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Autumn 2025 Update

LOCAL PLANNING MATTERS

Marcris House EPF/0507/25: Change of use from care home to residential and conversion to 8 x two bedroom flats. TBAG objected to this application on grounds of unsustainability, lack of safe pedestrian links to the village and other issues. This application has been REFUSED by EFDC Planning on grounds of loss of valued community facility, loss of specialist accommodation and employment, and the lack of a Section 106 Agreement protecting Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation.

Blunts Farm EPF/1406/22: Change of use from agricultural barns to B8 storage and associated development. TBAG reported on this in March of this year having raised an objection to this revised application. No decision has yet been made, but it appears that the Officer on the case is preparing to have this application heard before EFDC’s Planning Committee B in September October where our District Ward Councillors may speak but are no longer permitted to vote on this application.

Government planning situation

Further to TBAG’s letter to our MP, Dr Neil Hudson, regarding build out rates in England, we were pleasantly surprised to receive an immediate response. Dr Hudson kindly forwarded our letter to Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Baroness Taylor also responded promptly, sending several links which are yet to be fully explored. This issue is something that the Government is aware of and monitoring. Dr Hudson expressed his deep concern of the Government’s plans to release areas of the Green Belt for development, under their own subjective ‘grey belt’ definition, which in reality simply waters down all Green Belt protections. He also recognised that the Government are forcing top-down reforms whilst simultaneously silencing local voices by stripping council planning committees of their ability to consider applications.

Subsequently, two Government technical consultations, one on ‘Implementing Measures to Improve Build Out Transparency’ and one on the ‘Reform of Planning Committees‘ were launched and TBAG has responded to both of them. We were not happy just responding to the ‘tick-box’ questionnaire, because some questions were clearly leading. So, in addition TBAG wrote a narrative response to both entitled ‘The Planning Situation As We See It’. See  our responses to the build out rates and Planning Committees consultations. We mention in our response the issue of developers being fined £100m after the Competition and Markets Authority said they may be sharing commercially sensitive information that affects the price of homes!

Devolution plans for Epping Forest District Council trundle on with no apparent movement, but TBAG maintain that under a Unitary Authority the valuable local knowledge which is currently able to be input by residents and local Councillors will be completely lost and removed from the planning process. TBAG have expressed this serious matter in our consultation responses referred to above.

Local Public Footpaths

Residents may have noticed the deterioration in condition of several of our local public rights of way in the Green Belt surrounding our village. One path has had a bridge completely removed and another has two bridges in a precarious state. TBAG has written to the appropriate authority to report this and have been assured that the corrective work will be carried out in due course. We would encourage residents to explore our footpaths and appreciate our rural surroundings while one still can.

In Memoriam

TBAG would like to acknowledge the sad passing of Graham Law who was a staunch TBAG supporter from its inception and more latterly a member of our Committee. Our heartfelt sympathies go to his wife and his wider family.

Summer 2025 Update

LOCAL PLANNING MATTERS

Land north of Forest Drive. EPF/0292/21: The letter of Grant of planning permission has finally been sent to the developer’s agent dated 3 April 2025 following the decision to permit given at EFDC Planning Committee on 17 January 2024 There are 43 conditions and one point of interest to residents is that no agreed route for construction vehicles etc to access the site has been included. It is noted that EFDC have continued to ignore their own policies in allowing a three-storey block of flats to be built on this site, at the edge of settlement, adjacent to Green Belt land, without the supporting street view diagrams having been submitted with the application and still with little on-street parking for visitors. The road into the site is not to be adopted by ECC Highways and will remain a private enclave. The S106 Agreement which requires payment of monies to EFDC and ECC for various infrastructure related works, has also been published and all documents concerning this application can be seen on EFDC’s website.

Macris House. EPF/0507/25: Change of use from care home to residential and conversion to 8 x two bedroom flats.

TBAG have objected to this third application on the grounds of unsustainability, lack of safe pedestrian links to the village and other issues. EFDC’s specialist consultants refused the site to be included for housing in the current Local Plan as it was too remote from the village, a loss of a social asset (care home) and associated employment losses. TBAG are astonished that the home has closed since there is now a greater need for residential accommodation for the elderly.

