Earlier this week, the Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston Neighbourhood Plan Group asked four questions of the local election 2023 candidates for Hunsdon Ward to let residents know their thoughts regarding the proposed Development of 10,000 houses in this Ward.

Below we have published the complete, unedited responses from Julia Davies (Liberal Democrats), John Dunlop (Green Party) and Salvatore Pagdades (Conservative Party).

We are currently awaiting responses from Hilary Durbin (Labour) and will add their answers to this article as and when they are provided.

Julia Davies (Liberal Democrats)

1. Have you supported the community on this Call-In and will you continue to do so, if elected. How will you do this? If you do not support us, please say why.

I do support this attempt to call in the planning application.  Now that the government has ended the minimum number of houses required each year I believe it could have some effect.  I have always opposed this enormous development which will totally change this part of East Herts.  When I attended the original meetings about the Local Plan which were held at Wallfields and Parish Councillors were invited to give their views there was not going to be development North of Gilston. The number of houses which is now planned is far more than was agreed and the proportion of affordable is much lower. 

As a Stanstead Abbotts Parish Councillor I have always protested about this development – not least because of the difficulties crossing the Stort and accessing Harlow Station.  In the last two or three years we have had the added issue that in the remaining green belt between Village 7 and Stanstead Abbotts there will almost certainly be a quarry.

2. If elected, how will you try to influence the delivery of the Gilston project over your term in office?

I would work hard to impress upon both District and County Councils that transport has to meet the needs of the whole family and that educational establishments and healthcare must be easily accessed.  I am particularly concerned that in their enthusiasm for fewer cars to be used that life will be very difficult for parents unless there is a huge improvement in the reliability of buses between Hertford, Harlow and Bishop’s Stortford.

3. Please tell us about your experience in shaping major developments.

My experience of planning is all related to the Stanstead Abbotts and St Margarets Neighbourhood Plan – I have chaired the Steering Group since the beginning in 2016.  We have just finished Regulation 14 and hope to be ready for a referendum by the end of the year.

4. What do you see as the biggest three risks and what are the three biggest gains from this development?

One risk is that there will be over-demand on the water supply which is vulnerable to the droughts we have recently been having reducing the level of the aquifer.

Secondly there is a risk that the sewage will not be treated satisfactorily if Rye House has to cope with so many more customers.

Thirdly the traffic using the A414 will vastly increase and there will be considerable pollution from the extra cars both during construction and afterwards.

Clearly the need for new housing has been identified and is crucial to reduce the numbers of homeless people.

There could be some revitalising of Harlow Town Centre which is in a rather sad state at the moment.

Hopefully the extra housing will ensure that a new hospital will follow which will be of benefit to us all.

John Dunlop (Green Party)

My name is John Dunlop, I am standing in the local elections on the 4th May 2023, to be your Green Party councillor. I have been asked by the Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston Neigbourhood Planning Group (HEGNPG) to give answers to the four questions (see below). Thank you for the opportunity to allow me to reach out to the community who have an interest in the Gilston area developments.

1. Have you supported the community on this Call-In and will you continue to do so, if elected. How will you do this? If you do not support us, please say why.

Absolutely, I have supported this Call-In by writing to the Conservative MP Julie Marson. I have also written to several newspapers and media outlets.

As a newly elected councillor representing the people of the Hunsdon Ward, a member of the Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston Neighbourhood Planning Group (HEGNPG) and resident of Terlings Park I will continue to support this Call-In by working closely with Parish councils and HEGNP Group by representing and promoting their views within the wider council.

2. If elected, how will you try to influence the delivery of the Gilston project over your term in office?

Prior to the East Herts Development Management Committee (DMC) meeting for Outline Planning Approval I discussed the main issues around infrastructure, transport, phasing and aesthetic with Ben Crystal our Green Party representative on the DMC. He subsequently voted against approval based in part on my requests and comments.

If elected, I would make it a priority to attend local meetings including Parish Council and NPG meetings to listen and understand the key issues and challenges for local residents and to talk to residents about the issues. With that understanding go back to East Herts Council (EHC) and raise these issues at both council and future planning meetings.

I would also want to ensure that I am on all master planning committee groups for each of the village applications so that along with HEGNPG I can provide a direct line between residents and planning officers and lobby for change whenever the community identifies that an alteration is needed.

It is also possible that I could be on the DMC, depending on numbers (the more Green councillors the better the chance), so that I can have a direct influence on the planning process, ensuring that there is proper scrutiny of all future decisions and push for change where needed.

3. Please tell us about your experience in shaping major developments.

This is my first experience in shaping a major development; I believe that my background puts me in a good place to influence events.

