A proposal for up to 160 homes in Elsenham has been put forward for official scrutiny by the Queen’s developer.
The Crown Estate, which owns 45 acres in the village, has sent Uttlesford District Council a planning application outlining its scheme for a housing development.
Following a public exhibition in November, the organisation – which is owned by the reigning monarch but hands its proceeds to the public purse – has held regular meetings with parish councillors.
On January 9, members were shown the latest version of the plans and were promised they would go to UDC shortly. They were finally submitted last Tuesday (Jan 24).
If it gets the all-clear, the Crown Estate will build a mix of starter, family and affordable houses on a 17-acre site off Stansted Road, backing onto Elsenham’s playing fields and the houses in Ridley Gardens.
The plans include extra care housing for the elderly, two sports pitches, a pavilion with a public square and a green open space. A children’s adventure playground, which was part of the initial proposal, has been scrapped.
Although the plans have gone to Uttlesford, as of yesterday (Wed) afternoon the full paperwork was yet to be made public. The developer is asking only for outline permission, meaning in-depth details will be considered in a later, separate application.
However, according to parish councillor Ray Franklin, doctors at Elsenham Surgery fear the development will pile more pressure on their stretched resources.
He said: “They obviously realised that any additional housing meant additional patients, but they thought there would be an even greater burden because there would be a large number of senior residents in one place.
“The new estate will be very close to the surgery – there’s already a big problem with parking there anyway. I got the impression the surgery couldn’t take many more patients.
“[Crown Estates] were still saying that this is still very much a work in progress, so to a certain degree what they were putting before us was likely to change. We won’t really know [what to make of it] until we see the final details.”
UDC is examining the plan as part of a study into spreading new housing around the district. If approved, the framework will replace the council’s controversial ‘Option 4’, in which it sought to build 3,000 homes between Elsenham and Henham.