Government planning situation

TBAG have written to our MP, Dr Neil Hudson, asking why Government insist on demanding 1.5 million dwellings be built over the term of their parliament when there are, as a matter of record, 1.4 million already granted planning permissions for homes awaiting development. We have asked Dr Hudson to raise this matter in The House as we feel if these dwellings were built out there would be no need for the continued assault on the countryside and Green Belts. Central Government seem keen to place the blame on local planning authorities for taking too long to process applications. Government claim to need to ‘cut through red tape’ at a local level. Developers like to drip feed their new homes onto the market to keep prices artificially high.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan’s London Local Plan did not meet the Government’s requirement for housebuilding and so Mr Khan now proposes to build in the Green Belt in outer London Boroughs. This could of course impact Epping Forest District as the outward thrust of building continues around our borders.

Devolution plans for Epping Forest District Council initiated by the Labour party and voted-in by local Conservative Councillors on 10 January 2025 to make our local government administration organised as a Unitary Authority is now approved. We are currently being administered by County Councillors who have not been democratically voted in and are holding office until the new Unitary Authority has been established. EFDC has committed to take part in the Government’s devolution priority programme (this would see a mayoral county combined authority established in April 2026 and a mayoral election take place in May 2026) and to commit to local government reorganisation. TBAG are deeply concerned about the loss of local democracy that this represents and with respect to planning, decisions will be made on applications by persons who have little or no knowledge of our parish or district.

Summer 2024 Update

Local Planning Matters

The approval of planning permission for 38 homes on Land north of Forest Drive, EPF/0292/21, continues to mystify. At the time of writing, the EFDC website still shows this application’s status as ‘Under Consultation’. Bearing in mind the application was approved at Plans East Committee on 17 January 2024, we wonder what negotiations are going on behind the scenes before the decision is actually published? A decision taken at District Council cannot be reversed, so what is happening? Certainly, the representative of the developers, Andersons, who approached our Parish Council Chairman after the District meeting saying that he would review the scheme with a view to adding more parking, making the flats accessible and then speak again to the Parish Council, has not done so. No surprise really since these developers didn’t see fit to consult with the public prior to putting plans forward for this carbuncle of a development. TBAG call on our Parish Council to take a stand against the approval of this scheme and its complete disregard for several Local and County policies and make a formal complaint to EFDC and the Local Government Ombudsman. TBAG have now written to the Planning Inspectorate seeking clarification on the legitimacy of a Local Authority’s ability to ignore its own policies.

Balti House Proposed Development. A public meeting was held on 15 May to listen to a presentation by the architect of this proposed development on the site currently occupied by the Balti House. It was well attended by residents and our Parish and District Councillors, but the overriding reaction was a negative one. Five TBAG Committee members attended, and the Chair and Vice Chair spoke strongly against this inappropriate proposal having examined the proposal document in advance. Not one person from the floor spoke in favour of the proposal which utilises 10 of the 12 dwelling allowance which has been allocated to the THYB.R2 development site – the car park and the now sold-off Balti House site – which was agreed and adopted in the Local Plan in 2023. The proposed building, which has the appearance of a modern office block, towers above existing dwellings at four stories plus solar panels and sports an exceptional amount of glass. The Balti restaurant is rumoured to return to the site on the ground and basement levels, and an additional coffee stand is included. Eight offices are proposed for the first floor with a capacity for about 39 persons. If approved, it will be the first offices to be purpose built in Theydon Bois.

EPF/1195/23 Coppice Row Farm. Proposed detached dwelling. Still under consultation.

Blunts Farm: EPF/2728/22 Erection of new storage buildings etc. Refused permission. EPF/0830/23 and EPF/0831/23 two alleged flats deemed as unlawful. EPF/1671/22 Ivy House, previously Blunt’s Farmhouse, swimming pool and extension. The appeal was dismissed, and the Planning Inspector cited TBAG and our area calculations in his Appeal Decision. EPF/0931/24 – Land near Abridge Rd (rear of Monks Hall), Proposed Padel/Tennis courts & Ancillary clubhouse building under consultation.

