Epping Society Hands Over Petition with 2,175 Signatures to Epping Forest District Council

Today we feature a summary by Epping Society Vice Chair Roger Lowry on the handover of our petition against the South Epping Master Plan. There has been considerable response on various Facebook pages as well including a lengthy response from Councilor Holly Whitbread which we will feature later in the week with an opinion piece.

EFDC ensured that the handover of the petition occurred withing the building with no general public permitted. We were also not allowed to take our own photos and will be relying on the official Council Photograph of the occasion. Further opinion pieces will follow from us dedicated to various aspects of SEMPA and local democracy.

NOTES on Epping Society Petition “South Epping”  2^nd July 2025

So what happened last evening?

Committee members presented the 2175-signatures petition to EFDC; initially inside the Civic Offices, to Cllr Ken Williamson (portfolio holder); circumstances felt a little tense, as only a limited number of people were admitted, and the representative of Everything Epping Forest was excluded - he will certainly be making his views known about Press Freedom on his channels. Immediately afterwards, outside, a second copy was presented to the 3 Ward District Councillors (Jon Whitehouse, Janet Whitehouse & Edward Barnard); there was a small crowd of residents, with some banners – see photos.

Why are people objecting to the 450-home development?

This site is inappropriate – steep in places, flooding in others, next to the motorway (noise & air pollution), beside Epping Forest Conservation Are, also nearby Listed buildings. Loss of community amenity – Flux’s Lane recreation grass area – the only informal green area to the S. of town.

This location is ill-considered – too far from the town centre, up steep / dangerous roads (forget Modal Shift / cycling!), currently poor bus provision. It is close to the tube station; but all are aware of capacity issues on stations & trains in the rush hour, with no prospect of improvement in the near future.

Infrastructure issues – school, health retail etc. Much was promised in developers’ early presentations to encourage support. But since whittled away – only a school site (if Essex agree), only funding for the Limes GPs (about 2 miles away), and a café

Local road network already hugely overstressed, especially Ivy Chimneys Road (congestion & safety issues), Bell Common traffic lights etc, but no traffic assessment done yet. A major concern; including during construction.

Uncertainty about the “affordable homes” %; locally developers have been given consent to reduce this, in some cases to zero, an unfortunate precedent..what about homes for locals?

What about Public Consultation?

There was a multi-thousand-pound series of events, leafletting, market stall etc run by a company for EFDC for the developers. The results were postponed until the Epping Society made a Freedom of Information request – a massively, overwhelmingly negative response. The findings were later reduced in an DC meeting to: “there remains concern amongst local residents”.

Is it too late?

One could argue that it has always been too late. Examples - when local farmers sold the land; and in the case of the Flux’s Lane Playing field, morally the residents / users should have been consulted; to the Local Plan Enquiry – where the first Inspector was so critical of the South Epping site that she slashed the plans in half; to the pressure with threats from Central Government for Housing Targets; to the DC unilaterally redrawing Green Belt lines; to the same Council approving the Master Plan in a rather hasty meeting.

So?

However we think there is still time for EFDC to redeem the situation, and the confidence of the local community. If the development does sadly go ahead, to insist that developers’ promises are kept; that where possible, improvements and mitigations are carried out in a timely manner; and that residents are genuinely involved in the process. This will have to be done at Planning Application stage; we do know that some Councillors have expressed commitment to this.   Not just a large housing estate for quick profits.

A couple of quick reminders:

The Epping Society is a non-party political organisation; we have members and committee from all parties, and indeed none. Neither are we universally against development – it can be a positive change; but it needs to be of an appropriate type, in the right places, with sufficient infrastructure.

Roger Lowry, Vice Chair