The Spring Issue of 'Talk About Epping' is out now and The Epping Society has a short article within. You can download the full magazine in digital format using the link at the bottom of this page. We have reproduced the text of The Epping Society below for your immediate convenience. Happy reading.
Talk about Epping – the Epping Society Spring 2024
It is a little while ago, but a Happy New Year to all!
The end of last year brought many joys – school plays, lots of concerts, Christmas Market, St John’s Tree festival and many family gatherings. The Society’s Committee enjoyed a seasonal meal at a local Indian restaurant; but not at member’s expense!
Unfortunately, there were a number of disappointments. Among those was the delayed opening of the new multistorey car park – where there seemed to be a fair amount of public dissatisfaction. We raised safety questions, to which the developers Qualis responded very quickly with temporary barriers. We are still in discussion to see if some of the other problems can be looked at.
Similarly the permission given by Epping Forest District Council to Qualis to reduce / abandon the expectation to build 40% of affordable houses in the two large town centre developments; as originally set out in the Local Plan. The Epping Society spoke and campaigned against this; but sadly the opportunities for our local people and especially young families will have been reduced by this change.
We have continued to talk to councils and other bodies about parking problems in Epping Town - all residents will know how difficult this is, and it seems to be worsening. These problems are not insolvable, but it is often difficult to get back to who owns the land, who is responsible, or who makes decisions. We would urge residents (not just our members) to report problems and issues – to Councils, to Police, to Parking Bodies etc; numbers are the lever. We sometimes get the Post Office / Horizon response of “no-one else has complained”. But we carry on.
Looking forward, optimistically, one of our new Committee members has taken on the role of liaising with Essex Police (partly through the Safer Epping Forum. He is highlighting nitrous oxide misuse (now illegal) and parking.
Lastly we are delighted to announce our new website, https://www.eppingsociety.org/ with lots of information, updates, links, a public forum, and even merchandise. Our IT guy would welcome your views.
For full magazine content click the link below.
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