Land East of High Wood Quarry (1,200 homes)
The Town Council strongly objects (PDF) to the proposals.
The location of the site is unsustainable, and it has unacceptable access arrangements.
The new homes would be heavily reliant on car travel and road congestion is unlikely to have a viable solution. This would impact on the general public on a daily basis, compromising access to the town, surrounding villages and the strategic road network. Detailed comments will be covered in our Transport Report (to follow).
The development would form a poorly connected urban extension of the town into open countryside, with loss of high-grade agricultural land and creating urban sprawl. There would be unsustainable harm to the character and setting of the historic market town and neighbouring village, contrary to a range of UDC and Neighbourhood Plan policies.
The development would fill the important gap between Great Dunmow and Little Easton, effectively making the two settlements coalesce. Landscape harm would be significant and wildlife corridors effectively destroyed, as described in our Landscape Report (PDF).
A development of this size is not capable of delivering homes within a 5-year period therefore it would make no contribution to the 5-year housing land supply.