Save Harold Wood!    

Latest comments from a local headteacher (and resident)  in Harold Wood ;

March 2008;

A vision of the future?

This is the development that Countryside are currently carrying out on the former Oldchurch Hospital site. Is this what we can expect at the Harold Wood site? There are only 7 storeys shown here – 2 fewer than the main tower proposed at Harold Wood!
When we asked the Countryside consultants for details of the houses they were planning to build here, they were unable to show us anything specific. In the absence of detailed designs from the developers, we have to do the next best thing and scrutinise their current work.

Even if the buildings are one or two storeys lower, are they acceptable? Do they blend into the local scene?

This picture shows Harold Wood from Tyler’s Common. Even though many of us have fond and cherished memories of happy events at the maternity block you have to admit that it does stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. Picture the scene if they build a nine storey block and then surround it with rows of three or four storey blocks.

It is appropriate that this picture is taken from Tyler’s Common. Students of local history will know that the existence of Tyler’s Common was threatened in 1951 and only pressure from local residents saved it for our enjoyment today.

January 2008;

Last week many local residents visited the exhibition that was set up by Countryside at The Grange in the hospital grounds. It was a flimsy attempt at consultation with a few consultants trying to solicit our views in two cramped and crowded rooms. The number of people who went to the exhibition shows the strength of feeling that exists in Harold Wood over these proposals.

However, it turns out that many local residents were unaware of the plans to build over 800 houses on the site. Some of the houses will have their own gardens, but most of them will be in blocks. It would not be too bad if they were houses that blended in with the existing style and layout of houses in Harold Wood. The ones they are planning are in four storey blocks and terraces with communal play areas and underground car parks. The crowning glory will be a nine storey tower block in the middle of the development.

On their website Countryside claim that their new developments aim to match the existing styles of building and blend in well. In contrast to their claims, the ugly, functionalist, blocks, shown on their plan, bear no relation to the style or density of the housing in neighbouring roads.
Why do they want to spoil Harold Wood?

Some of us like our bricks and russet tiles and the trees and hedges that add colour, softness and variety to our roads. Harold Wood has a tradition and a character and even a touch of rural charm that will be lost if they do not develop the hospital site with some sensitivity and thoughtfulness. Cramming eight hundred and seventy houses onto the hospital site may help to achieve some nebulous Whitehall target and make a fat profit for a few people, but it will destroy the nature of the area. Harold Wood will become just a further extension of the metropolitan sprawl and its identity will be gone. We realise that others have a right to share what we enjoy. However, if you saturate an area with housing and put excessive pressure on local services you destroy the very essence of the area.

There are major practical problems that arise from these plans. We have excellent local doctors and dentists but they are not sufficient for the area as it is today. How will they cope with an influx of nearly two thousand new residents?
And what about the train service? The trains start to fill up at Harold Wood and they are packed by the time they leave Romford. With the extra passengers joining at Harold Wood it will make life worse for those joining the train at Romford and beyond because One Railway and Liverpool Street Station have not got any more space to run more trains on an already busy timetable. If they do not use the trains the new residents are going to have to join the daily crawl across Havering, pouring out onto Gubbins Lane, which is already packed with traffic. The notion that they are going to be able to escape from the other side of the site is equally hopeless with them trying to get into the traffic queue which often stretches from the front of Tesco right back to the A12.

What about the impact on the local schools? It is possible that the two primary schools could cope with the increase in younger pupils. The problem comes when the children want to go to their local secondary school. Redden Court is a successful and popular school and over the past few years it has become increasingly difficult for parents from parts of Harold Wood to get their children into what they see as their local Harold Wood community school. If there are going to be significant numbers of new secondary age pupils, coming off the new housing area, then there will be even less chance for those at the edge of Harold Wood. They will be driven out of Havering altogether and have to go to schools in Essex. The schools in Essex are very good but we live in Havering and we want our children to go to our local school.

We are not against building houses on the old hospital site. We just want a reasonable number built there that match the existing housing stock and blend into the area. The style and density of the proposed houses is wrong for the area.
Ironically the company behind this development are our neighbours. They are based in Brentwood. So you would think that they have some idea what Harold Wood looks like now and might even spare a thought for their friends a few miles down the road.

If you feel inclined to express a view about this project please write calmly and politely to your local representatives. A list has been compiled of some of them.

If you have any suggestions [polite, of course] or ideas please share them with us so that we can share them with the wider community. Remember, it will be no good moaning about this in a year or two when it is too late. We need to make our voices heard now!