HRL

‘Harlow is…an organism, which would go on changing and being rebuilt’
Sir Frederick Gibberd  

On 18^th June Harlow Renaissance hosted a one day symposium to debate the way in which Harlow should grow in the future. An invited audience of more than 60 professionals in the property and development industries gathered to pool their knowledge and expertise in a focussed discussion on the best ways that Harlow can grow. Its purpose was to stimulate some thoughts as a precursor to the launch of Harlow Council’s LDF ‘Issues and Options’ consultation in September as well as to develop broader thinking to influence future developments as to how Gibberd’s original principles can be applied in today’s context. 

The symposium heard a keynote address from Professor Han Lorzing, spatial planning adviser to the City of Utrecht, as to how new towns in Holland have adapted and developed. The Dutch have consistently been able to adapt their towns and created new housing at a much greater rate than has been achieved in the UK. Key principles which have been applied there are the provision of high quality public transport connections, use of the landscape and the development of neighbourhoods with distinct identities and characters. 

During the discussion a number of benefits of growth were identified:

• Broadening housing choice (currently more than a third of homes are rented, and as many as 50% in some inner areas, but fragmented)
• Enabling more people to travel quickly to work in London, using the good rail services (Liverpool Street and Kings Cross are only half an hour away by train)
• Regenerating under-used commercial assets  like the station and the town centre
• Supporting local economic growth (and incomes) and also boosting local skills and aspirations (currently residents earn much less than those working in Harlow)
• Improving the environment by increasing biodiversity e.g. local food, and cutting travel to work times and congestion (and hence pollution) 

In assessing strategic options, a number of criteria seem paramount, and these were reinforced in the workshop discussions that followed: 

• Retaining and enhancing Gibberd’s vision of distinct neighbourhoods and green wedges that relate to the topography and give Harlow a unique character amongst New Towns
• Fitting within the landscape to overcome objections from environmentalists
• Attracting wealthier residents to support better services e.g. quality bus corridors, new shops, and to rebalance the demographic profile in line with the wider area
• Addressing regeneration needs, which include generating new and better jobs and the aspirations to take them, as well as safeguarding existing business parks like the Pinnacles
• Future proofing the development to allow for changing needs, such as co-housing to enable elderly people to cope better, new forms of travel, better insulated homes and Combined Heat and Power to reduce carbon emissions, and treating water as an asset rather than a threat.  

Three quarters of participants felt that Harlow should grow to a population of 100,000 – 120,000 to create an economically sustainable town and realise the benefits identified above. 

The symposium then discussed a range of measures to achieve Harlow’s potential under the themes of Transport and Connectivity, Character and Greener Living and Open Spaces. Inevitably discussion generates ideas, many of which will already have been considered, and questions will be asked about how anything can be made to happen in a time of cutbacks and austerity. However, out of the discussions, a route though the development maze began to emerge, and is outlined here as a basis for further debate:

1. High accessibility The government should be encouraged to support growth where it will boost economic performance, cut congestion, and promote environmental benefits. Harlow needs to be seen as the natural place for growth around Stansted Airport, and a way of taking some of the pressure off Cambridge.
2. Innovative funding By increasing densities around stations, and then tapping some of the uplift in land value through tariffs, ways can be found of paying for better local transport such as new bike and bus routes.  Ways of making home ownership easier, could include valuing ‘sweat equity’ and packages that link ‘green mortgages’ for homes built to sustainable standards to funding for season tickets, with savings for not using parking spaces. 
3. Riverside image By promoting ‘Harlow-on-Stort’, the town can change its identity, with the river being at the heart of a growing and more vibrant community. A commitment to a new park, as in Thames Gateway, will be a relatively cost-effective way of publicising the opportunities. 
4. Community engagement Engaging the support of the existing communities is crucial, many of whom would naturally prefer things to stay as they are, or as they were. New forms of development mechanism, such as community land trusts and cooperatives, can mobilise positive energy. One practical way forward is to link development initiatives to formal training and apprenticeship programmes, to break down any sense of ‘them and us’ and to ensure young people are not left out.
5. Positive planning Efforts should focus on providing a positive response to potential planning applications that can support the principles set out in the report, and the possible elements in a quality charter which were discussed at the symposium. It may be necessary to consider planning applications before the government’s Localisation Bill is drafted and passed. Flexible development briefs that set density and parking standards, while encouraging creativity, would help take some of the risks out of preparing schemes.  
6. Quality deals Growth and regeneration should be seen as inter-dependent and indivisible. Development sites need to be broken into manageable parcels, and then linked to areas for improvement and renewal. By making the most of the capacity of private developers and housing associations with a stake in growth, some of the resources needed for regeneration can be accessed. In particular efforts need to be put into developing both the town centre and some of the neighbourhood centres, so that they no longer act as deterrents to investment. 
7. Public private partnerships New forms of development finance need to be accessed, including the use of public private partnerships in which funds are borrowed against the prospective rise in land values as a result of development and new infrastructure. Harlow, along with other former new towns, should be in the forefront of discussions not only with the Homes and Community Agency, but also with bodies such as Infrastructure UK, and the potential municipal bank that the Local Government Association is starting to investigate. This should include making use of public land to provide plots for local small builders who are likely to employ local people  

A full report of the event will be published on the Harlow Renaissance website in August and its contents will stimulate discussion at the September meeting of the Harlow Renaissance Board to arrive at propositions for Harlow’s Local Development Framework. We will also be using the report to stimulate a debate at a meeting to be convened of landowner interests to prompt thoughts on how Harlow’s growth can deliver ‘smarter growth’.