changes before the final East of England plan is adopted by the government in spring 2007.
Paul Brighton, a planning director at Savills, project manager of Ropemaker’s Harlow North development, said the group would likely formally object to the plan if it rubberstamps the report’s findings.
References: EGi News 09/08/06
