Latest Government statistics indicate that a dramatically lower number of new homes (greater than 50% reduction) will be needed in our District during the new Local Plan period to 2033. This should be good news for our District’s Green Belt.

The Planning Inspector examining Epping Forest District Council’s (EFDC’s) emerging new Local Plan for 11,400 homes has written to EFDC pointing out that the latest Government statistics, from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), indicate a drop by more than a half in the projected number of new homes needed in our District. See the Inspector’s letter of 14 July 2020 here. EFDC based their predicted need of 11,400 homes on the ONS 2014-based figures. The Inspector also pointed out that this “meaningful change” in the actual number of homes needed, continued the downward trend indicated in the ONS 2016‑based projections.

TBAG highlighted in its Winter 2016 Update that EFDC’s claim that 11,400 new homes were needed across the District to provide homes for our children up to the year 2033 was untrue. We pointed out that the growth purely from within the District was “fairly small” at about 200 per year as stated by EFDC in their own Issues & Options Consultation document.

The Inspector has now asked EFDC to consider, inter alia, “Whether the projected reduction in household growth affects the justification for the plan’s proposed Green Belt releases”. TBAG awaits EFDC’s reply to this question with great interest.

TBAG also note that in 2019 following the Examination in Public, the same Inspector, in her advice to EFDC, expressed concern about the impact that 11,400 new homes and their associated traffic movements would have on the District’s (already poor) air quality and, in particular, its detrimental impact on the integrity of Epping Forest (a Special Area of Conservation) and its habitats.

While we await EFDC’s response to the Inspector’s request, which is due to be submitted by Friday, 31 July 2020, TBAG can only speculate on the effects Brexit and Covid 19 will have on the future ONS 2020‑based household projections which, with the two year lag in production, will be published in around June 2022 and which TBAG anticipate could be lower still.

In the meantime, we trust that EFDC will embrace this opportunity to radically reduce housing numbers, thus protecting our Green Belt and Epping Forest and also delivering on their promise (19 September 2019) to address the ‘Climate Emergency’ challenge.