Brentwood
Business park at M25 junction recommended for approval
Monday 11 December 2023
Land removed from the Green Belt is likely to be used for the development of four large warehouses. Brentwood Enterprise Park is being targeted for a site next to junction 29 of the M25 – some of the site had been in the Green Belt before the Brentwood Local Plan removed most of it and […] Read more >
The ‘garden village’ coming to Brentwood
Thursday 30 November 2023
A vast housing development in south Essex has been backed by Brentwood Borough Council, which has approved the quaintly-named Dunton Hills Garden Village. The project will see the building of 3,700 homes, along with three schools, a pub, gypsy and traveller pitches, cycle routes and betting shops. The garden village is targeted for land east […] Read more >
Your chance to help forge a Brentwood Environment Strategy
Friday 26 August 2022
“Your views and needs are at the heart of everything we do. “That is why the council consults with residents, businesses and other organisations to ensure the decisions we make represent public opinion and are informed by what you tell us.” The words of Brentwood Borough Council will hopefully encourage folk to participate in the […] Read more >
M25-A12 junction upgrade wins consent
Tuesday 17 May 2022
Final approval of plans to revamp the junction of the M25 and A12 has been confirmed. The scheme to upgrade junction 28 of the orbital motorway (you might know it better as the Brook Street roundabout) had effectively been put on hold for assessment of its environmental impact, notably the cumulative effect of greenhouse-gas emissions. […] Read more >
Councillors go against officers’ advice and approve Herongate solar farm
Thursday 2 December 2021
Essex is to get another solar farm. The scheme, targeted for Herongate, west of Dunton Wayletts, was approved by Brentwood Borough Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, November 23. Councillors rejected their officers’ advice to refuse permission on the grounds that the solar farm was against the local authority’s policy and “unacceptable” on Green Belt land. […] Read more >
Our Lovely Essex: of vigilance and vipers
Thursday 18 June 2020
The word ‘Essex’ is, for those lucky enough to live here, interchangeable with ‘Paradise’, but of course we must never be naïve or complacent… after all, even the Garden of Eden had its viper. Joanna Campora lives in the south of the county and sent us two images that show how quickly we can lose […] Read more >
The Green Belt: its value is obvious but it needs protecting more than ever, says new report
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Lying next to London, Essex is of course well served by the capital’s Green Belt. A report by a cross-party Parliamentary group shows that London’s Metropolitan Green Belt not only protects against urban sprawl but also provides vital countryside on our doorstep for health and well-being. Benefits include: • 26, 267 hectares of Sites of […] Read more >
Will councils’ lack of action plan make them vulnerable to the housing speculators?
Monday 21 October 2019
Three local authorities in Essex have failed to produce the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan required of them by government. They are among just 21 across the country to have not published the plans, which they are instructed to do if they under-deliver on housebuilding targets. The plans should set out how they intend to […] Read more >
You can have a say on plans for a revamped M25-A12 junction
Wednesday 5 December 2018
You might, or might not, have spent precious minutes (hours?) of your life at the junction of the M25 with the A12 and be delighted to know that up to £100 million is to be spent on upgrading it. You might, or might not, be unhappy at both the amount of land the intended scheme […] Read more >
How Essex councils feature in Green Belt-building table
Saturday 29 September 2018
Our recent story (here) showing almost half a million new homes are targeted for land to be released from the Green Belt is particularly poignant in Essex, which hosts three of the top 10 Green Belt-building councils in the country. A Local Government Chronicle article presents data from the Ministry of Communities, Housing & Local […] Read more >