Brentwood is a Borough with 87% greenbelt land, making development opportunities for housing and employment tricky to negotiate.
However, Brentwood Borough Council’s Local Plan (https://www.brentwood.gov.uk/adopted-local-plan) which was adopted last year, is making the most of every bit of brownfield land available – and, with care, some greenfield sites.
Planning consent has just been granted for a development at the Brook Street roundabout, as part of the plans to improve the ‘gateways’ to Brentwood.
Brentwood’s determination to bring employment opportunities to the area have not gone unnoticed by smaller local businesses. I was pleased to be asked to join the team behind Chigwell Window Centre to officially open the company’s new Brentwood showroom on Mascalls Lane recently.
At a time when those living in older properties, like many in Brentwood, are doing all they can to make their homes as energy efficient as possible to minimise energy bills, I suspect the company has made a good choice in bringing its wares to the town.
Not far from the Brook Street development plans, Brentwood is also fortunate to have secured the future of a large area of agricultural land through the Lower Thames Crossing project. LTC saw Hole Farm in Warley come up for sale last year, and have bought its 95 hectares to create a community forest and education centre. LTC intend to make this huge project – which will see a second Thames Crossing to alleviate pressure on the Dartford Bridge and tunnel, as carbon neutral as possible and the community forest will go a great way to doing this.
Finding out more about the project on a cold, wet day last month, was a warming experience and something I know the community will be able to enjoy for many years to come.
