Lib Dems Launch Petition Against Conservative Plans for Elsenham New Town

7.24.36am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 13th Sep 2007

The Lib Dems are fighting Uttlesford Conservatives' proposed new town in Elsenham and Henham.

Today the Liberal Democrats have launched a petition against the unfairness of the new proposed development framework. The proposals include a shock proposal for a massive 3000 house new settlement at Elsenham. The Lib Dems argued that it was premature to put forward any specific locations without technical background work having been done and made public. The proposal has now been called in to the Scrutiny Committee on 3rd October. This meeting will be held in the Council Offices in Saffron Walden at 7.30 pm.

Cllr David Morson, district councillor for Henham & Elsenham said "I have received lots of calls of concerns. That is why I decided to launch this petition.

"The Conservatives councillors who run Uttlesford District Council have pushed through, without proper consideration of the implications, a shock proposal for a massive 3000-house new settlement at Elsenham. It would triple the size of this village. It would be dependent on jobs and roads planned for a second runway at Stansted Airport, which is contrary to the Council's policy"

"We hope that the petition will encourage the Conservatives to reconsider their poorly-thought-out plans, which emerged a mere 30 minutes before the meeting at which they were forced through. The petition can be accessed from: http://ourcampaign.org.uk/thinkagain "

Cllr Mark Gayler, Chair of Uttlesford's East Area Panel commented "The Council simply hasn't done enough to come up with a clear rationale for any option. Whether it is 3000 houses in Elsenham, or 2000 in Dunmow, the current infrastructure could not cope. No decision should have been taken on choosing detailed options, even though only for consultation, until sufficient rationale had been produced of the impacts (both positive and negative) on the existing Uttlesford Communities."

Cllr Peter Wilcock, Leader of Uttlesford Lib Dem Group summed up "The council needs to do a full appraisal of the ability of our communities to cope with more housing, and what additional infrastructure would be required to support the additional housing. Only then should we be looking at detailed options allocating specific numbers of houses to different parts of the district."

"When planning any new houses, we need to ensure that as many houses are affordable to enable local people to benefit."

"I hope that wiser heads will prevail when the Conservatives' proposals are subjected to the Council's scrutiny process and will work with councillors of all parties to ensure the best outcome for our communities."

Related Links:

Link to the Lib Dem petition

High resolution plan of Conservative plans for a new town in Elsenham