NEWS

Essex Police have seen cases where fraudsters pretend to be police officers over the phone—to trick people into giving away personal information or money.

A Police Officer will never:

Ask for your bank details or PIN

Ask you to transfer money to another account

Ask you to withdraw money

Ask you to hand over cash or cards to a courier

Demand payment of fines or fees over the phone or online

Request access to your computer or passwords

Say you’re committing a crime for not complying

If you’re unsure whether someone is a genuine officer – STOP – Wait 5 minutes and call 101 or visit Essex Police online to verify their identity

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ!

The Government has pledged to accelerate housebuilding and deliver 1.5 million homes over this Parliament and has ‘a presumption in favour of sustainable development’. Many communities, including ours, are under huge pressure to build more houses. This means that, no matter how hard we try, there is increasingly less certainty that our objections to any planning application will be successful.

However, over the last 5 years, the 2020 Neighbourhood Plan (NP) has been successful in stopping unwanted development in our parish and delivering improved amenities for Felsted people.

The Review Group is once again trying to produce a NP that will protect us. We must accept that we can’t stop all development, but with your help we can try to limit it, say where we would prefer it to be, and the kind of homes it delivers.

Two major developments have now come forward which will primarily impact people living in the village centre and at Watch House and Bannister Greens. Both will also add to traffic throughout the parish and change the nature of our communities.

We also face the development of huge solar farms that will cover 15% of the parish. The largest, the Hedgehog Solar Farm, is designated a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP); that means it’s government policy and we can’t stop it!

This leaflet explains a little more about the challenges we face and invites your engagement.

On Friday the 11th of July between 5pm and 8pm and on Saturday the 12th of July between 10am and 1pm at the URC Hall in Stebbing Road, we are holding informal consultation events to explain what’s happening and to offer you an opportunity to express your views. We need to know what you think, and we need your support. Please come along.

The Neighbourhood Plan Review Group

What is the ‘The 5-year Housing Supply’ and why should I care?

Local planning authorities in England have a statutory requirement to have an ability to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply (5YHLS) to identify and update annually with a sufficient supply of deliverable sites to meet their housing needs for the next five years. This means councils must show they have enough land available and suitable for residential development to build the number of homes they are required by central government to deliver over the next five years.

Central government has allocated UDC 13,500 homes (which becomes 14,741 with the necessary “9% “buffer” added). Over the last few years UDC hasn’t granted enough planning applications, so now doesn’t have a 5YHLS to meet its allocation. (Last reported as around 4.12 years)

 UDC has now distributed its new allocation across 60 parishes: Felsted must deliver around 104 additional new homes by 2041.

Uttlesford’s District Council’s Local Plan is also “out of date” (the new UDC Local plan is now subject to Inspection).

About the Neighbourhood Plan

Our 2020 Neighbourhood Plan stopped large developments in the parish for 5 years but it lost its greatest weight of influence in February this year. We have, for many months now been trying to produce a formal Review of the 2020 plan, which would again give the plan maximum weight in resisting unwanted development and might also achieve some further community gain.

In March 2024 we held open days at the Memorial Hall; we showed you 12 sites that had been submitted by landowners as potential development sites to UDC and asked where you would prefer to see development of around 80 new homes. We called it deciding ‘the least worst options’!

Some, but not enough, of you came along and we listened carefully to your views.

Some of you who didn’t come are now wishing you had!

We’re again giving up many hours of our time to ensure people know what’s happening and what power you have to influence the plan.

GIVE UP A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME TO ENGAGE WITH THE US

PLEASE BELIEVE US, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT

 What Is a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)?

‘A SEA examines the potential impact of a plan on the neighbourhood area where it contains sensitive natural or heritage assets that may be affected by the proposals in the plan.’

Uttlesford DC have only recently decided that we need an SEA. This is delaying the progress of our NP. The irony is the regulations do not require potential developers to have a SEA for schemes submitted outside the plan!

