WELCOME TO FELSTED
Located in north-west Essex and with a population of around 3,000, the Parish of Felsted has at its heart the historic village of Felsted, surrounded by Greens and Hamlets, in a beautiful rural setting.
Felsted retains the underlying charm and attraction of a rural parish, with the community and village at its heart. This is what attracts people to the area and what we as the Parish Council see as our historic duty to protect. Preservation of our heritage is balanced with a duty to ensure that the Parish thrives and meets the future needs of our community.
Winner of RCCE Village of the Year 2015
“One of the best places to live in the East of England” – The Sunday Times (2013)
LATEST NEWS
Uttlesford Local Plan: last day of consultation
The Uttlesford Local Plan has now reached the final consultation stage before it is reviewed by the Government Inspector.
The full plan can be read here.
You can submit your comments here. The consultation closes at 5pm tomorrow, 13th August 2018.
The points which Felsted Parish Council believe are important are:
West of Braintree development
The proposal for a 13,000 house new town, straddling Uttlesford and Braintree districts, has been found unsound by the Government Inspector in his review of the Braintree District Local Plan (as part of the North Essex Garden Partnership). See our earlier news item here.
Despite this, Uttlesford (UDC) has decided to keep the smaller part of the proposed development in its plan. This would result in up to 3,500 houses being built in Uttlesford, to the north of Felsted, approximately 1000 of which would be in the current plan period.
Felsted Parish Council remains against this development, primarily due to the impact of traffic through Felsted, the lack of infrastructure and the lack of natural resources. We believe that it is unsustainable.
House building in Felsted Parish
Felsted is identified as a type A village and is expected to accept a share of the 14,000 planned houses for the coming 15 years. There are 2 sites identified by Uttlesford in our Parish for development in the plan period, totalling up to 70 houses. Full details can be read in the regulation 19 document on page 203 onwards.
Felsted is in the final stages of completing its Neighbourhood Plan which has been submitted to UDC for Pre-submission (Reg. 14) Consultation. This plan identifies 2 locations for the delivery of housing, which between them not only allocate 63 dwellings during the UDC Plan period, but also deliver important community facilities. Subject to the final version of the Neighbourhood Plan and the referendum decision, Felsted Parish Council would support the inclusion of these (and only these) sites in the Local Plan.
Stansted airport
Following our concerns that UDC’s position regarding Stansted airport was lacking in support for the communities impacted by the airport, your Parish Council has worked with our District Councillors to ensure that the Plan wording was more appropriate.
The Plan wording was rewritten and Felsted Parish Council s now calling for UDC to take an even stronger position to support the interests of communities overflown by planes, and in taking a clear position against any increase in night flights.
Remember, you have until 5pm tomorrow to submit your comments.
Light News: Reminder, Felsted Primary School Big Summer art competition viewing
Felsted Parish Council is proud to present, in collaboration with Felsted Primary school: The Big Summer Art Competition.
The Theme is Summer
There are three age categories: 4yrs-6 yrs, 7yrs-9 yrs and 10 yrs to 11 yrs.
There are two prizes for the winner and runner-up in all three age categories: First prize is a £40 ‘Works’ voucher and the second prize is a £20 ‘Works’ voucher.
All entries will be exhibited at the Memorial Hall on 11Th August from 10.30 am until 1 pm.
Entry is open to those attending the Primary School. All entries should be no larger than A4 and should have the name and age of the entrant written clearly on the back.
All entries should have reached Mr Silvester before or on the 17th July 2018.
Good luck everyone and we hope you enjoyed creating your artwork.
Felsted Neighbourhood Draft Plan Consultation sessions
The Neighbourhood Plan team has advised that the Neighbourhood Plan – Pre-Submission Draft is now published and available for you to examine in detail on the Felsted Neighbourhood Plan website.
The Plan has taken an incredible amount of work by the Steering Group and has been a long time in the making, but it’s here now! Non computer users can also borrow paper copies of the NP, and response forms, from the PC Office, Linsells, The Swan, The Chequers and Andersons Estate Agency.
The Plan, supported by your Parish Council at a formal vote this week, sets out how we believe you want to see development in Felsted over the coming 15 years, the Plan Period. The Plan is a substantial document comprising 70 pages with 36 draft policies covering our schools, our heritage, the rural economy, how we value the environment and, of course, housing development.
The NP Steering Committee are holding a number of ‘drop-in’ sessions:
- Memorial Hall on Friday 10 August 5-8pm;
- Primary School Hall on Saturday 8 September 10- 1pm;
- and finally in the URC Hall Committee Room in Stebbing Road from Monday 17 September to Friday 21 September (inclusive) from 4-8pm each day.
At all these sessions residents can discuss the policies and clarify any queries with Steering Group members.
Please take the time to look at the NP document and let us have your feedback either via the Survey Monkey on the NP website or using the paper response form available with the paper copies of the document.
The deadline for receiving your responses is 21st September 2018.
The value of a fully adopted Neighbourhood Plan was made clear at this month’s Uttlesford (UDC) Planning Meeting, where 2 proposed developments in Watchhouse Green, totalling some 60+ houses, were rejected by UDC, despite one being identified as a site for potential development in UDC’s draft Local Plan.
A significant factor in this decision was the existence of the draft Neighbourhood Plan, which rejected these sites.
There is huge pressure from developers seeking to be allowed build wherever they can make money, with no genuine community interest. They use the lack of a finalised UDC Local Plan, and UDC not currently being able to demonstrate the required pipeline of house building (5 years), in their arguments, and often win.
If we are to maintain some level of self determination in the house building and planning processes for Felsted for the coming years, It is essential that we all read, comment on as appropriate, and ultimately vote to adopt our Neighbourhood Plan.