***PRESS RELEASE - Epping Society supports 'The Keepers'***

We are pleased to support this new organisation & publicise this Press Release.

Former Financial Times executive launches The Keepers campaign to defend Epping District's green belt

“A strongly focussed local approach is needed. We are 'The Keepers' and we are raising funds for Keep Epping District Green," says Kelly Collins, one of the founding donors and volunteers at a stall at the Epping Town Show, last Sunday’s sunny July afternoon at Stonards Hill recreation ground. The site is a stone's throw from two major proposed housing development sites, among many either approved or with applications pending across the district. The shrieks of teenagers on fairground rides mingle with barking from the dog show in the ring nearby.

"We want to save the green belt and stop unsustainable development. Our roads, rail and public services are choked across the district. More housing has already been approved, and now developers are pressing to build thousands more, turning green fields into housing estates. Most locals aren't even aware. Previous concerns and objections have been met with only partial successes. We are going to put that right."

"Planning decisions are evidence-based. We will use evidence to demonstrate that our district must stop unsustainable development," says Ian Nelson Edwards, the group's founder and a former executive of 18 years at the Financial Times. He and his family have lived in the district for 20 years. Just days after completing a four-year rebuild of his family home, neighbours told him of plans for thousands of new homes on adjacent green belt fields and asked for help. "You couldn't make up the timing. It was a total shock for our family and community," says Edwards.

"All the neighbours listed our concerns to the District Council years ago about losing green belt land and the pressures of new housing estates in the Local Plan consultation. That long-term plan was signed off. But now successive UK governments have conflated residents' desire to avoid unsustainable development with nimbyism. The government is signalling it's acceptable to build on green belt, and hence there are so many new development proposals coming forward outside agreed Local Plans. A new approach is needed to have our concerns taken even more seriously this time."

Edwards continues: "The Keepers will fund expert reports on local traffic congestion and other evidence that matters to planning authorities. Residents should continue to provide their own personal insight and evidence when responding to planning applications, but too often amateur objections carry little weight, and commissioning professional reports is too costly for individuals."

That is where The Keepers come in - providing professional reports and critiques of both individual housing developers' plans and the cumulative effect of the many approved and proposed developments across the district. All necessary to put evidence before planning authorities to stop malign developments in the community.

With the UK Government placing Epping Forest District Council into Special Planning Measures, developers will bypass the local council and ask Bristol-based civil servants to decide planning matters. Edwards acknowledges the regulatory shift: "It's often the side with the best evidence that wins. You don't have to have the deepest pockets. But supplying expert evidence is now more important than ever."

He praises the long-established local campaigning group, the Epping Society: forty years ago they stopped the M25 ripping uninterrupted through our district, ensuring a motorway tunnel was built. The Epping Society have been so supportive, giving us advice and encouragement. Responding to the attack on our green belt now also needs a highly focused local effort to make a stand too. Old and young local people are coming together."

"We need donations now to begin our work. We are seeking 50 founding members to provide £200 each to reach our target of £10,000 for our first reports. We welcome smaller and larger contributions too." To keep costs down, Edwards has built the website himself. The site has a donations page, planning news and updates on live applications. All volunteers work unpaid.

The Town Show is in full swing. Families, couples and children peer into the stall, holding plastic cups of Pimm's, beers, hamburgers and candyfloss. Kelly listens sympathetically as a grandmother, mother and daughter, three generations who have lived in the district all their lives, offer their help to keep the area rural. "People have different reasons for donating," she says. "It can be over-development causing a drop in house prices and negative equity; pressure on public services and infrastructure; the loss of habitat and wildlife. Not being able to walk your dog across beautiful fields.

Another visitor, Paul, a financial services marketer who lives across the road, asks about the checks and balances of The Keepers' approach and how it will control costs and get value for money. Edwards explains the group's focus: to employ local planning professionals experienced in local matters and free of conflicts of interest. "Our brief is tight," he says, noting that local leaders with decades of planning experience are helping ensure authorities receive local evidence they cannot ignore. The deputy mayor and a town councillor arrive and extol the importance of residents' groups working with local authorities to defend the green belt. Edwards agrees: "Working with other community groups who share the same objectives - protecting the green belt, delivering sustainable development, and making this a national issue - is an ambition."

He turns to Paul: "It wasn't so long ago that someone questioned the UK's relationship with the EU - like it or loathe it - and look where that led. For most people, protecting our environment and providing sustainable housing is more important than that. But as the first step, every penny of donations is ringfenced to get the reports done and supply the evidence our district needs." Satisfied, Paul makes a donation and signs up to volunteer.

Some of many green belt sites at risk in the district.

Towards the end of the show, as the ice cream and hot dog vans leave and volunteers pack up, a young man introduces himself with his wife - sporting a 'Baby on Board' badge - and a young child in an Arsenal football kit. He is a police officer and his family have just moved to the area. "The traffic is terrible. Whether you are a parent doing the school run, a commuter, a local business person, a carer or an emergency worker like me, you are constantly delayed even on short journeys. We like it here and want to keep it green."

Kelly replies: "We want homes for our kids, but developers have already been given planning permission to build over one million homes across the UK and these sites lie dormant. Another million homes are empty or under-occupied. There is no excuse to allow new sites on green belt land that spoil local people's quality of life. We are going to try to give people a voice and hope." Another family signs up. "Thank you so much - tell your neighbours!" says Kelly. "We will," comes the reply.

Register and visit www.thekeepers.uk

Please donate using a BACS transfer:

Name: Keep Epping District Green Use your surname as the reference Sort code: 40-17-08 Account Number: 82679981

Contact: Ian Nelson Edwards at keepeppinggreen@gmail.com

Podcast: keepitgreenukpodcast.substack.com – available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Substack.