Ongar Town Council Aimi Middlehurst Town Clerk PRESS RELEASE - 30.01.17 Working Party set up by Ongar Town Council to look at the effects on Ongar of the draft Local Plan and make recommendations. Ongar is fighting back against Epping Forest District’s Local Plan is for Ongar to lose its Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre altogether, to make way for new housing! It is also set to lose Green Belt land on the outskirts of the rural town for several large estates totalling 600 homes. According to Cllr Mary Dadd at Ongar Town Council ‘Planning, Environment and Public Relations Committee Meeting on Thursday 12th January 2017 “There are still a lot of frustrated Ongar residents about the Local Plan and the consultation process and whether their concerns will be heard, not least because of the inaccuracies in EFDC statements about our existing infrastructure and amenities, school places, traffic problems etc.” Cllr Dadd, who was co-opted on to Ongar Town Council in December to serve the Greensted Ward, called for Ongar Planning Committee to set up a working party to look into “Aspects of the EDFC Draft Local Plan 2016 [that] will affect the residents of Ongar Town Council’s wards, relating to Housing, Employment, Amenities, Traffic flow, Education, NHS and Social Services, Infrastructure, Tourism and other relevant service provision” and make recommendations for action as a matter of urgency. Epping Forest District Council intend to build approx. 700 new houses in Ongar and on the Fyfield Business park by 2026. This is in the region of 25% increase in houses within 10 years and would drastically change the character of the historic small town of Ongar, which is barely more than a village and a population in 2011 of just 6251 (ONS) and whose centre is a designated Conservation Area with numerous Listed Buildings and an Ancient Monument. There is no evidence that there is a need for this large number of houses for local people in Ongar. There is no rail link, so it is likely that the new homes will be for new people coming into the town, who will have to commute by car to work. That could add a further 1200 more cars in Ongar, further adding to the congestion problems and pollution in the town. Like other rural settlements in the Green Belt in Essex, Ongar residents are angry about building in the Metropolitan Green Belt, which was supposed to stop the sprawl of London, particularly when it is against the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) policies and the Government’s continued promises to protect the Green Belt. After the closure of the Consultation on the draft Local Plan just before Christmas, Ongar is not being complacent. The Planning, Environment and Public Relations Committee have set up a Working Party who will make reports directly to the Committee on a regular basis. In their first meeting on Monday 16th January the Working Party started prioritising the concerns already and gathering evidence so they can make a strong voice against changing the character of the historic Ongar to EFDC’s plan which is likely to result in a dormitory town with no swimming pool or leisure centre and large housing estates out of character in scale and density with Ongar’s rural settlement. They are concentrating initially on the plans to build on The Leisure Centre land and the large intended housing sites of NE of the Four Wantz, Bowes field and adjacent field and the Greensted Road site. 1 Ray Warren of Marden Ash, whose neighbour uses the Leisure centre several times a week, was concerned and told Cllr Dadd ”this would also mean the loss of parking for the Health Centre, which serves Ongar, Fyfield and the surrounding villages. The Health Centre is very important in the community. Many of us have to park at the Leisure Centre when visiting the Health Centre, because there are only a few spaces at the surgery itself. It is on a dangerous part of a main road. Where are the people in the new houses at Fyfield and Ongar going to park when they go to the surgery when the Leisure Centre parking is gone? “ Members of the Working Party know that the misguided draft Plan relating to Ongar will have far reaching effects. They want local people to have more say as intended in the Localism Act 2011 and for any development in Ongar to enhance our environment and amenities with well designed housing with plenty of green space and walks. The Working Party are looking for Stakeholders in Ongar who are not Councillors who have information or evidence to support their brief or will offer to participate in the Working Party, to contact them. Regular updates will be available on the Town Council’s website and via social media. To get involved please email your ward councillor, Mary Dadd (Chair of the Working Party) on [email protected] or the Town Clerk on [email protected] or to write to the Working Party c/o Town Clerk, Bansons, Bansons Way, Ongar CM5 9AS 2 .