**NEWSFLASH** Statement Regarding Epping Sports Centre Hemnall Site.
- 19 hours ago
- 2 min read
Sports Centre site – McCarthy Stone 6 Nov 2025
The Epping Society attended the recent public consultation on this site of the former Sports Centre in Epping. There are some features of the proposed development we feel in agreement with as below -
Good
Use of brownfield, comparatively high rise for town centre, EFDC Local Plan had “residential development”.
One assumes that MS will build quicky and efficiently – which has not always been Qualis’s track record.
Layout and design are pleasant, (but no reference to Essex Design Guide)
However, there are other features which we are not happy with and need addressing -
Bad
Staff at Event had no knowledge of previous plans, intentions, or agreements
Eco-/ green measures are weak. No solar panels? Grey water? Impermeable surfaces? Rainwater harvesting (we are in a water shortage area)? No reference to trees of historic value / possibly TPOs. No details on proposed ‘green landscaping’
Flood risk. No reference: but Nicholl Road has had several notable episodes, with ground floors inundated.
Footpath – long-existent, with heritage lampposts; essential part of pedestrian infrastructure. Closure would be loss of sustainable network. The path was clearly on LP / Qualis maps; Council should insist this remains a valid issue.
Access to town / facilities is weak, with narrow / absent pavements, across an already congested road, which serves as a rat-run for traffic avoiding the High Street.
many claims made at the Public Event are highly disputable eg “saving the NHS money”, “helping local young people”, “protecting the Green Belt”.
Plus there are background issues (probably not the responsibility of McCarthy Stone but included for awareness) – this development is not as agreed to in the Local Plan; it is not “mixed housing”; it has zero affordable housing; it places a public asset in the hands of a high-profit private sector organisation, to be used by a limited, selective sector of the community , who are not necessarily local; it takes a facility away from many and transfers a public facility to a private organisation.
These later matters will be taken up with EFDC in the near future
Epping Society
November, 2025
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