Site Background
The 2.33-hectare site consists of scrubland with a limited ecological value, though it is situated only 400m from Grange Hill Underground Station making it highly accessible and sustainable.
Removal of site from the Green Belt
A previous planning application for the site was submitted in 2018 and was refused in June 2022, principally on the grounds of representing development considered inappropriate for the Green Belt, in spite of the very special circumstances that were argued by the previous applicant.
The site was subsequently removed from the Green Belt and allocated for specialist residential development in the adopted Epping Forest District Local Plan under Policy CHIG.R4. Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) identified a significant need for specialist housing for older people that was not likely to be met without an allocation within the Local Plan, and therefore exceptional circumstances for the site’s release from the Green Belt were met.
Supporting un-met need for later living accommodation
The proposals will help manage the impacts of wider demographic changes of an ageing population in Epping Forest and nationwide.
Epping Forest
- 16.6% increase in people aged 65+ between 2011 and 2021.
- The number of households aged 65+ is estimated to grow by at least 7,400 between 2021 – 2037.
- The number of households aged 85+ is estimated to grow by 4,100 over the same period.
Nationwide
- The Mayhew Report, an independent review of the retirement housing sector in the UK, has suggested the Government must built 50,000 new homes for older people each year – 1 in 4 of all new homes.
- The Homes for Later Living Report (2019) estimates that building 30,000 more retirement housing dwellings every year for the next 10 years would generate fiscal savings across the NHS and social services of £2.1bn per year.