30th September 2011

NORA response, to which TBAG has contributed to and endorsed, to the governments draft National Planning Policy Framework;

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24th September 2010

TBAG members first became aware in March, at a Theydon Bois Village Design Statement Association meeting, that an area of Blunts Farm had been characterised as a ‘brownfield’ Local Wildlife Site (LoWS). We were seriously concerned about the potential long term ramifications of such a characterisation and began a campaign to overturn the incorrect ‘brownfield’ label.

After writing to the Essex Wildlife Trust, both the Planning and Forward Planning Departments at EFDC and members of the Local Development Framework (LDF) Cabinet Committee, members agreed at the 14th September LDF meeting to remove the term "brownfield" from the title of the Blunts Farm site, in the "Local Wildlife Site Review 2009" document. Rather than adopt the report as evidence base in the LDF the word ‘brownfield’ will now be removed in four instances from the document. The following text will also be added at the start of the "Important Notes" section: "The use of the term 'brownfield' in this report refers to the condition and appearance of sites in terms of their wildlife habitat content at the time they were surveyed. It is not intended to mean, and should not be interpreted as meaning, 'previously developed land'. This latter definition depends entirely upon the previous use(s) and planning history of the land."

The land can therefore now not be incorrectly characterised as ‘brownfield’ in the planning sense i.e. ‘ previously developed land’, which may have made any future development of the site easier.


TBAG wrote to the LDF Cabinet Committee members in the strongest terms and commented that ‘If our members were feeling particularly paranoid and or sensitive they may wonder why Theydon Bois has been characterised as having a low sensitivity to change and why this site, which is on the Call for Sites List, has been labelled as brownfield.’


23rd September 2010

I am replying to your e-mail of 8th September which was addressed to the Members of LDF Cabinet.

The meeting of 14th September agreed that the term "Brownfield" should be removed from the title of the site numbered Ep87 in the "Local Wildlife Site Review 2009" document.

The word will therefore be removed in the following 4 instances - Section 2.3, page 12 where the additional sites are listed and named; Appendix 1 which includes the names of all the Local Wildlife Sites; the page in Appendix 2 which includes the site details for Ep87; and the item relating to Merlin Way near the end of the document (PEpLoWS9) where reference is made to "Blunts Farm Brownfield LoWS" in the supporting text.

The following text will also be added at the start of the "Important Notes" section at the front of the document:

"The use of the term 'brownfield' in this report refers to the condition and appearance of sites in terms of their wildlife habitat content at the time they were surveyed. It is not intended to mean, and should not be interpreted as meaning, 'previously developed land'. This latter definition depends entirely upon the previous use(s) and planning history of the land."

The website version of the report is currently being modified as detailed above.

I will write to EECOS to advise about the changes.

Ian White


8th September 2010

Letter to members of EFDC LDF Cabinet committee;

Dear Councillor

Theydon Bois Action Group would like to bring to your attention agenda item 6 of Tuesday’s Local Development Framework Cabinet meeting.

Please see attached our letter to Essex Wildlife Trust dated 15th May and below their email reply dated 16th August and a recent email to Ian White.

As you can see we have tried to get the LoWS designation EP87 Blunts Farm Brownfield retracted on the grounds that Planning Policy Statement 3 Annex B-2006 states; ‘Previously developed land is that which is or was occupied by a permanent structure including the curtilage of the developed land and any associated fixed surface structure.’
The field in question has not been previously developed, a fixed surface structure has never been located on this area of land.
This incorrect characterisation could lead to very serious implications for the future of the site. It would appear that this incorrect designation and the citation as a whole has been overlooked by the council and may be ratified as an evidence base for the Local Development Framework on Tuesday.

TBAG strongly urge you to review the site and its description and the selection criteria, which are;
‘BAP Habitats Open Mosaic Habitats on Previously Developed Land (UK) Brownfield sites (Essex) Selection Criteria HC27 - Post-Industrial Sites’
And to remove the incorrect ‘Brownfield’ designation from EP87 and replace it with the more accurate description ‘EP87 Blunts Farm Field – disturbed land.’
This site and the surrounding area has caused great consternation to villagers for the last seven years.
We repeat that if our members were feeling particularly paranoid and or sensitive they may wonder why Theydon Bois has been characterised as having a low sensitivity to change and why this site, which is on the Call for Sites List, has been designated as Brownfield.

Your urgent attention to this would be much appreciated.

Letter to Essex Wildlife Trust dated 15 May;

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8th July 2010

TBAG addendum to our respose of 1st July;

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1st July 2010

TBAG response to the Epping Forest Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulations Assessment Scoping Report Draft Report March 2010 consultation.

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7th June 2010

Consultation deadline extended until 9th July.

28th May 2010

You may be aware that EFDC is currently consulting on a Scoping Report that has the potential to affect our village. In the 141 page report, Theydon Bois has been highlighted as having a low to moderate sensitivity to change, Theydon Bois Rural Preservation Society and TBAG both believe this to be an inappropriate characterisation and have therefore prepared the following response to the online questionnaire to aid residents and add weight to the detailed responses that we are both preparing.

Please respond to the online questionnaire by Friday 18th June on the EFDC website @

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

This link is also available on the Preservation Society page @ www.theydon.org.uk and the Local Development Framework page @ www.theydonbois-actiongroup.co.uk

If the village is characterised as having a low to moderate sensitivity to change and this is adopted as part of the new Local Development Framework, it may make it difficult to oppose inappropriate development in the future.

