A new Stewardship Charter will be rolled out to cover all four of Harlow & Gilston Garden Town’s proposed communities with an aim to drive collaboration amongst developers, local authorities and community groups.
While the focus of the Charter will be the new community sites coming forward, it can also be applied across existing areas that sit within the Garden Town boundary.
Stewardship can mean different things to different people but the Garden Town’s vision for the new Charter is clear.
Ensuring the benefits of growth are there for both existing residents and the generations that follow is a priority for the new Charter while maximising opportunities for local communities to get involved and look after new places.
The Garden Town defines Stewardship as “the inclusive, proactive and responsive planning, placemaking and care of public assets alongside ambitious community development practices to ensure that the environmental, social, and economic benefits of the Garden Town can be enjoyed by present and future generations, equally.”
Having been approved by HGGT’s five-council Joint Committee in July, we sat down with the Garden Town Team’s Kevin Steptoe (East Herts District Council) and Chris Downes (Essex County Council) to find out more about how the new Stewardship Charter will impact one of the biggest regeneration and development projects in the country.
What was the thinking around producing a Stewardship Charter for the Garden Town and who are the target audience?
Kevin Steptoe (KS): It’s about consistency, quality and ensuring that we have the same Stewardship outcomes across the whole of the of the Garden Town. East Herts District Council gave in principle approval for the 10,000 new home development at Gilston last year and Stewardship conversations for that site are progressing with the two developers (Places for People and Taylor Wimpey). the existing local community group there, who are active in development discussions, are also keen to play an important role in stewardship. Although Gilston is ahead of the other HGGT sites at Water Lane, Latton Priory and East of Harlow, the Stewardship Charter seeks to ensure the same outcomes across the Garden Town geography despite the staggered delivery times.
Chris Downes (CD): The Charter is for everyone really – developers, councils, service providers and local communities because they all have a role to play in what future stewardship should look like. For developers, they need to know what the expectations are when preparing strategic plans and what needs to be delivered and factored in. HGGT’s Joint Committee doesn’t have delegated development management powers so it is up to the individual planning authorities to make sure that they use the Stewardship Charter and apply it. The Charter also has a checklist so it not only sets out the principles and values of stewardship but also practical guidance about what needs to come online at each stage of the planning process.
KS: Chris is right, developers are key to the success of our stewardship ambitions. We are hoping they will have acknowledged the content of the Charter and understand what’s going to be required of them through either conditions or legal agreements. This will ensure local communities will have certainty on what is being delivered and when.
The Garden Town’s Stewardship Charter is quite unique in the public sector given it features two major infrastructure providers in Essex County Council and Hertfordshire County Council?
CD: From an Essex County Council point of view, it is hugely important as we’ll be delivering a lot of services within the new Garden Town communities such as transport, libraries and new schools, Primary and Secondary. Then there’s a conversation to be had about how the local community share those facilities long-term to maximise value so the Stewardship Charter is something that can be used to get people around the table and talking about that.
KS: As local authorities, we want people to feel proud of the new communities coming forward. We want to ensure we are building healthy places and encouraging healthy lifestyles, both socially and physically through active travel. If people live in a place that they like, enjoy and feel comfortable with then they’re more inclined to want to be part of that community, meet other people and get involved with things that are beneficial to residents.
CD: Because the delivery of good quality Stewardship arrangements are so important to the Garden Town, there’s a clear desire to move away from traditional developments, managed by private estate management companies, to something that can be more community-led. With that comes the ability to implement things like ambitious and proactive management of open spaces which is key to instilling pride in a place. We also want to see the introduction of resources that encourage residents to organise events, establish new clubs and societies and hopefully use facilities collaboratively.
With the Stewardship Charter now approved by the Joint Committee, what are the next steps?
CD: We not only want to raise awareness of what Stewardship is as a concept, but also what the Garden Town aspirations are, so both developers and local communities understand the essential nature of stewardship in creating new and successful places. We really want the Stewardship Charter to be influential and for developers to treat it in the same way as they would with a core planning or transport document, ensuring compliance with its requirements.
KS: The Stewardship Charter encourages joined up thinking and alignment of plans, so people are going to see the seven villages at Gilston delivered in accordance with the document and the Section 106 agreement for the local area. That will lay the foundation for thinking jointly across the Garden Town and that collaboration at Gilston can be a good starting point for Water Lane, Latton Priory and East of Harlow when they reach the same point of delivery.
Why is Stewardship so important at the start of the placemaking process?
CD: We’ve seen some bad examples, both nationally and locally, where private estate management companies are put in place that just don’t do a good enough job. We’ve seen instances of such companies increasing their service charges every year above inflation but not necessarily enhancing or improving the levels of service provided and that’s not an ideal situation to be in. Unfortunately, local authorities can’t always afford to adopt new public assets so we have to explore more effective solutions that work for everyone. We don’t want to see poor estate management outcomes in the Garden Town sites at all which is why the Charter will play a key role in establishing effective stewardship bodies within the new communities.
KS: If you don’t have certain infrastructure and facilities up front in a development, including community facilities and outdoor spaces, then people won’t have any kind of opportunity to mix socially. Having that infrastructure in place from an early stage in the development helps to overcome any potential isolation new residents may feel. This is something we’re much more aware of nowadays than in the past and we want that infrastructure to be in the budget from the start and not an afterthought.
CD: The Stewardship Charter allows us to look to the future and not repeat the mistakes across the country where areas are forgotten about and not maintained properly. We all know of developments that have aged poorly over time, play areas are often a prime example because organisations haven’t really thought about the long-term management and who’s going to pay for improvements and replacements over the long run.
The Garden Town’s Stewardship Charter engagement featured a workshop session with young people?
KS: We really wanted to speak with audiences that don’t always engage on subjects like planning policy work and young people fall into that category. Their voice is crucial because that generation are likely to be the main occupiers of HGGT in the future and will be expecting the services to be delivered across the new communities. The input was great because stewardship can be a complicated subject, it can mean a range of different things to people.
CD: Kevin is correct, stewardship is a nebulous kind of concept for a lot of people, even more so for young people. But unless you ask the younger generation these questions, and make it relevant for them, then you’re never going to be able to get any kind of meaningful feedback from them. So going through that process is really valuable. Young people want to be listened to properly because, in 20 years’ time, when these new communities are operational, they’ll think back to when HGGT reached out and will feel like they’ve influenced the Garden Town. With that comes a sense of ownership and pride in your local area.
You can read and download the Garden Town’s Stewardship Charter by clicking here.
