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Local Plan - Latest News

The Local Plan, a set of policies to manage development within Epping Forest District up to 2033, has been submitted for approval to the Planning Inspectorate by Epping Forest District Council. The news was announced by Planning Portfolio Holder John Philip at the meeting of the Full Council on Tuesday 25 September 2018. Submission followed the end of a legal challenge by property developer CK Properties (Theydon Bois) Ltd after its application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal was refused. CK Properties had already lost its case following a High Court hearing.

The Local Plan must now be scrutinised and approved by an independently appointed planning inspector working on behalf of the Government. The Inspector will be looking to ensure the Plan is legally sound and meets all the requirements for national and local policies in a fair and consistent way. The Planning Inspector will scrutinise all the policies and supporting documents before hearing submissions and taking further evidence from interested people. The Planning Inspectorate will schedule the Independent Examination of Epping Forest District Council’s Plan among ongoing examinations of other councils’ local plans. Once submitted, councils may have to wait several months before an examination takes place.

More information can be found at http://www.efdclocalplan.org/

A copy of the Plan is available at Buckhurst Hill Library: it is a very large document, difficult to follow if reading online.

The Residents' Society strongly opposes the sites earmarked in the Plan for Buckhurst Hill and our original response to the draft version has been on this website for a year now (see Newsbox on right). Our response to this amended submitted version is

Response to Submission version of Local Plan

We are currently preparing our verbal submission to the Public Enquiry, where we will not only be arguing against each of the three sites, but will also be arguing that the Plan is legally unsound and should be abandoned, rewritten, and the public consultation re-commenced.

If the Planning Inspector nonetheless approves the Plan, we.understand that the Public Enquiry will be followed by further discussion by EFDC and a final vote by Councillors sometime in 2019. Planning Applications for actual development may be submitted anytime during the life of the plan, up to fifteen years.

BHRS presents cheque for £900 to Rainbow Trust

At our meeting on Tuesday 10th July, BHRS presented a cheque for £900 to Pauline Obee MBE, Patron of the Rainbow Trust, a charity which supports families with a seriously ill child. This sum was raised by children from St John's Primary School at our Market Project in Queen's Road on 15th June, organised by Margaret Drew of BHRS, and supported by businesses on Queen's Road. The school generously donated the proceeds to the charity being supported by BHRS this year. For details see news article here.