The suggested questionnaire answers below are not comprehensive but provide a basis to help residents make their own response to this very important consultation by 18th June.

We also have some serious reservations about this consultation process and are highlighting our issues with this regard directly to EFDC.


1) No

2) Education and agriculture are not specifically addressed as thematic topics.

3) Partially

4) Stansted / M11 Corridor Development Options Study.

The statement by BAA withdrawing their application for second runway at Stansted Airport on 24 May 2010.

5) No

6) We do not believe the present socio-economic predictions underpinning this report fully reflect the current down turn in the economy and its effect on employment and housing growth in the south east. The report should take into consideration post 2007 Government economic predictions.

The announcement of the withdrawal of the expansion at Stansted Airport.

7) No

8) Grouping Theydon Bois with Loughton and Buckhurst Hill within the Sustainability Appraisal is not a fair or accurate representation of its sensitivity to change. Theydon Bois is an established and physically distinctly separate village with a high sensitivity to change and as such should be considered as a separate Settlement Edge within the Functional Areas of Central Line Settlements. Greater weight should be given to the divergence of Theydon Bois in population density, SOA and employment etcetera

9) No

10) The diversity and local distinctiveness of Theydon Bois has not been sufficiently recognised within chapter 16 Central Line Settlements.

11) Theydon Bois is a distinct settlement, a forest village, surrounded entirely by farm land, new woodland (part of the Green Arc) and Epping Forest, that extends into the heart of the village itself. Theydon Bois is not comprehensively connected by main arterial route, as indicated in 16.4.6, as the only connections are the weight restricted B172 and width restricted and or Protected Lanes to Loughton and Epping.

The village is adjacent to the conservation area of Bell Common that provides an important transition between Epping Forest and a built up area and therefore would be highly sensitive to change. It would be more appropriate to characterise Theydon Bois as having a high sensitivity to change rather than defined as low to moderate as in 16.4.9.

If Theydon Bois was to be given the status of a separate Settlement Edge within Central Line Settlements then its uniqueness and high sensitivity could be more fully considered and appropriately assessed.

12) Any other Comments. We suggest residents make their own additional comments.



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




Residents of Theydon Bois demonstrate that their village does not have a low sensitivity to change.

Picture credit to Epping Forest Guardian

20th May 2010

Some of you may be aware that EFDC are currently conducting a consultation on a Draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report. The closing date for the consultation is 18th June, and comments can be submitted using the online questionnaire at
www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/consultation/sustainability_appraisal_questionnaire.asp


EFDC are in the initial stages of preparing a Core Strategy for the District – this is the key new planning policy document which will look ahead to 2031 and eventually replace the Local Plan. They have commissioned a large number of studies, on issues such as housing and employment needs, which will be the “ evidence base” from which they will start to prepare new policies and proposals to deal with land use and development issues up to 2031.

This draft document therefore forms a very important basis for local development for the next 20 odd years. TBAG have studied the consultation and are currently preparing a detailed response. This scoping report however has, in our opinion, some very basic and fundamental flaws that if left unchallenged could have a fundamental adverse affect on our village.

The main fundamental flaw with the report is that Theydon Bois has been included in the same ‘ functional area’ as Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Epping and Chigwell. The document confirms that the ‘functional area’ of the ‘Central Line Settlements’, ‘ contains the districts most urbanised area.’ TBAG highlighted our concerns to our two district ward councillors on 5th March before the report was the subject of public consultation. TBAG feel that it is more appropriate for Theydon Bois to be included in the ‘functional area’ of the ‘Rural South East.’

Theydon Bois has been highlighted in this report as having a LOW TO MODERATE SENSITIVITY TO CHANGE. Chigwell and Chigwell Row are considered to have a moderate or high sensitivity to growth, as does Epping and Coopersale Common. If this report is published and forms part of the Core Strategy and Theydon Bois is considered to have a low to moderate sensitivity to change then attempting to control the enlargement of our village will become more of a challenge.

Theydon Bois is entirely located within the Metropolitan Green Belt and is of a rural character. The document concedes that it is surrounded by Theydon Garnon wood on three sides. It is surrounded by Epping Forest to the north and west with the deer sanctuary and to the north east by buffer land at Great Gregories. At the heart of Theydon Bois lies the village green also owned by the City of London. To the east and south east is all green belt, green field agricultural land and the Woodland Trust wood and cemetery. To the west more green belt, green field agricultural land. There is very little development land that is not green belt within the village centre. Theydon Bois would have a very high sensitivity to landscape change, the village is surrounded by woodland and agricultural land that is all within the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other areas within the functional area may have a low sensitivity to change but in our opinion Theydon Bois does not.

How the EFDC desk based research and analysis can consider that our village can accommodate or sustain change is a mystery. Change must be beneficial and positive, inappropriate or unnecessary change, or change for change sake should be resisted and if this report is not challenged and is published as is, the large scale development of our village may become an inevitability.

Please make your opinion count, please respond to the consultation by 8th June @ www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/consultation/sustainability_appraisal_questionnaire.asp


If you need further information please call Forward Planning on 01992564517 or email LDFconsult@eppingforestdc.gov.uk

The TBAG response will be published on this website when it is finalised.

This consultation is very important and needs to be executed properly, unlike the Gypsy and Traveller Consultation on Options which currently remains unresolved.



East Of England Response

18 November 2009

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

**************************************************************
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.