News
Merry Christmas from all at CPRE Essex
Wednesday 24 December 2025
And so 2025 draws to its end and we want to thank every last one of you – members, supporters and helpers alike – for all that you have done over the past year. It’s a familiar message and we seem to say it every year, but the Essex countryside has never been under greater […] Read more >
CPRE’s response to the (draft) revised National Planning Policy Framework
Tuesday 23 December 2025
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has published a draft revised National Planning Policy Framework and announced a 12-week consultation period. There is lots to welcome in this draft revision to the NPPF, not least a focus on urban densification, a recognition of the importance of rural affordable housing and welcome support including […] Read more >
Research shows most ‘grey-belt’ homes planned on unspoilt countryside
Tuesday 23 December 2025
New research from CPRE reveals that the government’s ‘grey belt’ policy is paving the way for large-scale development on England’s unspoilt rural landscapes – not, as ministers promised, unused car parks and derelict petrol stations. In December 2024, when the policy was introduced, the government gave ‘disused petrol stations’ and ‘abandoned car parks’ as examples […] Read more >
Data centre at North Weald Airfield backed by councillors
Tuesday 23 December 2025
It appears to be the latest boom industry, and Essex is clearly not going to miss out, with plans for a vast data centre at North Weald Airfield approved by Epping Forest District Council. The scheme has been put forward by Google, together with the claim that it will create up to 200 jobs once […] Read more >
Time and its use in housing development
Thursday 18 December 2025
Dominant rhetoric surrounding housing development has featured recurrent reference to delay and to a need to deliver housing more speedily, writes Professor Gavin Parker. This has been linked to the housing affordability crisis, and attention to hastening build-out rates and speeding up planning permissioning have been important concerns for government in recent years. In that […] Read more >
The Planning & Infrastructure Act: what does it do and what happens next?
Thursday 11 December 2025
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill has been debated, scrutinised and voted on – repeatedly – in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Now it has been approved by Parliament it will become legislation as the Planning and Infrastructure Act. The Act was first introduced as a Bill in the House of […] Read more >
Housing scheme recommended for approval by council officers
Tuesday 9 December 2025
A scheme for more than 200 new homes at Maldon is being backed by council planning officers. The proposal by LSL Partners and Cirrus Land for the development in London Road includes affordable housing and land for both a children’s nursery and an extension to the town’s cemetery. Officers are recommending that Maldon District Council’s […] Read more >
Getting literary in Littlebury
Tuesday 2 December 2025
“Littlebury held a Christmas tree festival to raise funds for the village’s Grade I-listed Holy Trinity Church, and is now £2,100 better off, and a good time was had by all. One tree went full circle when the book club made a tree from old books.” Read more >
A grand housing scheme for Braintree?
Monday 1 December 2025
A thousand homes will be built by the River Blackwater if developers get their way. Barratt Developments and David Wilson Homes have put the plans for a site east of Broad Road to Braintree District Council and they include a new school, ‘local centre’ and employment area. The development will apparently be connected to Braintree […] Read more >
The joy of crab apples
Tuesday 18 November 2025
Photographer Gordon Ridgewell aways did have an eye for colour… “I had a walk around the village today and most of the leaves are now on the ground, but this ornamental crab apple caught my eye as the sun was shining on to it. Lots of food for the blackbirds this winter…” Read more >