New Places and Communities  

Before we build, we should establish why we want the houses and why people would want to live in them. There needs to be a VISION.

The dire situation in Elsenham is the result of the absence of vision: houses crammed opportunistically into available spaces without any sense of place or community.

People choose Saffron Walden, for example, for the market, the architecture, the schools, Saffron Hall: the amenities, aesthetics and lifestyle. Planted communities such as Saltaire, Port Sunlight, Bournville and Letchworth Garden City had purpose, to be working or commuter towns – in which case there was an excellent railway line! 

Possible purposes could be:

Science Park	Sustainability Flagship	Velo City
Airport	Forest Community	Start-up business hub
Direct London Commuting	Hospital and Health	Secondary Education flagship

 

Transport is critical to all of these.

Two stations have borne the brunt of ad hoc development on our north/south railway line: Newport and Elsenham, while Wendens Ambo seems untouched out of deference to the Audley End estate.

We have a major east/west corridor, from Bishops Stortford to Dunmow, Braintree, served by the A120 and B1256, but the railway line was removed by Beeching and the Flitch way fails to cross the M11.

If we are to build 14,000 new houses, more than Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow combined, there must be an adequate infrastructure. A bus service does not count as an adequate infrastructure. A new railway line is needed. Extending though the Stansted Airport terminus, Little Easton CP, and connecting with a restored railway line on the Flitch Way just short of Dunmow, before continuing to Braintree. 

Serious ambition is called for; equal to the vast numbers of new houses being asked of us. A railway would bring economic benefit for generations.

It would open up the prospect of:

• Forest communities in Little Easton CP, blending with the recreated ancient forest
• A cycling network based on the Flitch way, connecting with Bishops Stortford at last and extending to Colchester
• Commuting by direct train to London and Cambridge from communities along the east/west corridor
• Abundant wildlife corridors which also connect to Hatfield Forest, Eastend Wood and Eseley Wood.
• Extending the proposed Oxford to Cambridge line through to Braintree and the east coast!

As for the Velo City concept of clusters of villages linked by cycle routes, there is potential involving the villages of Widdington, Debden, Newport, Wicken Bonhunt, Quendon and Rickling.

Adequate, sustainable water supply must be ensured before building. Is there any evidence that we have enough water for 14,000 new homes?