Sunnybrook II

The Review Group favours a development of an additional 17 new homes at Sunnybrook Farm. This extension of the existing development also offers a generous site to be given to the community for the potential future relocation of our village shop and post office which, in the meantime, the parish will maintain as an open green space.

The Water Tower site in Garnetts Lane

This site was one of those presented in March 2024 by the Review Group at the consultation held in the Memorial Hall. It offers the capacity for around 70 homes. In addition to the statutory requirement of 35% affordable housing it also offers six social housing units (to be given to the Felsted Community Trust). However, it has negative impacts on the views of the residents in Garnetts Lane and the access to the site is restricted. Essex Highways have been consulted and, to help inform the planning application, have required a survey to determine traffic volumes and the usage of Garnetts Lane and Stebbing Road and an appraisal to consider the safety of pedestrians/cyclists and equestrian.

Both the building and the subsequent occupation of the homes will be initially disruptive and over time will increase traffic movements in the village centre. Following a presentation by the landowner’s agent Springfield Planning in April, residents from Garnetts Lane attended the Parish Council and expressed their strong objections to the plans.

The Watch House/Bannister Green Bloor Homes site

This site was also one of those presented in March 2024 by the Review Group but with an important change.

This amended site was also brought forward in April in a public consultation by Phase 2 Planning on behalf of Bloor Homes. (We refer to this as the Bloor Homes site.) Access to the site is much improved, and the proposed housing mix is welcome. But, largely coterminous with the original site, proposed development of around 100 homes would bring coalescence between Watch House and Bannister Green, effectively losing the distinct identity of those communities.

Hedgehog Solar Farm

Additionally, the impact of the Hedgehog Solar farm on these communities is significant and not to be discounted or underestimated.

What Can I do?

Come along on Friday the 11th July between 5pm and 8pm or on Saturday the 12th July between 10am and 1pm at the URC Hall in Stebbing Road.

We will display the material provided by the agents for both the Water Tower and Bloor Homes sites and our assessment criteria.

You will be asked to register your name and address and indicate your preferences for the Water Tower or the Bloor Homes site and to leave written comments.

This is NOT a planning by numbers event!

There may be other factors thrown up by the planning process that impact the final decision as to which sites are included in the Reviewed Felsted Neighbourhood Plan.

Developers may and are very likely to submit Planning Applications outside of the Neighbourhood Plan process before we can complete the plan and they could all be approved! That is the reality of the impact of the government’s housing policy.

So, a vote in favour of one site or the other doesn’t necessarily mean that only one will be developed: that is out of our control.

 Once we have considered all the public comments and reviewed our site assessments, we aim to bring forward a draft NP for a formal consultation under Regulation 14 of the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations. You will once again have an opportunity to comment.

 A draft plan, once approved by UDC will then be sent to a Planning Inspector who will ensure regulatory compliance and will say if it can be subject to a local referendum. Once again you get the chance to make your opinion count by voting.

If the final draft is adopted and ‘Made’ it will become part of the Local Plan and offer us some protection from future development. If it is not supported and the draft fails at referendum, the developers will have won.

We know this is all very complicated: it is also very important!

We’ll do our best to further explain the issues at the Drop-in Sessions:–

Come along on Friday the 11th of July between 5pm and 8pm or on Saturday the 12th July between 10am and1pm at the URC Hall in Stebbing Road.

Chelmsford City Live is taking place at Chelmsford Racecourse this weekend (4-6 July). Here are details of road closures and traffic management for the event that might affect residents.

Moulsham Hall Lane Closure:
Moulsham Hall Lane will be closed between the Moulsham Hall Lane roundabout and Blackley Lane. This closure will be in effect from midday to 1:00 AM on Friday 4th, Saturday 5th, and Sunday 6th July.