EPF/2461/22 Mossford Green Nursery, Abridge Road. Six proposed new dwellings. The Planning Inspector dismissed the appeal.

Application for a Temporary Event Notice to hold an outdoor, two-day bank holiday music event for over 18’s on the field at the Former Old Foresters site. The event, for up to 499 people, was submitted to EFDC and subsequently withdrawn by the organiser following objections from EFDC’s Environmental Enforcement Officer.

TBAG would like to welcome with our warmest best wishes our recently elected District Councillors. We feel that these Councillors will focus their efforts on representing residents and the best interests of Theydon Bois village.

Forest Drive Latest

TBAG’S REPORT FROM THE FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING 25 JANUARY 2024

Theydon Bois Action Group (TBAG) Committee members attended the Full Parish Council meeting last Thursday, 25 January 2024 and the main interest in doing so was to hear the discussion around the planning decision taken at the Plans East meeting (held in EFDC’s Civic Offices’ Council Chamber) on 17 January for the development of Land at the end of Forest Drive. There was a good turnout of supporters and residents who were also keen to hear why both our District Councillor and County Councillor had not represented residents in person when this landmark planning application was decided.

Unfortunately, District Cllr John Philip, who had been invited to attend the Parish meeting, was not in attendance but instead had, that morning, sent an email to the Chairman of the Parish Council sending his apologies for absence. TBAG have had sight of Cllr Philip’s email (a précis of which was given at the meeting) in which he states that “I had approached the developer early in the process for their first application …”. This was the 2021 application for 28 dwellings that never had a hope of success because the land was then Green Belt. He goes on, “However, as I had met with the developer that alone would have been sufficient in that context to make it necessary, according to the EFDC planning protocol, to declare a prejudicial interest and to leave the meeting and not take any part in the discussion.” How is his approach to the developer of assistance to Theydon Residents if he then cannot represent us at Plans East? Cllr Philip makes it clear that “I am also a friend of Mark Anderson who owns the company putting forward the application. That too would trigger the need to declare an interest and absent myself.” The Chair of the Parish Council meeting, Cllr Gooch, explained that he had checked on that situation and that doesn’t appear to be the case. He confirmed that so long as a Councillor doesn’t actually provide a view of which way they are going to vote, then any Councillor can speak to any developer in the interests of the village. However, Cllr Philip seems to contradict himself when he then says “I make it clear that I have no specific relationship with the development company.” The application merely shows agents as applicants, but the covering letter submitted with the application shows Anderson Group Limited as having commissioned the revised application for 38 dwellings. Cllr Philip concludes by saying “Had there been another application to be heard on Wednesday last, I would of course have been there to declare my interest in this application.” TBAG Committee members who were present at the Plans East meeting noted that Forest Drive was the second application to be heard by Committee that evening. In the event, the first application was not heard because the Plans East Chairman declared it as withdrawn and deferred to a later meeting. But Councillors were only now being told this, so we must assume that Cllr Philip had privileged early information on the withdrawal of that application. Cllr Philip finishes by saying “I realise that being absent did not allow for residents to understand why I could not take part in the discussion due to the constraints of the planning protocol.”  Both TBAG and Cllr Gooch maintain that Cllr Philip would have been able to highlight to the meeting this application’s deviation from adopted policy and its many other shortcomings. Instead, he chose to prioritise attendance at a local Parochial Church Council (PCC) meeting, rather than attending Plans East. TBAG have been reliably informed that Cllr Philip made no presentation or undertook any significant role at that PCC meeting, so his presence appeared not to be a priority. It was asked why Cllr Philip was not in attendance at this Parish Council meeting and County and District Cllr Holly Whitbread later informed us that Cllr Philip is undertaking a course of training on Thursday evenings to become ‘something like a vicar’ but she didn’t know the exact title.

