Epping Forest District Council has prepared a draft plan for the whole district. In Epping, the Town Council with the help of some of the local residents who sit the Neighbourhood Planning Advisory Committee has developed a draft Neighbourhood Plan with more details just for this area. The Neighbourhood Plan is a land use plan and without such plans, developers would be able to seek planning permission in and around the town with a presumption in favour of development.
The District Council responded with comments to the draft Epping Neighbourhood Plan during last year. These amendments were made as there remains the need for the Neighbourhood Plan to conform with EFDC’s Local Plan. Because of the Covid-19 situation during most of 2020, the Neighbourhood Planning Advisory Committee were not able to meet as usual to discuss the changes to the next version of the plan yet.
The Local Plan is also yet to be finalised following the Inspector’s findings from the Local Plan examination in 2019 with further work on air pollution and possible adjustment of housing sites and numbers in Epping to be finalised. There have been the developments in Epping with the Qualis sites with some progressing now to planning stage after its consultations during last year.
The Committee can still work on our Epping Neighbourhood Plan and hopefully the Committee will be meeting later in 2021, subject to the Covid-19 situation and EFDC’s progress. Hopefully the Neighbourhood Plan will then progress to the next stages of examination and referendum in due course.