Strategic Planning and Garden Communities

What Is It?

Partners are working together on agreeing the overall housing requirement through Strategic Housing Market Assessments (SHMAs) and land availability through Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments (SHLAAs) forming part of a wider evidence base to support Local Plans and investment in infrastructure.

What Are We Doing?

The potential for new garden settlements is being explored across Essex including North Essex Garden Communities and Uttlesford District Council garden communities in their local plan. South Essex Councils are also developing a blueprint for new homes, jobs and infrastructure through a joint infrastructure and strategic plan, supported by the wider Thames Estuary 2050 Vision – The report refers to a vision to turn an underperforming river region into a tapestry of ‘productive places’ along a global river supported by 6 objectives and 15 priorities to deliver one million new homes and potential creation of 1.3 million jobs by 2050.

Key Links For Further Information

Local Plans

Essex is made up of 15 Local Planning Authorities including City, District, Borough, Unitary and County Councils. The following links will take you to each local authorities planning page for the latest local plan update:

http://www.basildon.gov.uk/localplan

https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/new-local-plan-for-thurrock/thurrock-local-plan

https://www.rochford.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy/new-local-plan

https://www.castlepoint.gov.uk/planning-policy

http://www.southend.gov.uk/info/200128/planning_and_building/807/southend_new_local_plan

http://www.brentwood.gov.uk/index.php?cid=694

http://www.harlow.gov.uk/planning-policy

https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning-policy-and-new-local-plan/new-local-plan/

https://www.braintree.gov.uk/info/200230/planning_policy

https://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/localplan

https://colchester.jdi-consult.net/localplan/

https://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/new-local-plan

https://www.maldon.gov.uk/homepage/7031/emerging_local_plan

http://www.efdclocalplan.org/

Local housing companies:

https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/thurrock-regeneration-housing/new-high-quality-housing https://www.semprahomes.co.uk/

more to be added…

New Garden Communities

North Essex Garden Communities – http://www.ne-gc.co.uk/about/

Uttlesford District Council garden communities – https://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/new-local-plan

Thames Estuary 2050 Vision

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/718805/2050_Vision.pdf

Thames Estuary 2100 Plan

Plans for managing tidal flood risk in the Thames estuary to the end of the century and beyond. It looks at out how the Environment Agency will protect 1.25 million people and £200 billion worth of property from tidal flood risk.

Three phases form part of the 2100 Plan. Currently in Phase 1 until 2035, maintaining and improving current defences, middle phase will see ‘low-scale’ raising of existing tidal defences and final phase to include ‘large-scale’ raising of new and existing tidal defences as well as possible new tidal flood barriers.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thames-estuary-2100-te2100

Bricks and Water

Is a plan of action for building homes and managing water in England,  launched in summer 2018. The report  aims to evaluate how water and housing policy is currently being implemented in England, and to set out an ambitious strategic plan for delivering water-efficient homes at volume, that are resilient to flooding.

After 36 written submissions / 49 oral submissions, found that: there was a complicated framework of nine pieces of primary legislation since privatisation / 357 pieces of secondary legislation in relation to water.

Recommendations included:

• Need to design greener urban communities – less hard surfaces to prevent surface water flooding.
• Tougher, fairer and simpler planning framework, with the potential review of building regulations.
• Water companies need to do more on efficiency, leakage reduction and building new infrastructure.
• Post-CAP incentives for the public good, such as opportunities to reduce flooding and improve water quality.