No “Common Sense” over absence of health centre

The prospect of a development of at least 1,050 new homes with no health facilities has been criticised by North Weald Bassett Parish Council. A councillor told a recent parish council meeting there was "no common sense" behind the decision to not include a health centre as part of the proposed Latton Priory development off London Road, Hastingwood. The parish council is also concerned at the absence of any suggestion of a fire station or police base on the development earmarked for opposite the McDonald's restaurant and off the M11-A414 roundabout at Hastingwood. Latton Priory is a strategic development site allocated within the submission version of the yet-to-be-approved Epping Forest District Council Local Plan for a minimum of 1,050 homes. In addition to the new homes, the site is set to provide community facilities including a secondary school, primary school, nursery and pre-school facilities, employment area, central commercial centre and a large area of green space - but no health facilities. A draft report for consultation, which was discussed by parish councillors, states: "Latton Priory has the potential to accommodate a health centre. However, discussions between Epping Forest District Council and the local health providers have indicated that there is no requirement for such a facility. "The masterplan for Latton Priory seeks to create a healthy environment in which to live and work in." An earlier section from the document stated: "The Local Plan identifies that appropriate community health facilities should be accommodated and the masterplan provides sufficient capacity within the local centre for this, although more recent discussions with local health bodies suggest that current health service strategies will not require it in this location." Councillor Sheila Jackman said: "I don't see how anybody can build that number of houses and not have a health facility. There is no common sense in some of this. I do think we ought to make that point strongly in our response." She added: "Why don't we approach the people who provide the health (services) because they probably don't know about all of this? We ought to be writing to the people who provide the doctors."

Councillor Andy Tyler expressed concern at the absence of any proposal to provide additional fire or police cover to serve the new housing development. He said: "It's just like, let's build houses and make money and go away. There's no infrastructure to this at all." The meeting was told that the developers are yet to agree on the exact point where the development will access onto London Road.

Epping Forest District Council has been awarded £1 million as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The Council’s investment plan submission was approved in full and will unlock investment over the next three years to support local businesses, communities and the delivery of skills and training programmes in the district. Support economic growth Cllr John Philip Portfolio holder for Economic Development said: “The Council’s bid which was approved by Cabinet in July after extensive local consultation with local organisations, MPs and others sets out a range of programmes to support economic growth and pride in place in our district.” The programmes range from providing business support, energy cost cutting measures, rural regeneration, development of community assets such as playgrounds and new skills and training initiatives in the third year of the programme. This is great news and represents a partnership between central and local government to invest in the things that are important to our residents.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. The Council has also recently submitted a bid for the Rural England Prosperity Fund that if successful will see a further £440,000 secured from central government to focus specifically on capital projects in our rural communities.