Category: May22HAP

Residents have consistently said that that they want to see more leisure and cultural facilities in the Town Centre.

HAP will continue pressing the Council to create a regional hub for such services to include a new, much bigger theatre, an exhibition centre, a live music venue  and space where events showcasing the many facilities, services and talents of Harlow residents can take place.

The pressure to build on green spaces in Harlow will no doubt increase in years to come, property developers see a profit, Harlow Council will always seek ways of raising money.

The Harlow Alliance Party has already helped many residents across the town to request of Harlow Council what is known as  Community Right to Bid (CRB), which if accepted by the Council, is placed on a register of such assets. In the event that the Council seeks to sell the land to a property developer, it must first offer this sale to the group of residents, who in turn must undertake to maintain it as an open space.

We will continue to offer help and advice to any resident group who share our concerns about the loss of public space to developers who might wish to see a CRB 

Over 1500 of the larger homes in Harlow are occupied by just one or two people, many of whom would like to move to a more suitable smaller home.

But Harlow Council continues to build homes for families, which in due course can be purchased by the sitting tenant. Since 2012 Harlow Council has lost over 600 from it’s stock of council owned homes, the Conservative pledge to build more homes will not replace the number of those lost.

The Harlow Alliance Party wants to see the Council make best use of it’s housing resource. Building new homes of a high standard with facilities for older and impaired residents would give residents a better choice when considering downsizing their home. Such homes would not be subject to a Right To Buy, the larger homes vacated would then be allocated to families to occupy.

The Harlow Alliance Party was set up in 2018 because a group of residents were concerned that Councillors at Harlow Council were making decisions about the future of the town without having first consulted with residents. It was clear that many took the ‘we know best’ attitude. Despite an undertaking to consult and inform residents in a document as recently as in 2019, whether Labour or the Conservatives are in control of the Council has not made any difference, the Council has failed to consult residents about some very important issues which affect where they live or work.

Did you know that in the last 6 months the Council has carried out 8 consultation exercises based almost entirely on social media? Probably not because only 185 people made any sort of comment about these to the Council. The Harlow Alliance Party will take steps to ensure that Harlow Council implements in full it’s own commitment to consult with resident

Talking to residents, it is clear that many wish to see new public toilets being constructed in the towns neighbourhood shopping centres. Increasing footfall to such centres must form part of the Council’s plan to reduce the reliance on the use of cars when residents shop. It is clear that for many residents a barrier to shopping locally rather than in the town centre is the lack of public toilets.

As the number of older residents in the town increases, the need for public toilets can only increase. The Harlow Alliance Party will do all that it can to see public toilets opened in locations across the town.