Harlow & Gilston Garden Town (HGGT) is one of the most exciting Garden Town projects currently in the UK.
And it is facing the challenges of regenerating a town centre head on, creating new communities that will improve quality of life and sustain both residents and businesses for generations to come.
Naisha Polaine, Director of Harlow & Gilston Garden Town and Andrew Bramidge, Chief Executive of Harlow Council, discuss the unique partnership approach which is enabling HGGT to seize upon the growth opportunities of its location at the heart of the UK’s Innovation Corridor.
How can HGGT deliver on its vision of both enhancing existing communities and creating exciting new ones in and around Harlow?
AB: The concept is one which concentrates the development around the existing town and sites. That means it works for both for town centre regeneration and for growth, with the new growth generating the footfall to keep the town centre working in a relationship of mutual benefit.
We can deliver because we have a unique partnership of stakeholders. We all signed up to this five years ago and have collectively stuck to our overarching vision of a town which is sustainable, well-designed and good for residents and businesses for the long-term.
NP: I think it has been remarkable for five local authorities to come together in the way they have with the ambition to achieve beautiful, sustainable growth.
That partnership has been incredible, and it’s enabled us to move forward at a pace, getting agreement to major planning applications and accessing funding effectively and efficiently.
The continued collaboration of these public and private sector partners, who bought into making this vision happen, will ensure the long-term benefits are delivered.
What will ensure the enduring success of HGGT?
AB: Quality of place making and construction. One of the issues Harlow is facing now, alongside the other New Towns, is that much of what was built in the 60s/70s was poor quality.
The focus was on fast growth, cheap construction to move people out of London. Some of it was experimental and hasn’t stood the test of time.
This time we are going to do it differently with the focus on quality and long-term sustainability.
We know it has to delight, be affordable, sustainable and long-lasting.
NP: How HGGT is looked after for the future is an essential part of what the developers must build into their plans.
How we look after our places so they remain high quality into the future is, I believe, the next big built environment issue.
I believe there should be a Stewardship Ombudsman to ensure promises are delivered and that people have access to a form of arbitration so they can get resolutions to issues which impact on their communities if they are not.
How is HGGT handling the ambition of Garden Towns to achieve modal shift?
AB: Achieving sustainable transport is going to remain a challenge for the long-term.
There has been too much focus on highways and routes, and not enough on what the new model for sustainable transport should be.
We have spent five years talking about highway infrastructure but we need to stop focusing on what doesn’t work now and focus on what transport success should be in 5-10 years time.
NP: We will do the best we can, but we can’t reinvent the sustainable transport model by ourselves.
If we want to transform travel, we need viable alternatives to the car and that will need re-imagining at a national level where the government has to play its part.
What are the biggest challenges?
NP: There are many challenges, some logistical. At any one time I am working with 13 landowners or developers plus the five HGGT local authority partners to bring about consensus and outcomes.
Unlike the New Towns of the past, we have almost no public sector land ownership here and there is no clean slate in terms of planning.
This time round, the development is private sector driven rather than public sector funded. Nevertheless, the biggest challenge is taking our residents with us.
AB: I agree. I look at the some of the great examples of regeneration elsewhere, in particular the Dutch new towns which faced similar challenges.
But they have had massive public investment and we need to find different ways.
The biggest challenge is undoubtedly taking residents with us.
We are planning for growth over 30-40 years and, understandably, our residents are worried by the change as they won’t see the benefits for a long time and they want focus on some of the immediate and pressing issues.
Harlow is a Tier 1 Levelling Up town and there is a massive shortage of affordable housing as well as the huge regeneration needed in the town centre.
NP: Yes, the residents love Harlow and they are fiercely protective of it. But they are starting to buy-in and understand that we are doing this for the future generations, some who haven’t even been born yet.
We held a consultation event recently and there were a lot of families there with children playing.
I spoke to one 65 year old man who started out quite cynical but in the end he looked at the children playing with Lego in the corner and said: “It’s not about me, is it? It’s about them and their future.”
What is the one piece of advice you would share with others looking to bring forward garden community developments?
AB: With a partnership approach you have to accept there will be competing interests. You have to accept that and confront it with some mature conversations. Keep the focus on the big things we all agree on and what are our various roles.
NP: Yes, it is Talk, Talk, Talk. A partnership is like a marriage and all strong relationships have disagreements, but the success is in how you work through those to get to mutual shared objectives. The partnership approach we have achieved here is definitely the key to successful outcomes.
