Stewardship Charter Agreed

Delivering a great quality of life across Harlow & Gilston Garden Town means residents feeling confident that communities will be taken care of once built and a pioneering new Stewardship Charter, agreed at the recent HGGT Joint Committee, will do just that.

Harlow & Gilston Garden Town’s Stewardship Charter was developed over the last 12 months and included a public consultation that gave residents of all ages an opportunity to input their feedback on long-term placemaking.

Six principles make up the Garden Town’s Stewardship Charter:

Collaborative Stewardship
Delivery of Community Assets
Community Development
A Representative and Accountable Governance Structure
Financial Sustainability, Resilience and Entrepreneurship
Ambitious Environmental, Social and Socio-Economic Practice and Monitoring 

HGGT Lead for Placeshaping and Engagement, Kevin Steptoe, said: “Stewardship is a golden thread that links together delivery of housing, places, jobs, economy and transport and our six principles are deliberately generic and high level in order to be applied across the Garden Town geography.

“Whether it is 10,000 houses across seven villages in Gilston or the smaller neighbourhoods proposed for Latton Priory, East of Harlow and Water Lane, it is important that the same principles apply, regardless of community size or developer, to ensure the delivery of high quality and consistent outcomes throughout the Garden Town project.”

HGGT ran workshops with the Youth Councils of both Harlow and Epping Forest to give young people a chance to input into the Stewardship Charter.

“One of the recommendations from our Quality of Life project in 2022 was more engagement with underrepresented groups, including the younger audience,” explained Kevin.  

“We teamed up with 2-3 Degrees to find out what resonates with the younger generation and it was fantastic to see themes such as environment, volunteering and community come out of those workshop sessions and to hear young people talking so enthusiastically about their local area. 

“That feedback has played a part in shaping the Stewardship Charter along with all the inputs provided from community and professional representatives during the consultation.”

HGGT Joint Committee Chair, Cllr Dan Swords, said: “Everyone knows of past circumstances where development has come forward and stewardship just hasn’t been thought out.

“The Stewardship Charter is a crucial piece of work, it’s at the heart of the Garden Town’s vision and key to creating genuinely sustainable communities that are fantastic places to live in.”

The Stewardship Charter is online here with the HGGT Joint Committee agreed version to be published on the Garden Town website shortly.