I worked in the Broadcasting Industry for 30+ years and have a good understanding of communications which is a key part of a Councillors role, ensuring the residents are fully informed and updated in helping to bring the community along with positive changes, and opposing those which need to be changed.

I also have a Galileo Master Certificate in Renewable energy, I come from a building family and grew up in the construction and agricultural industries and more recently qualified as a soil scientist. I have a keen interest in community as a volunteer for Harlow Foodbank, Bounty Club, PACT for Autism and Herts and Essex Community Farm. I will draw on experience of fellow councillors and the Neighbourhood Planning Group.

My aspirations and vision are to make this a place with a happy thriving multi-generation community, one where people want and feel proud to be, and which enhances the lives of those who are already living here.

4. What do you see as the biggest three risks and what are the three biggest gains from this development?

The risks and benefits of this scheme are two sides of the same coin. On the one side if the risks are not managed they will undermine some of the benefits; on the other side if the benefits are not ‘genuine’ or there is a lack of accountability they may be poorly implemented or absent, with very little avenue for redress.

The biggest risks as I see it are that:

• The developer pulls out before key infrastructure is completed or fails to be held to account for their agreed responsibilities and legal obligations
• Ambitious transport modal shift plans are dropped or fail and the whole area becomes snarled with traffic
• EHC and Harlow do a deal to release further Green Belt land to expand HGGT, or that the organisation tasked with long term management of the site decides to put profit above community and sell off further land for building etc. . There are many risks with this development and with my experience of investment committees in other industries, this, as it stands, would not be approved. I am genuinely surprised that the current Council have chosen to expose themselves to so much risk. The biggest potential gains which will require change from the current plan are:

• That the transport modal shift plan succeeds and there is a genuine shift towards sustainable modes which has a knock-on-effect for the area
• That the planned green spaces and biodiversity net gain do deliver for the area and despite the dense housing, there are genuine improvements in accessible green spaces and environment around the built up areas which everyone in the ward can enjoy
• The neighbourhood facilities, such as doctors surgeries, schools, shops, community clubs, promised improvements in infrastructure all come as promised and the current stresses on medical services, water, sewage etc are reduced locally.

Salvatore Pagdades (Conservative Party)

1. Have you supported the community on this Call-In and will you continue to do so, if elected. How will you do this? If you do not support us, please say why.

Whilst I have not been involved in the call-in process to date, I would support the local community if elected, because I believe it’s important that a development as large as this is properly assessed, and local residents’ concerns are addressed.

2. If elected, how will you try to influence the delivery of the Gilston project over your term in office?

If elected, I would work with local residents to ensure their views are represented on East Herts District Council (and to Hertfordshire County Council). This requires working collaboratively with the councils rather than combatively. I would also attend local meetings to listen to the views of the residents and update them on my work on the Council.

3. Please tell us about your experience in shaping major developments.

As a young person, I don’t have lots of experience in shaping major planning developments; but I do have experience of working with local groups and residents to represent their views and push for improvements. A recent example is where I’ve worked with councillors in Sawbridgeworth to object to a travellers site off High Wych Road.

4. What do you see as the biggest three risks and what are the three biggest gains from this development?

From my perspective, the three biggest risks from the development are disruption to existing residents; loss of green belt; and potential impact on environmental elements like drainage. The three biggest gains are: provision of more homes, which will help more young families get on the housing ladder; an improvement in local amenities and facilities; and improved transport links around the area.

East Herts District Council elections May 2023 – Hunsdon Ward

Four open questions from the Hunsdon Eastwick & Gilston Neighbourhood Plan Group to all candidates about the proposed Development of 10,000 houses in this Ward. As you will know, the EHC District Plan 2018 released hundreds of acres of Green Belt in the Ward for at least 3,000 houses up to 2033 and 7,000 afterwards.

East Herts Council has this year granted outline planning permission and increased the numbers pre 2033 to 4,700 houses. HEGNPG on behalf of their Parish Councils and other parties have requested the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to “call-in” that decision so that the plans can be properly reassessed at a Public Inquiry.

1. Have you supported the community on this Call-In and will you continue to do so, if elected. How will you do this? If you do not support us, please say why.

2. If elected, how will you try to influence the delivery of the Gilston project over your term in office?

3. Please tell us about your experience in shaping major developments.

4. What do you see as the biggest three risks and what are the three biggest gains from this development?

Questions and responses will be published on our website and neighbourhood sites/local press.

Anthony Bickmore, Chairman NPG

24th April 2023

We’re writing with a short message to update you on the latest important developments in the Gilston Area Villages 1-7 scheme.

