With the revocation of the Regional Spatial Strategy, Harlow’s LDF has assumed even greater importance as it provides the opportunity to shape the future direction of the town. Harlow Renaissance has argued that this should be a transformational document, setting out a strong long term vision for the town and highlighting, in aspirational terms, what we believe the town can become over the next decade or so. It is an opportunity to establish a framework for future development and a benchmark in terms of quality.
We welcomed the Council’s firm commitment to significant growth as the mechanism for delivering the renewal of the town, which is identified as the Council’s top corporate priority. This must continue to be the driving principle behind Harlow’s planning policies. We would support the assertion in the Regional Spatial Strategy that 16,000 homes is an appropriate level of growth for Harlow. This was strongly supported by the delegates to our Growth Symposium in June 2010. It is also our view that that there needs to be recognition that administrative boundaries cannot restrict the town’s needs and aspirations.
The Core Strategy must be an opportunity to set a clear and bold vision for the town, effectively acting as a marketing tool for Harlow. It must be aspirational and move beyond high level policies and leave the reader in no doubt as to where the town is heading. The Core Strategy must set out a clear vision as to the sort of place that we wish Harlow to be over the next 15 years and use the planning process to enable creativity within development proposals. This is an opportunity to embrace the Harlow branding – ‘Harlow – see something different’ which should be a consistent theme throughout the Core Strategy and accompanying documents.
To commence our thinking on Harlow’s Core Strategy, Harlow Renaissance worked with Harlow’s Local Strategic Partnership, Harlow 2020, to develop some initial thinking. A joint workshop was held in June 2009 and a report presented to Harlow Council to provide some early thoughts on the direction of the LDF.
Evidence Gathering
Harlow Renaissance has worked to support Harlow Council in developing an evidence base to underpin the LDF process. This has seen the completion of a number of technical studies including:
- Employment Land Utilisation Study
- Infrastructure Study
- Water Cycle Study
- Planning and Housing Options Study
Details of these and other pieces of work, as well as the latest news on the LDF process can be found on the Harlow Council website.