HARLOW, ESSEX

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Harlow is set in the heart of the Essex and Hertfordshire countryside. The master plan for the town created a series of self-sufficient neighbourhoods, each with it’s own shopping and community facilities within walking distance. The neighbourhoods are separated by green wedges, which bring the countryside within easy access of every resident.

Careful planning ensured the town sustained a balance between the needs of business and the environment. The town maintains a rural atmosphere with over one third of land use devoted to parks, woodlands, ponds and open spaces.

Harlow has become a modern, thriving community and a popular place in which to live and work in the 50 years since it was first designated as one of the 32 New Towns to be built for the post-war generation.

Harlow’s population is just under 80,000. The town has a very active community and voluntary sector and is a multi-cultural community with an ethnic minority population of 6.5%. Art and culture have always been an important part of the town’s development. Harlow’s heritage includes a number of unique listed buildings and gardens, sculptures, watercolours and a roman site. Art works are to be found all around the town and are an integral part of the landscape and peoples’ lives.

Harlow’s economy reflects the decline of manufacturing during the 1980s alongside the rise of service and retail sectors. Harlow’s largest employers are now science and technology based. They include GlaxoSmithKline, Nortel Networks and Raytheon, making Harlow a significant centre for research and development. There has been a significant increase in retail development in the last ten years and more shops and leisure activities are now moving into the town centre.

‘People who moved to Harlow in its early days saw themselves as pioneers, eager to take advantage of new opportunities. The town afforded many first class facilities, homes, jobs and a pleasant environment.

Now, more than 50 years on, Harlow stands at a crossroads in its development. The town has reached a point where its very fabric is starting to show signs of wear and tear. Regeneration and renewal of substantial areas of housing, shopping, commercial and industrial development will and are taking place over the next 20 years’.
 
At the same time the spotlight is on Harlow and its surrounding area as a potential area for growth in the south east and part of the town’s 2020 Vision is to look at how the town can retain and build on the town’s strengths, address the challenges and respond positively to the opportunities ahead.

The History Of The New Town

Harlow New Town was designated on 25th March 1947 as one of a ring of eight new planned communities around London. People from London were in desperate need of housing and the city had suffered extensive bombing in the war. The vision was to provide freestanding communities that offered work as well as homes to those who moved there. New towns presented opportunities to find new solutions to old problems, innovation of planning and design were encouraged. New Development Corporations were formed to bring the new towns into being. In 1949 the Master Plan received formal assent and by August the first tenants had moved to Harlow.

The Context Of The Town

Geographically, Harlow is in a unique position situated in West Essex, approximately 20 miles from Central London, 35 miles from Cambridge and 15 miles away from Stansted Airport.  This area has been identified as the M11 corridor and is a very significant area for Central Government and as a result has been identified as an area of growth.

The Key Assets Of The Town

Harlow’s original Masterplan for the development of the town which enshrined the green wedges as the lungs of the urban development, can be seen as one of its key assets. The green spaces range from nature reserve, to formal gardens, woodlands and the Town Park itself. The Gibberd Garden was the home of the town’s key architect-planner Sir Frederick Gibberd.
 
Harlow’s art and sculpture are key community assets which are on public display both in the Civic Centre, Museums and dispersed through out the town on green spaces, in formal gardens and within housing estates. The town’s museums celebrate the history of the town and also house a nationally renowned cycle collection. The Playhouse is a thriving local theatre which not only hosts performance but is also the home of dance, and theatre groups which support the development of the town’s young people. The town has its own orchestra which has an international reputation.

Harlow town is also home to the innovative Young People’s Information Centre, which provides a one-stop facility for advice and information for young people on a variety of subjects, and has recently been nominated for a national award from a local government publication Municipal Journal. The Foyer has developed strong links with projects in Romania under the Leonardo programme. The town also has its own Youth Council.
 
Harlow has a long history on community and voluntary activism that supports and enriches the town’s life, ranging from sporting groups to carers and other social support groups. Much of this is well documented in the Town’s Museum and Study Centre Archive. Harlow has become a learning town with a wealth of learning activities focused through a range of partnership activities such as the town’s Harlow On Line Learning Initiative (HOLLi) centres, the Harlow Centre for Business Support, the Basic Skills programme and a range of school activities such as the annual Diddy Delights events aimed at raising science awareness and achievement in schools and after school clubs.

Harlow attracts many foreign visitors through its business and planning connections. The town is host to a number of foreign –owned companies and the proximity to Stansted airport means that travel to the Harlow site is relatively easy. Students of planning and architecture from this country and abroad also visit the town on a regular basis. In recent years we have had many visitors from new towns in Japan and China. The town is also twinned with new towns in France and Slovakia.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The Main Policy/Aim In Urban Development

The Council is required by law to produce a Local Plan which provides a comprehensive set of land uses for our town and includes identified areas of regeneration and development such as ‘Town Centre North’, new sporting facilities, housing and employment sites. The replacement Local Plan, Jan 2004 states the aspiration to uphold the original Gibberd principles of the planning of the town.

