Kemi Badenoch, MP
3 Museum St
Saffron Walden
CB10 1JN
By Email –
15th August 2017
Dear Ms Badenoch,
Consultation Response to North Uttlesford New Town
I strongly object to this proposal.
Demand for houses at the Great Chesterford site is not likely to come from local people, but from people living outside the area in the drive to accommodate more and more employees recruited to work at the new science parks. There seems little thought to the long term future of these enterprises in terms of the certainty of research funding and perhaps the impact on funding from Europe once we leave the EU.
The villages UDC propose to destroy are precisely the reason why we choose to live here. Roads are already grid locked in town and even in the surrounding villages you often have to wait for a break in traffic in order to cross the road. Huge lorries thunder along small lanes with only narrow footpaths upon which to walk, as is the position in Littlebury.
Flooding is a constant threat with acres of natural drainage being turned into concrete beds.
Local schools and hospitals are at full capacity with talk of having to build more. It feels that planners will not rest until we become an urban sprawl, linked to Bishops Stortford or Cambridge, where villages each with their own strong community and support networks will be lost forever.
What of our farming land, wild life, farm workers and farm shops all being sacrificed for more houses? We already import far more than we should as a country. We should protect what we can produce - not tear it up.
At Great Chesterford parking problems have resulted in double yellow lines being introduced. Audley End carpark has been extended and local office buildings have been demolished to provide extra space, losing local job opportunities. Local pubs also now provide some station car parking.
The station at Great Chesterford has on street parking with capacity for only a few cars. Station Road is the only access to the station, but here several businesses, in particular a removals company with HGV vehicles, require constant access to their premises. There are no opportunities to provide parking on the Essex side of the station as this land is now being developed for more housing.
These proposals will impact the air quality. Traffic has a serious impact on local businesses and the quality of life of those who live in the area and need to access the amenities. If the traffic situation continues or worsens it is likely that people will just avoid the town altogether with the resultant impact on businesses and jobs.
The recent investment in the Great Chesterford Science Park creates a conflict of interest with the proposed new town. National planning guidelines state that potential sites need to demonstrate that they are viable, sustainable and deliverable. The North Uttlesford proposal does none of this.
This proposal is being forced upon an historic village because of, at best, commercial opportunism by a few landowners willing to sell their land and UDC. It has insufficient due diligence to show that the proposal is viable, sustainable or deliverable.
The planning reports ignore that the local highways are already at full capacity and could not absorb thousands of additional cars onto the B148.
I strongly urge UDC to re think this proposal before it is too late and stop this ill-conceived proposal. If the new town were to proceed it would be the exact opposite of what UDC would have us envisage from the proposal. We already have beautiful villages and it is these that UDC is threating to destroy with the madness of this proposal. The impact will be devastating. The villages we love will be lost forever and the rural life that we hold dear will vanish for future generations.
It is unconscionable to take this proposal forward and a manmade disaster in the making.
Yours sincerely,