The Epping Society & St Johns Development
Summary
The Epping Society recently celebrated its 50Th anniversary and is committed to preserving the local environment and promoting the town of Epping. Qualis, the subsidiary of EFDC (Epping Forest District Council) announced in 2021 that it would be building 186 properties on the St Johns development site for renting by the council.
We are now raising the awareness that 114 of these properties (62%) are one-bedroom flats & suggesting that may not be appropriate for Epping. We believe, for Epping to continue to thrive as a market town, developments need to attract families and with the availability of technology also have the space to work from home.
Background
In April 2021, EFDC reported that Qualis would be building 186 properties on the St. Johns development, they were described as ‘build to rent’. The plan is for 265 bedrooms in eight blocks.
114 one bedroom flats (62%)
63 two bedroom flats (34%)
7 three bedroom flats (4%)
2 converted cottages
Also proposed are 53 parking spaces, by today’s standards there could be up to in excess of 150 cars. Does this meet the requirements of the Essex Parking Guidance currently at the consultation stage?
As Qualis is a wholly owned subsidiary of EFDC, has adequate scrutiny of this development been carried out by our local councillors. Is the development future proofed as our now iconic Council offices development is? Is it not too late to change the specification of the flat sizes?
Are 1 bedroom flats appropriate for Epping?
We believe that one of the reasons the majority of the flats proposed are one bedroom is that increases the unit numbers against the target of properties required by EFDC. However, has there been any analysis done by Qualis on the suitability of these for the rental market? Typically the most popular rental flat size is 2 bedrooms which gives the occupants space to work from home and have flexibility.
Some of the objections include
· If a young couple are living in a one bedroom flat, they will quickly outgrow the space particularly if they want to start a family.
· One bedroom flats are harder to sell/let than two bedroom flats and people who want to move on might feel trapped.
· As technology continues to develop, more people will be working from home and they will need space to work. They have included this in these flats. All be it VERY small!
· If the flats are difficult to let, will London boroughs use these to supply their housing needs.
· Will the ground rent be the same for one and two bedroom flats
· It is not clear now if the flats will be to let or for sale – if so then a move to 2 bedroom units may be a sensible outcome
· Re Parking from the ECC consultation - There must be no unplanned overflow of parking from the development site as a result of insufficient on-site parking provision and developers will be expected to fund mitigation measures to ensure that this is enforceable. A developer will be required to demonstrate the forecast parking accumulation requirements and design for all parking to be provided on site.
· Residents who are not allocated a parking space could buy a season ticket for the new multi -story car park which would reduce the number of spaces for shoppers
· The application’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment statistics and predicted housing needs were on 2015 figures
The planning application for this development runs to 272 documents – many of which are rehashes provided by consultants from a previous development with ‘Epping’ inserted. These documents may well be superseded by updated documents- it is impossible as a local citizen to keep track.
The Residential Unit mix justification study itself runs to 50 pages.
Epping Society Proposal
We are suggesting to EFDC that a re-evaluation is carried out before the Qualis development starts on the suitability of these one bedroom flats for the town of Epping. Ongar recently won an appeal against one bedroom flats partly on housing mix. The decision here in Epping needs to be reconsidered.
Qualis is owned by EFDC who should be concerned about the well -being of all Epping residents & ensure that this proposal is fit for purpose.
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