Update on Conservative Plans for New Town in Elsenham

7.46.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 1st Oct 2007

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

On Friday evening from 5 p.m. there were two public meetings in Henham and Elsenham attended by around 500 people. The audience was both angry and incredulous at the way Conservative-led Uttlesford District Council had come up with its proposals for a new town across the parishes of Elsenham, Henham and Ugley.

There was widespread alarm at what appears to have been a strategic blunder by the Conservative administration in choosing a first option for future housing in Uttlesford that is unlikely to be deliverable without jobs and road infrastructure that would come with a second runway at Stansted Airport and which would inevitably result in a new town several times the size of 3,000 homes currently being trailed.

The audiences wanted to know whether the proposer of this scheme, the leader of Uttlesford District Council, Cllr Jim Ketteridge, would be making appearances at public meetings this week to explain his party's intentions. No one was able to say at the meetings whether Cllr Ketteridge would be present or instead at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool as he had declined to respond to requests from several councillors. No more information on Cllr Ketteridge's movements was available at noon on Monday.

This week's meetings are:

1. A special meeting of the council's south-west area panel in Elsenham Village Hall on Tuesday at 7.00 p.m on this issue. This meeting is designed for public engagement and participation and questions can be asked and statements made at the start and thoughout the proceedings. It is an opportunity for the public to hold the council to account in local surroundings rather than in Saffron Walden and is fairly informal. The area panel cannot make major decisions but it can send requests and petitions to other council committees or the full council itself.

2. The council's scrutiny committee this coming Wednesday, 3 October at 7.30 p.m in the London Road offices in Saffron Walden will consider a call-in of the Environment Committee's decision on the new town. The committee does not have power to overturn the decision but to investigate it and request the Environment Committee or the Full Council to think again. The scrutiny committee may also decide to request no further action, in which case the original decision to make the new town the council's preferred option will stand and go out for public consultation. There are rumours that the majority Tory group will whip their members to either oppose any further consideration of the issue or even stifle discussion of the issue on Thursday by voting for 'next business', which means the agenda item would be skipped and the scrutiny process would be frustrated. If you wish to put your questions to the meeting, please contact Mick Purkiss on Monday by telephoning 01799 510430.

Your attendance at these meetings will be an expression of public concern at these events and may be enough to warn the majority Conservative group that playing footloose with the democratic processes is not acceptable. Both meetings are likely to be heavily attended by the public so getting there early is advisable.

Related Links:

Link to the Lib Dem petition

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