East Herts Council agrees on terms for 10,000 new homes in Gilston area
East Herts Council has rubberstamped planning consent for 10,000 new homes in the Gilston area.
The outline permission, confirmed in a low-key announcement today (Friday, January 10) sanctions 8,500 homes for Places for People across six villages and 1,500 homes for Taylor Wimpey in a seventh village.
The seven villages are part of the wider Harlow and Gilston Garden Town - a partnership between East Herts, Harlow and Epping Forest district councils and Herts and Essex county councils to deliver 16,000 new homes over the next nine years.
They will be built in four new garden town neighbourhoods for Harlow and the seven villages.
Green Cllr Vicky Glover-Ward, East Herts executive member for planning and growth, said: “We are pleased to issue the planning permissions for the delivery of 10,000 homes and associated infrastructure in the Gilston area.
"This is a major milestone and an important step in achieving sustainable growth in East Herts, and the wider Harlow and Gilston Garden Town.”
Alongside the new homes, the development is expected to deliver facilities for business, retail, sports, leisure and healthcare, as well as community spaces, parks and open spaces, new primary and secondary schools and early years facilities.
East Herts says that together with the earlier granting of permission for new transport infrastructure schemes known as the Central and Eastern Stort Crossings, the outline permissions are a “significant milestone” in the process of bringing forward the Gilston area development identified in the council’s 2018 district plan.
The Indie understands the district council hopes the approval will ease its five-year housing supply concerns - which led to the authority’s defeat in a planning appeal in August last year.
A Government inspector allowed an application for 350 homes, up to 4,400 sq m of commercial floorspace and up to 500 sq m of retail floorspace, east of the A10 at Buntingford because East Herts fell short of the National Planning Policy Framework target.
The Gilston planning applications were considered by the district’s development management committee on February 28 and March 23, 2023.
It was resolved that permission be granted subject to the finalisation of conditions and completion of a Section 106 agreement to secure infrastructure.
Cllr Richard Roberts, leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “The Section 106 agreement represents a significant milestone for Hertfordshire and the Harlow Gilston Garden Town project.
“It demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that growth is accompanied by the infrastructure needed to support thriving communities.
“My thanks to all five councils, who have strived to get the best possible deal for existing and new residents, yet to arrive. We will be proud of this development when it meets the highest build standards with the right infrastructure creating the homes and communities of the future.”
