New homes to be Built on Green Belt Land near Chingford

07 May 2007 - Source: www.guardian-series.co.uk

PLANS for more than 100 new homes to be built on green belt land near Chingford could face a legal challenge.

Waltham Forest Council is objecting to a proposal to put 119 homes on a site in Sewardstone Road once occupied by two large houses on the border of Epping Forest and Chingford.

The development has been agreed in principle by Epping Forest District Council, partly because it is 80 per cent affordable housing.

Chingford Green ward Cllr Michael Lewis said: "I don't think they would have put 80 per cent affordable housing on top of Chigwell."

"This is a development on Green Belt land.

"Once Green Belt is built on it creates a precedent and you never get it back. You cannot rub it out like lines on a piece of paper.

"We don't want to see houses all the way up to Waltham Abbey."

Cllr Lewis also said the development would add to existing congestion on Sewardstone Road, and argued that most of the burden on health and education services would fall on Waltham Forest.

The scheme has already been considered by Go-East, the Government's office for the east of England, but was not called in for public inquiry.

Cllr John Beanse wrote to Epping Forest Council and Go-East urging them to reject the plans, and last week Waltham Forest Council took the first step towards a judicial review of the matter in writing to Go-East, asking them to reconsider.

BRIAN Sandler, chairman of the Epping Forest district development control committee, said: "I don't think Waltham Forest councillors should be small-minded.

"Wherever people live they always encroach on other areas. We cannot build a wall around our villages and protect them like we did years ago."

He said the development could be good for shops in Chingford, and it was in keeping with the surrounding countryside.

Mr Sandler denied that the development would create a precedent, and said: "We have to put houses where we believe they are best suited.

"This wasn't a dogmatic decision just to upset Waltham Forest."

 

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