Birchanger and Stansted 480 Homes: Inquiry Opens 3 Nov

A planning inspector opens an eight-day public inquiry on Tuesday into two housing schemes on the Essex side of Bishop’s Stortford. Between them, the Birchanger and Stansted schemes would bring up to 480 homes. Uttlesford District Council’s planning committee voted to refuse both in June, against its officers’ advice.

The final decision now rests with the Housing Secretary, because each scheme is over 150 homes. The developer is City & Country Stansted Ltd.

Where the sites are

• Land west of Birchanger Lane, Birchanger (UTT/25/3011/OP): up to 180 homes on two arable fields either side of the lane. The southern field backs onto High Close, Bradley Common and High View. Birchanger sits just over the county boundary from the north-east edge of Bishop’s Stortford.
• South-west of Mountfitchet High School, Forest Hall Road, Stansted (UTT/25/3012/OP): up to 300 homes, about three miles north of Bishop’s Stortford town centre. The scheme also includes up to 2,000 sq m of shops, offices, a cafe, a nursery and a gym, a care home of up to 60 beds, a village hall, and land kept back for a future secondary school.

Both are outline applications, with only the access roads decided now. Both promise 50% affordable housing, according to the council’s committee reports.

When and where the inquiry sits

The public notice gives the details:

The inquiry is in person. Anyone who wants to attend should tell the council’s programme officer first, on 01799 510510 or at planning@uttlesford.gov.uk. Inquiry documents are on Uttlesford’s planning register under 26/00059/CAL and 26/00058/CAL.

Why the councillors said no

Uttlesford’s officers recommended both schemes for approval. In the Birchanger report, they judged the land to be “grey belt”. That is a newer national category of weaker Green Belt land, where housing can be allowed if it meets set “golden rules”, including on affordable homes. Officers said the benefits “clearly outweigh the identified harm”.

The committee disagreed on 10 June. Its minutes record two reasons for refusing each scheme:

• the sites are unallocated and outside settlement boundaries, so they conflict with the council’s plan for where growth should go
• the land is not grey belt but full Green Belt, and building on it would harm its openness, with no very special circumstances to outweigh that

Councillors also raised the council’s five-year housing land supply. Officers told the meeting the last published figure was 4.77 years, below the 5 years councils need, but that newer data showing 5.45 years was due “within weeks”. That figure matters, because a council short of five years’ supply gives more weight to new housing in planning decisions.

The Bishop’s Stortford angle

The Birchanger site produced most of the cross-border objections. Bishop’s Stortford Town Council’s planning committee told Uttlesford the site “lies almost adjacent” to the town and would have “significant cross‑boundary impacts”. Its objections, as summarised in the report:

• the transport work looked mainly at Essex roads and not at Bishop’s Stortford
• it did not assess the A120 Stansted Road roundabout, Michaels Road, Rye Street or Newlands Avenue
• new residents were more likely to use Bishop’s Stortford station than Stansted’s, adding to traffic and parking
• National Cycle Route 16 was wrongly described as a link to the town

Hertfordshire County Council also raised concerns. As education authority, it said secondary schools in Bishop’s Stortford are “currently operating at capacity” and that the scheme’s pupils should be provided for in Essex. As highway authority, it asked for more junction modelling inside the town.

The developer then sent a technical note. It forecast the biggest extra flow at Stansted Road and Parsonage Lane, about 30 vehicles in the morning peak, or one every two minutes. Officers called that imperceptible. The report says the county was consulted again and made no further comment.

East Herts councillor C Wilson spoke against both schemes at the June meeting. Several hundred letters of objection came in on the Birchanger scheme alone, the report says.

What happens next

The inspector hears evidence from the developer, Uttlesford and other parties, then writes a report with a recommendation. The Housing Secretary makes the decision. No date for that has been published. The outcome will be posted on the Planning Inspectorate’s appeals service, using the references above.

What it means for you

• If you live near Birchanger Lane or Stansted Road, this inquiry is where the decision is effectively shaped. Uttlesford’s refusal is not final.
• To follow it in person, contact the programme officer before Tuesday.
• For other schemes near the town, see our planning news page.

We will report the outcome when the Housing Secretary decides.