Blackley Lane One-Way System:
From midday to approximately 9:00 PM on Friday 4th, Saturday 5th, and Sunday 6th July, Blackley Lane will operate as one-way towards Moulsham Hall Lane. From 9:00 PM to 2:00 AM on Friday 4th, Saturday 5th, and Sunday 6th July, the one-way system will reverse, with traffic flowing towards London Road.

PCSO Natalie Smith will be hosting beat surgeries at:

The Wood Cottage Tearoom / The Royal British Legion

These drop in sessions are an opportunity for residents to:
• speak with the local community policing team about any concerns that they may have;
• obtain crime prevention advice;
• stop by for a chat.

The Wood Cottage Tearoom Surgeries will be on:
Thursday 10th July 10:00am – midday
Thursday 11th September 10:00am – midday

The Royal British Legion Surgeries will be on:
Friday 11th July 6pm-7pm
Friday 12th September 6pm-7pm

Please feel free to stop by, everyone is welcome, no appointment is necessary.

An application has now been submitted to UDC to increase passenger numbers at Stansted Airport.

The application is reference number UTT/25/1542/FUL and is for:

“Airfield works comprising two new taxiway links to the existing runway (Rapid Access Taxiway and Rapid Exit Taxiway) to enable continued airfield operations of 274,000 aircraft movements and an increase in passenger throughput from 43 million terminal passengers to up to 51 million terminal passengers, in a twelve month calendar period”

The application documents can be viewed on UDC’s website via the link below

Comment or search for a planning application – Uttlesford District Council

The consultation period runs to 21st July 2025 – comments can be made on UDC;s website, sent to The Council Offices London Road Saffron Walden CB11 4ER or emailed to ku.vog.drofselttuobfsctd-1863cd@gninnalptropria – all representations should include the application reference number of UTT/25/1542/FUL and include the name and address of the person making comment

Uttlesford District Council has won back its full planning powers in respect of dealing with major planning applications – marking a milestone in the programme of improvements that have been made to the local planning service.

The announcement to “de-designate” the council was confirmed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government in a letter received by the authority today.

It means developers will no longer be able to submit major planning applications directly to the Planning Inspectorate and must once again go through the council’s planning process. This change restores full planning powers to the local authority and reflects the significant planning performance improvements made over recent years.

Cllr John Evans, Portfolio Holder for Planning, said: “This announcement is fantastic news and a vote of confidence in the council and the significant progress that has been made within the planning service.

“It ensures that local voices remain at the heart of decision-making and takes back control for residents who can be reassured they are getting a planning service they value – one that supports appropriate major development whilst guarding against speculative planning applications that are unsuitable for our rural communities.

“However, we will not be complacent and will continue to drive improvements with our planning service at every opportunity.”

The decision to designate the council was made by the government in February 2022 and related to the number of major planning applications – classified as more than 10 houses or over 1 hectare – that were overturned on appeal.

Since then, the council has pushed forward a comprehensive improvement plan that has taken its planning performance well below the government threshold for designation. This has included member and officer training, a robust recruitment and retention programme, as well as enhanced performance monitoring and reporting.

In his letter to the council, Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, expressed his gratitude to the authority for its “proactive collaboration” with the Ministry and the “significant progress” that has been made in addressing the issues and sustained improvement in planning performance.

The Minister’s letter to the council is available to read on the website: www.uttlesford.gov.uk/planning-designation-notice

Chelmsford City Racecourse are inviting residents to a meeting at their racecourse. The meeting will take place at The Oak Suite, Chelmsford City Racecourse on Tuesday 10th June.   Arrive from 6:45pm for a 7:00pm start

The racecourse understand that larger events at the racecourse may raise questions or concerns for those living nearby. To address these issues and ensure that your voice is heard, they are pleased to host this meeting.

More will be learnt about upcoming activities, how they are trying to minimize disruption as well as their long-term plans.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions, express any concerns, and provide feedback about their activities.

To confirm your attendance, please use this link:

https://chelmsfordcityracecourse.co.uk/p/71L7-J09/local-residents-meeting

Light refreshments will be provided