6 Novermber 2009

The following objection has been sent to Essex County Council with regard to a potential gravel extraction site on Patch Park, Abridge. If granted this will result in a development on the green belt by the river Roding for between 7-10 years extracting gravel and then the importation of inert waste. If granted this will result in many HGV movements through Abridge and potentially Theydon Bois for many years.

Click here to download this file

14 October 2009

EFDC are currently consulting on a range of issues which will form the future development of Epping
Forest District. Please take ten minutes to complete and submit the online form and you may even
win £100 worth of shopping vouchers, by 15th November.

Your views will influence and inform the way that "One Epping Forest" prioritises issues and plans
for the needs of all people across the District. This long term plan will be published in a
document called "Sustainable Community Strategy" and will drive future action to make our District
a better place to live, work, study and do business.

For more information and to complete the survey check out ; www.oneeppingforest.org.uk and click on the link "your voice matters click here" or ring 01992 564454

Questions range from "Protection of the green belt and the unique character of the district" to "Initiatives to provide more affordable housing" "- where do you think news homes should be built?" and "what do you think should be the preferred approach?"

Please take the survey @

www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/consultation/lsp_core_strategy.asp

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This is an ongoing process, an initial 'Call for Sites' list was shown to members of EFDC in October 2008. Although the list was not published it was not classified, TBAG received a copy but agreed not to make it public.

TBAG then wrote to Cllr Diana Collins on 17 November and when an answer was not forthcoming we wrote an open letter to the Guardian which was published on 4 December 2008;

"In the last edition of the Forester Magazine, the Leader of Epping Forest District Council, Councillor Diana Collins commented, about the Gypsy and Traveller Consultation, that "The difficulty we Councillors faced was to strike a balance between putting everything into the public arena while not necessarily alarming or upsetting people. In my judgment, it is better to be up front and open with people from the start." During the summer EFDC had a 'Call for Sites. Developers from the area could submit areas of land that they wished to suggest could be appropriate for development and/or potential sites for Gypsies and Travellers. Submissions had to be in by July 18, a list of potential sites was compiled and Members were informed in late October. Theydon Bois Action Group (TBAG) has obtained a copy of the Call for Sites list but have been asked "that you treat the attached information carefully, and for your information purposes only." If Mrs Collins feels "it is better to be upfront and open with people" perhaps the Call for Sites list should be published on the EFDC website. If not perhaps residents should call Forward Planning on 01992 564517 and ask for a copy under the Freedom of Information Act, it makes for very interesting reading!

TBAG

TBAG received a reply from Cllr. Collins on 8 December. She confirms that "I should make it clear to you that the Call for Sites information is not confidential. The original covering letter which sought submissions made this quite clear. While we are prepared to release the information, and indeed have done so in your case, there has to be a caveat of the kind which is set out in the email (i.e The list has not been published formally, and this Council does not want to worry residents unnecessarily, by alluding to possible development that may never happen. With this in mind, we would ask that you treat the attached information carefully, and for your information purposes only). You will appreciate that the community is already concerned about gypsies and travellers and I am concerned that we do not spread further anxiety regarding sites which will either not come to fruition or where detailed consideration may be taking place some years in the future. I confirm that the Council will be completely open about this process but will engage with the public on a series of timetables which will overlap in the future."

The list was published on the EFDC website shortly afterwards.


Please use the link below to access a summary of the submissions so far: - (this is the first published list)

www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/Library/files/planning/Call_For_Sites_Website_Maps/Call%20for%20Sites%20List%205-09-09.pdf

The submissions so far have been plotted onto a map, which was then split into 4 sections covering the district (as one map would be far too large to download). Please note that some areas of land have appeared in more than one submission,and several of the submission areas overlap with others.

Please use the links below to access the 4 maps and be aware that some of them are quite large and may take a while to download.

The green hatched areas are the areas of land that have featured in one or more submissions and the red lines show the parish boundaries.

These maps are being amended constantly and are currently quite large files;

www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/Library/files/planning/Call_For_Sites_Website_Maps/Call%20For%20Sites%20-%20South%20West%20Quadrant%20-%20EFDC%20-%20100dpi.pdf

This map currently highlights as a 'submitted site', a proportion of the land bound by the railway line, M25 and the Abridge Road, the rest of the land to the M11 is shaded as 'open land use'. A parcel of land on Coppice Row is also on the list.