We’re disappointed to report that the Village 7 application for 1,500 new homes was rubber stamped at East Herts Council’s committee meeting last night.

This was despite very strong representations from us here at the NPG, local councillors and local residents.

On your behalf, we highlighted that current Village 7 proposals go against the principles that originally secured the release of Green Belt land and are a premature and unnecessary addition to the whole Gilston project. We had said the same at the earlier Village 1-6 committee meeting, which was also waived through.

While stretching our NHS to breaking point, failing to deliver on affordable housing targets and resulting in inevitable traffic gridlock, these plans will add up to 4,700 homes in our area, 50% more than the target set out in the East Herts District Plan.

Nevertheless, it was waved through when Conservative Party councillors on the committee voted to pass it by 8-4 – something you may want to bear in mind when it comes to local elections on May 4 of this year.

In the first instance, we’ve written to our local MP Julie Marson and also directly to housing secretary Michael Gove, urging him to make good on promises to listen to local voices and “call-in” this decision.

That would mean the Secretary of State would refer the whole development of 10,000 houses to a public enquiry headed by a planning Inspector to make this decision of regional and national importance, and take it away from the local East Herts councillors who have simply waved through application after application.

We’ll keep pushing on your behalf to do everything we can to make sure our voice is heard and the developers and East Herts Council deliver on the serious promises made and responsibilities to local residents.

Residents from Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston have demanded a rethink after East Herts District Council’s Development Management Committee approved plans for 8,500 new homes on former Green Belt land yesterday (February 28).

The plans for six so-called “garden villages” have been strongly criticised for their failure to deliver on the promises made by the developers Places for People when the land was released from the Green Belt back in 2018.

In particular, the scheme will now only deliver 23% affordable housing against a promise of 40%, a loss of nearly 1,500 affordable homes.

Councillors nodded through the application despite only having a minimal amount of time to read hundreds of pages of documents that were being revised as recently as the day before the meeting.

Promises to deliver landscape-led development of high quality garden villages have been dropped in favour of building “neighbourhoods” with tiny corridors between each other in densities similar to a busy town like Bishop’s Stortford.

In addition to the loss of affordable housing, residents have slammed the planners and developers for their failure to provide adequate health facilities to cope with the influx of 35,000 people to the area.

They have also hit out at the dominance of car travel in the scheme, as seen by the approval for Stort Valley crossings back in February 2022 – massive roads that are over-engineered for what is required.

Commenting on the the need for a rethink, Anthony Bickmore, Chair of Hunsdon, Eastwick & Gilston Neighbourhood Plan Group said:

“Given that the developers tell us the project is unviable, this is the right time to rethink this scheme to ensure that what is delivered meets the needs of the area. 

“We were promised a high-quality development with essential affordable housing in garden villages that respect the existing landscape

“Those promises have been binned as soon as convenient and development instead sanctioned at building heights more familiar with London than villages in the Hertfordshire countryside.

“That should worry everyone in the country who lives near the Green Belt or cares about the preservation of our landscapes and community. We need to make sure we don’t sleepwalk into a suburban sprawl being created on former Green Belt land.”

Commenting on East Herts District Council’s failure to provide adequate time for members of the Committee to read and understand the application details and the time given to the residents to address their concerns at the meeting he added: 

“Local Councillors represent residents, but they seemed reluctant to even hear our voice in a public forum for any length of time.

“We held our own 90-minute meeting a week ago where we listened to a packed hall of local residents speak for as long as they needed.

“The speaking arrangements for the DMC kept being chopped and changed right up to the last minute. The reports for the application were hundreds of pages long but Councillors had only a short period to read them properly and even then they were substantially amended and re-published the afternoon before the meeting.

“We actually sympathise with the councillors, who haven’t been given the time or resources, and do not have the procedures or capacity to deal with what they admit is the largest development they have ever approved.

“Councillors have been railroaded into approving the application and delegating vital oversight, monitoring and enforcement to officers who sort out the all important details with the developers away from the public gaze or reference back to elected councillors.

“If a development of this size can be approved with scant regard to local concerns in East Herts there’s no reason why it won’t happen anywhere else in the country.”

He added: 

“This is a very major project with lots of sensitivities. Master plans and design codes need to be developed in consultation with the community, not decided after the fact behind closed doors.

“East Herts has a policy of requiring sites to have effective Master Planning but here is willing to allow the Developers to precondition the Master Planning process.

“What’s more, local infrastructure needs to be delivered and serious traffic and health impacts addressed in advance, not once thousands of people have already moved in.

“Our triple award-winning Neighbourhood Plan is a part of the Local Plan which residents endorsed with a landslide vote but it is being sidelined by the developers and planners.”