Cllr Whitbread was in attendance at the Parish meeting and said that she had not attended the Plans East meeting due to being “ill … genuinely ill”. We were, therefore, surprised to learn later that Cllr Whitbread spoke at an assembly at Epping Primary School the following morning, Friday 18 January. Commenting on the application, she said that it did sound like there had been a considerable lack of consultation which is unacceptable and that was something that she would have raised if she had been there on the evening. TBAG had circulated an email of the major shortcomings of this application to all Plans East Councillors before the meeting so they should all have been aware that this application was far from satisfactory. Cllr Whitbread then went on to make the point that objectors could have ‘stood-up’ at Plans East and had the matter referred to District Development Management Committee (DDMC), but that they had not. Once again, our information conflicts with this in that District and Parish Cllr for Theydon Bois, Clive Amos, DID stand up, but was told by his colleague Cllr Paul Keska (sitting next to him and also Chairman of DDMC) that he was out of order and could not stand up. The Chair of DDMC seemed to be under the misapprehension that one could only stand up if the decision was to refuse permission and this is wrong. Further, neither the Plans East Chairman, the Democratic Services Officer nor the Planning Officer presenting acknowledged Cllr Amos’ attempt to stand up.

Cllr Whitbread was keen to confirm that she had no personal relationship or friendship connections with the developers and had not “taken any dinners” and she wanted to put that on record in terms of her personal integrity. Cllr Whitbread then went on to make some wider points in defence of the, rushed through, Local Plan and to explain the amount of work that had gone into it, but she didn’t comment on the use of out of date 2014 Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures used to determine the housing numbers in the Local Plan which could have been halved had the more recent 2018 ONS figures been used.

TBAG pointed out that EFDC had also been given a second, golden, opportunity in December 2022 to reduce the housing numbers from 11,400, when Michael Gove MP (Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities), with a Government rethink, issued an instruction that Local Authorities who were nearing the end of their work on their new local plans (eg EFDC), would be allowed two more years to reconsider their housing numbers in the light of any local “constraints”. For our District, the acknowledged constraints are that we are 94% Green Belt land and also the detrimental impact that excessive development would have on Epping Forest, Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Unfortunately, EFDC chose to completely ignore this opportunity and the majority party District Councillors unanimously voted through and adopted the new Local Plan on 6 March 2023.

With respect to Epping Forest and the SAC, Theydon Bois Parish Cllr Morris who is also an Epping Forest Verderer pointed out that EFDC are the legal body responsible for compliance with policy and suggested an official review of their actions on this. Cllr Gooch said he would approach EFDC and make enquiries about this point.

Finally, TBAG would appeal to all parties involved in this application to remember that, while it has now been granted, it DOES NOT MEAN IT HAS TO BE BUILT OUT. The developer https://www.landiplomacy.co.uk/ is at liberty to start again with a fresh, more appropriate scheme tailored for the village, only this time with full public consultation and community engagement, ultimately to design a scheme that would integrate well and be welcomed by the village instead of the carbuncle currently proposed. We shall have to wait and see if they are true to the very first statement given on their website: “We believe there is a better way”.

Stop Press: Shortly before publication of this report to Supporters, TBAG attended this week’s Parish Planning meeting where it was decided that, amongst other things, our Parish Council would reconsult with Solve Planning, their professional consultants in this matter, to see if there are any avenues open to them following the decision at Plans East.  Some residents have indicated to TBAG that they would be willing to contribute if there were anything that could be done.  Furthermore, the Parish Council is to consider registering an official complaint to EFDC and, if necessary, follow this up with the Local Government Ombudsman. This is welcome news for the village and we shall continue to report to supporters on developments.

Land at Forest Drive

The development of some two- and three-storey flats and eight houses on land north of Forest Drive was last night confirmed at Plans East by a vote of 8 councillors in favour to 7 against.

This will be the largest single development in the village since Slade End was developed in the early 1980’s and it is destined to become the carbuncle of the village rather than an integrated extension to it. Over intensification of the site and insufficient parking predicts the only integration will be the use of existing streets to park vehicles.

