News
If you thought the Green Belt was safe, you might want to think again
Monday 17 September 2018
Anyone who believed Green Belt designation might mean land was safe from development would appear to be sadly misguided if CPRE analysis is anything to go by. This organisation’s figures reveal that almost half a million new homes are targeted for land to be released from the Green Belt – and very few of those […] Read more >
Talk puts the focus on Epping Forest Green Belt
Wednesday 5 September 2018
The future of the Green Belt in Epping Forest is very far from secure if proposals in the district council’s Local Plan come to fruition. Tricia Moxey, CPRE Essex vice-chairman, will be tackling the thorny issue of the Plan and what it might mean for the district when she gives a talk in Loughton next […] Read more >
South Essex in the firing line for colossal housing growth
Wednesday 5 September 2018
If you thought development pressure on Essex could not get any worse, there is some sobering reading from the Thames Estuary Growth Commission. This advisory body to the government is urging “joint spatial plans” to be created in both Essex and Kent to support the building of more than a million homes. The two counties […] Read more >
Uttlesford campaigners highlight threat of housing onslaught
Wednesday 22 August 2018
Campaigners are stepping up their efforts to block proposals for new settlements in Uttlesford. Consultation on the draft Uttlesford District Local Plan closed on Monday, August 13, but the StopNUtown group still hopes that plans for 5,000 houses on some 1,100 acres of chalk hills north-east of Great Chesterford on the Essex-Cambridgeshire boundary can be […] Read more >
Government’s new planning rule book: ‘it’s a developers’ charter’
Friday 3 August 2018
CPRE has slammed the government’s revised planning rulebook, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), as a “speculative developers’ charter”. In a damning early critique, the organisation says the government has not fulfilled its promise to “build attractive and better-designed homes in areas where they are needed”. Indeed, the document, published on Tuesday, July 24, continues […] Read more >
High Court dismisses attempt to halt Colchester development
Monday 30 July 2018
A bid by a rival developer to block development of the Northern Gateway scheme in Colchester has failed. Tollgate Partnership, which is promoting the Tollgate Village development in Stanway, had applied for a judicial review of Colchester Borough Council’s approval of the Northern Gateway project. Tollgate argued that the council’s backing of the scheme, put […] Read more >
As Essex prepares for a vast increase in population, new protocol aims to streamline planning
Monday 30 July 2018
Essex has a new planning protocol. The document, put together by local authorities and developers in the county, is intended to create “a more efficient and effective application process”, while it should also help resource planning departments”. The development of the Essex Planning Protocol was driven by “a significant predicted growth in the Greater Essex […] Read more >
Castle Point agrees to step up the pace on Local Plan
Wednesday 18 July 2018
Castle Point Borough Council is to speed up its Local Plan timetable in a bid to stop central government taking over the process. The local authority has also agreed to produce a joint spatial plan with five other local planning authorities in south Essex – Basildon, Brentwood, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock – and the county […] Read more >
Garden communities plan hits the rocks
Wednesday 18 July 2018
Plans to build three garden communities in north Essex have been savaged by a planning inspector, who found them “unsound” and needing “significant” further work. The proposals for West Tey (24,000 homes), West of Braintree (13,000) and East of Colchester (9,000) were contained in a Section 1 Local Plan put together by Braintree District Council, […] Read more >
CPRE Essex: we have a new chairman
Wednesday 11 July 2018
Essex has a new chairman – and he is ready and raring to go as we step up our efforts to keep the county the very special place it still is. It will not be easy. The pressures of development are arguably greater than ever before. The clamour to build houses to help fire the […] Read more >