THE main opposition party is gearing up to fight the council’s ‘unsound’ Local Plan and highlight ‘serious mistakes’ in a document that will see 11,400 homes built in the area.

On Monday the deadline for representations objecting to Epping Forest District Council’s Local Plan passed.

At the front of the queue of objectors was the Loughton Resident Association (LRA), which holds 13 of the council’s 58 seats and has long voiced its opposition to the 15 year house building document.

Collectively the group submitted twelve representations opposing everything from the ‘over-cramming’ of Loughton and ‘disproportionately high development at North Weald’, to the ‘arbitrary’ destruction of Jessel Green to build 154 homes.

David Linnell, former county councillor and LRA member, explained that the group’s attention had been turned towards the Local Plan’s autumn hearing in front of a government inspector.

He said: “We know that the District Council won’t change anything at this stage, so our representations are aimed at this Autumn’s hearing.

“To get the Inspector to require amendments to the Plan, we have to show that parts of the Plan aren’t soundly-based and aren’t the most effective way to deliver the required results within the Plan’s period.

“The new Plan will affect how the District develops between now and 2033. If the Council get the Plan wrong, Loughton’s residents will suffer the consequences.”

Central to the LRA’s opposition is the strain additional housing could have on the area’s infrastructure.

If the 11,400 dwellings to be built were allocated evenly across the district, 79 per square mile would be constructed. Instead, 196 will be built per square mile of Loughton, compared to 19 per square mile of Theydon Bois.

Mr Linnell added: “Among the other topics were that the Plan allocates too many dwellings to Loughton and does so without any regard to the extra commuting this would cause on the already over-crowded Central Line.

“In other representations we detailed the problems of trying to build on the Loughton and Debden station car-parks, and to retain the same number of parking spaces, and the drastic effect on Loughton Self-Drive that building on Debden station car-park would have.”

Inevitably, Jessel Green - a community field beloved by Loughton residents and earmarked for demolition - formed the heart of the LRA objection.

“We’ve called again for Jessel Green to be dropped from the development list – something we’ve demanded ever since the Conservative-led District Council first suggested putting houses on it in 2008,” Mr Linnell continued.

“Incidentally, SaveJesselGreen have produced a petition which shows that over 4,800 people care about Jessel Green and want it protected; it’s still open for signatures – just Google SaveJesselGreen.

“We want to try to ensure that Loughton retains its character, which is what our residents appreciate, despite all the changes in recent years, and what makes other people want to move here, particularly from London.”

To read the LRA’s representations, click here.