It was openly acknowledged that the scheme was contrary to the Essex Design Guide on Parking Standards which allocates 2 spaces per unit. Instead, the scheme has 2 spaces for each of the 5 link attached houses, 1 one space each for the 3 detached houses and the remaining 18, at least 4 of which are stated to be disabled spaces, are to be shared between the 30 flats.

It is also contrary to several other policies, notably Local Plan Development Management Policy 9, ‘High Quality Design’, which was written to ensure new developments relate positively to their locality, considering building heights and other factors, and integrate well and reflect the existing vernacular so as to blend in with the scene. But no street scene images were ever provided, and this scheme has three-storey flats (plus roofs) at the very edge of settlement on rising ground and adjacent to Green Belt agricultural land. It is a taste of Chelmsford’s design, with its metalled panels, sunken balconies and trendy wood burning stoves with chimneys in 5 of the houses. Oh yes, and that latter point flies in the face of EFDC’s own Climate Emergency declared in 2019 and the subsequent Climate Change Action Plan, June 2023.

But most disappointing to TBAG is the issue of strengthening the northern boundary with the Green Belt. A new bridge is to be ADDED to this boundary for ‘maintenance’ access to the field beyond – who has ever seen a tractor enter this site from Forest Drive? Grass cutters access both fields now across country from the landowner’s farm at Great Gregories. An additional bridge crossing the brook is contrary to Local Plan Site Specific Policy paragraph H.

So why have the controlling Conservative Councillors defied their own adopted policies? Simply for money? Each of the 38 dwellings is worth £10,536 to EFDC, a total of £400,368 just for being built and of course there’s the 38 new sources of Council Tax that will be payable on completion. Housing targets were also an overriding consideration – those over-calculated targets using outdated 2014 government statistics that the council refused to review given a two-year window to do so by Mr Gove in December 2022.

Unfortunately, the officer who wrote the report was not in attendance and the matter was presented by another planning officer. It was also shocking to see that our own District Councillor John Philip (Conservative) was absent from this important meeting, although not entirely surprising when one considers his well-known friendship with the developer for this site, Mark Anderson, with whom he has been friends for “quite a long time”. See here and a further article where such interests were not declared here. Councillor Holly Whitbread, Conservative County Councillor for Theydon Bois, was also missing in action last night. Who are these people working for?

These are the councillors who were responsible for voting this scheme through, despite its clear shortcomings, and don’t forget there will be an election this year:

Councillors For the new development:

I Hadley, Conservative, Moreton & Fyfield

C McCann, Conservative, Lambourne

N Bedford, Conservative, Shelley

R Balcome, Conservative, High Ongar etc.

R Morgan, Conservative, Hastingwood etc.

J McIvor, Conservative, North Weald Bassett

P Keska, Conservative, Chipping Ongar etc.

H Brady, Conservative, Passingford – and if re-elected, shortly to represent Theydon Bois under the new boundaries arrangements.

Councillors Against the new development:

J Whitehouse, Lib. Dem., Epping Hemnall

R Sharif, Lib. Dem. Epping Lindsey etc.

C Amos, Lib. Dem., Theydon Bois

J Whitehouse, Lib. Dem., Epping Hemnall

C McCredie, Independent, Epping Hemnall

B Vaz, Conservative, Chipping Ongar etc.

L Burrows, Conservative, Epping Lindsay/Thornwood

So, we look forward to welcoming the new residents who will not need a lift to access the first and second floor flats, will walk to the centre of the village to use our bus service and tube for their shopping trips, and will cycle to St Margaret’s or Princess Alexandra Hospitals when they have visits to make. What kind of utopia is this we are about to see unfold? And brace yourselves, because having manipulated this council to develop this ex-green-belt field, it’s only a matter of time before the developers – Anderson – will want to get their hands on the next field – via the new bridge of course. TBAG will be fighting a campaign to try and prevent that too.

We were surprised to learn in the run up to this committee meeting just how few village residents were aware of what was going on, from the removal of land from the Green Belt to the proposed scheme, over a period of some 11 years. Please encourage your friends and especially neighbours to sign up for TBAG’s email updates via our website or read our regular article in the Village News to be kept up to date on what’s happening around our village in the Green Belt.