Development Strategy

Harlow has a strong and active local strategic partnership called Harlow 2020 Partnership. The partnership has developed a 20 year strategy and action plan which aims to deliver a vision that once again revives the original ideals of the new town and makes Harlow a vibrant and prosperous place to live.  This strategy, supported by the key stakeholders within the town, include members from the public, private, voluntary and community sectors.

Housing

Harlow is the most densely populated district in Essex. The town has lower than average incomes and is one of the most deprived in the East of England.

In comparison with the rest of Essex, Harlow has:

• Highest occupancy rating, indicating overcrowding.
• Highest rate of single person households (29% of households of which 13% are above state retirement age)
• Highest rate of lone parent households (8%)

Housing is a key issue in Harlow; its proximity to London and location within a ‘pressured’ area, have led to house prices rising and buying a home is now beyond the reach of many local people including key public sector workers.

Two types of ownership dominate the housing market: the Council owns 33% of all housing in the town, whilst 58% is owner occupied. Housing Associations and private landlords own a relatively small proportion, at 5% and 4% respectively.

The demand for affordable and social housing has grown significantly over the last decade. In 1999, the Council commissioned a general Housing Needs Survey that identified 3,343 households would fall into housing need over the period 2000 – 2005. This has been borne out by growing numbers on the Council’s housing waiting list. In April 2003 the number of applicants on the Housing Needs Register stood at 3,060, the Housing Transfer list stood at 1,187 and applicants for Sheltered Housing 620.

Homelessness is a major issue for Harlow; between 2000/01 and 2002/03 the number of households accepted as homeless by the Council rose by 42%. The Council accepted a duty to assist 350 households. 155 households were families with children and, of these 105 were lone parent households. As at 31st March 2003 there were 531 households living in temporary accommodation and of these 15 households were living in bed and breakfast accommodation.

Most of the homes in the town were built in the last fifty years so the majority are in good condition. However, as many of the properties were built around the same time, whole areas may be reaching the point where significant works are required to address the problems caused through ageing and construction design problems. The Council must meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard by the year 2010.

Green Open Spaces

Harlow takes great pride in preserving its Green Wedges and its Town Park. Harlow has just attracted an additional £1M that will be spent on sustaining the Green Wedges and enhancing the local town park.  In addition there will be a number of community projects, for example the development of a ‘Chinese Garden’, a project that has sought to incorporate Harlow’s ethnic minority groups into the planning and implementation of a green space of cultural significance.

Transport

Harlow has excellent transport links to Central London, Cambridge and Stansted Airport.  There is a Harlow Area Transport Strategy (HATS) that will deliver sustainable transport systems in the next 20 years.  This includes a development of a new bus terminal that incorporates covered market stalls, artwork produced by young people in the town and an electronic travel information display.  The transport study will inform the town on whether it should be developing a north or southern bypass and the best locations of new roads to help ease congestion.  Depending on the growth of the town the study will also look at the extension of the Central Line (metro) to Harlow from Epping. In addition Harlow has a network of interconnecting cycle paths.

Challenges

The continuing dilemma for the development of the town is how to maintain the Green Space – Urban Space balance.  The original planning design principles accepted high-density housing on the understanding that green space would be maintained. The current discussion on the potential growth of Harlow is prompting another public debate and strong argument for the retention of green space. The Green Space Study will assist decision-making on this contentious issue. The issue of development outside of the boundary of Harlow then arises, bringing into play the question of Green Belt development and relationships with neighbouring authorities.

Again, the original New Town concept was the development of a place where people both lived and worked. Unfortunately, the changing economic conditions of recent decades have impacted on Harlow’s economy and this has led to many issues. Employers report a skills shortage in the town and subsequently a high level of commuting into the town for work has developed. This in turn has led to traffic congestion and the need for reassessment of the road infrastructure. The Transport Study mentioned in the above comments on growth of the town, will consider whether we should be developing a north or southern bypass and the best locations of new roads to help ease congestion.  Depending on the growth of the town the study will also look at the extension of the Central Line (metro) to Harlow from Epping. The skills shortage has also led to a situation where local people are not accessing the high quality jobs available locally and hence the incidence of low incomes and deprivation.

How to achieve the provision of social housing is a further dilemma in the development of the town. As the section on housing outlines, problems of homelessness have risen and the rise in house prices of recent years has put home ownership out of reach of many of the town’s citizens. Current new housing developments are proposed to deliver 30% affordable homes. The level of house building by local Councils is at an all time low.

Organisation

Following the June 2004 elections, the political composition of the Council is:

Conservative 13
Labour 11
Liberal Democrat 9

The current administration is a coalition of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The Committee System operated by the Council is as follows: