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The proposed plans for Harlow North seek to achieve a balance between the town and the landscape to ensure it is a truly sustainable town.
Plan showing open green space network around Harlow North.
A linked network of open green spaces established and managed as productive ecological resources would link several neighbourhoods. A network of smaller public spaces within each neighbourhood would be linked by a series of tree-lined streets, which in more rural areas could incorporate streams linked to the sustainable urban drainage system.
Ancient and other woodlands at the northern edge would be linked by new tree planting to provide a continuous managed forest park.
A new valley park is planned in the vicinity of Eastwick as a part of the sustainable urban drainage system. The need to conserve ancient grassland sites of SSSI and County Wildlife Site status, and to enhance the biodiversity of other floodplain grasslands wherever possible is recognised.
A substantial new recreational park in the floodplain of the River Stort would be designed sensitively in close collaboration with the Environment Agency and other stakeholders so as not to disturb the floodplain's complex ecological value.
A sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) would mitigate the effects of development on the nature of watercourses and aquifers by allowing rainfall to rejoin the aquifer as close as possible to where it fell. The design of buildings would also respond positively to water issues, through use of rainwater harvesting and 'grey-water' recycling systems.
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