RSS East Of England Plan - Broads Authority

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Section 13 Sub-Areas and Key Centres for Development and Change
there is the potential to put in place a major development of a large enough scale to be a model of sustainable
development. This is a significant and rare opportunity for somewhere so close to London. The green belt review should
test the most sustainable eventual scale of urban extension in this area to 2031 and beyond and should not be restricted
by the approach in paragraph 3.32 i.e. that the scale of green belt releases should look to 2031 and to the same rate of
growth 2021-2031 as 2001- 2021.
13.58 Policy SS7 indicates that the Green Belt review should identify a compensating strategic extension to the green belt to the
north of Harlow to define the long term limits to development. It should be several miles wide in accordance with PPG2
and to contribute to ensuring the overall area of green belt in the region is increased.
13.59 Key issues for joint or coordinated Local Development Documents include:
• ensuring urban extensions have a strong orientation towards the existing town and town centre and support their
regeneration;
• ensuring that the development strategy, particularly for the area north of Harlow, minimises the impact of noise from
aircraft landing at Stansted Airport.
13.60 Resolving traffic congestion and achieving a major increase in the use of public transport, walking and cycling are key
objectives. This will require a strong focus on management of Harlow’s existing transport infrastructure. However,
beyond such management there is a need to address the congestion on the approaches to and within the town through
additional or enhanced infrastructure which will support regeneration and improve access to main employment areas and
new areas of development. Policy T15 identifies the London to Stansted corridor, including Harlow and access to
Stansted Airport, as one of the areas likely to come under transport pressure which should be a focus for further work to
identify the interventions needed.
13.61 Transport proposals should make effective use of the full range of funding sources. The regional priorities agreed through
the Regional Funding Allocation process (Appendix A) suggest that interventions in the early and middle years of the Plan
period would need to focus on management of existing infrastructure and more modest infrastructure investment.
Funding a scheme of the scale of a Harlow by-pass before the last years of the Plan period will require an innovative use of
funding sources or reprioritisation in later Regional Funding Allocation rounds. The necessary waste water infrastructure
will need to be programmed into the water companies’ business plans, informed by the relevant studies, see paragraph
10.8.
13.62 The growth required by this RSS represents a significant uplift from that in recent years. The local delivery vehicle, Harlow
Renaissance, will have a key role in its delivery and the pace of development needs to be kept under review. If appropriate,
its powers may need to be extended or reviewed to ensure exemplary sustainable development and an appropriately fast
rate of delivery.