Harlow planning: 118 homes built, 4.9 years of land

Harlow completed 118 new homes in the year to March 2025. The Local Plan asked for 501. That is the lowest annual figure in the whole plan period, lower than any year since the plan began in 2011, and it has pushed the district’s supply of housing land to 4.9 years when national policy requires five.

The council is blunt about why, and it is not planning refusals. Its own Housing Land Supply Monitor says the drop is “not as a result of a lack of planning permissions being granted or Local Plan delay, but due in the main to the development industry not being able to deliver sites or choosing not to build out the sites”. (Harlow Council, Housing Land Supply Monitor 2024 to 2025)

Below is what that means for applications near you, where the new Local Plan has got to, and the three schemes worth watching this month.

The numbers behind the shortfall

The adopted Harlow Local Development Plan, in force since 10 December 2020, sets a requirement of 9,200 homes between 2011 and 2033. The Planning Inspector who examined it agreed to a stepped target: 361 homes a year to March 2024, then 501 a year to 2033, because the big sites were always going to arrive late in the plan period. (Housing Land Supply Monitor 2024 to 2025)

By March 2025 the district had completed 5,183 homes of the 9,200, leaving 4,017 still to build in eight years. The five-year requirement is 2,516 homes and the council can identify 2,576, which sounds comfortable until the 5 per cent buffer the National Planning Policy Framework requires is applied. That takes the achievable figure to 97.51 per cent, or 4.9 years of deliverable supply.

Over the whole plan period the council now expects 9,026 homes against the 9,200 required, an undersupply of 174. A year earlier the same monitor forecast a small oversupply of 103.

What 4.9 years means if you object to something

This is the part that matters at street level. Where a council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites, the National Planning Policy Framework treats the policies that are most important for deciding a housing application as out of date. Paragraph 11(d) then says permission should be granted unless the harm significantly and demonstrably outweighs the benefits, or a specific protection such as flood risk or a heritage asset gives a strong reason to refuse. (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, National Planning Policy Framework, December 2024, paragraph 11 and footnote 8)

In plain terms, the balance tilts towards the developer. It does not mean anything goes, and Harlow is only just below the line rather than far below it, but an objection that leans on the Local Plan alone carries less weight than it did a year ago. Objections that turn on highway safety, drainage, trees, daylight or the detail of what is proposed are unaffected.

One test Harlow currently passes: the 2023 Housing Delivery Test, the most recent the government has published for the district, recorded 1,504 homes delivered against a requirement of 964, so no penalty buffer or action plan applies. The 2024 result had not been published when the monitor went out, and on a year of 118 completions it is unlikely to read as well.

Why the two biggest sites have stalled

Almost all of the gap traces to two schemes.

East of Harlow is the strategic site on the eastern edge of the town, part of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town. It is planned to bring around 3,350 homes in total, 2,600 of them inside Harlow district and 750 in Epping Forest, along with new primary and secondary schools, nursery provision, a health and wellbeing campus and rapid bus transit. Harlow and Epping Forest councils adopted a joint Supplementary Planning Document for it in September 2024. (Harlow and Gilston Garden Town, East Harlow) The Local Plan’s step up to 501 homes a year was built on this site delivering, and the council says it is now “only providing a minimum contribution to the five-year supply”.

Princess Alexandra Hospital. The Local Plan counted on the hospital moving to a new site and its existing land in the town being redeveloped for housing. The new hospital is in the government’s New Hospital Programme, and under the timetable set out in January 2025 construction is not expected to begin until between 2032 and 2034. (BBC News, Timetable confirmed for hospital rebuild) The council’s monitor records the consequence flatly: the existing hospital site “now falls outside of the Local Plan period”.

Some larger town centre consents, including the Strawberry Star scheme, have also been slow to start on site.

The new Local Plan: your first say is due this autumn

Harlow is writing a replacement Local Plan under the new plan-making system created by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, which gives councils a 30-month window to produce one. The council published a Local Development Scheme in March 2025 setting out the timetable, and repeated it in the Authority Monitoring Report for 2024 to 2025. (Harlow Council, Local Development Scheme 2025)

The October to December window is described by the council as the “first formal opportunity for communities and stakeholders to comment”, and it is the stage where the spatial options are still open, meaning where growth goes rather than what a single application looks like. That is the point to engage if you have a view on where Harlow builds next. The council had not published the consultation dates or documents at the time of writing.

A second thing to note about timing: the adopted plan passed its fifth birthday in December 2025. The 2024 to 2025 monitor was able to measure supply against the plan because at 31 March 2025 the plan was still under five years old. Future monitors will have to measure it against the government’s standard method for local housing need instead, which the council notes currently works out at 418 homes a year across the plan period.

Three schemes to watch

Latton Priory: 1,340 homes, refused, now at appeal

The largest live planning fight on Harlow’s doorstep is not in Harlow district at all. Latton Priory sits north of Rye Hill Road, just over the southern boundary in Epping Forest, and is one of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town sites. The outline application by Commercial Estates Projects Ltd and Hallam Land, reference EPF/1793/24, proposes up to 1,340 homes with primary and secondary schools, residential and supported care accommodation, a local centre, traveller pitches, playing fields and new road, cycle and pedestrian routes. (Harlow Council, Latton Priory response to be “focused on needs of Harlow residents”)

Epping Forest District Council’s Planning Committee B refused it on 25 February 2026, citing insufficient affordable housing, the impact on traffic and transport, the absence of a legal agreement securing infrastructure, and protection of the natural environment including Epping Forest itself. On 17 July 2026 the council confirmed that Hallam Land and CEG had appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, and that it would defend the refusal at a public inquiry. Councillor Chris Whitbread, the leader of Epping Forest District Council, said: “This council will not accept poor-quality development imposed on our communities.” (Epping Forest District Council, Council to defend refusal of Latton Priory development following appeal)

No inquiry date has been set. Harlow Council, which is not the decision-maker but submitted a formal response, has said its position is “focused on the needs of Harlow residents”. If you commented on the original application, the Planning Inspectorate will normally write to you about the appeal.

Terminus House: the council now owns it

Terminus House, the office block above the bus station converted to flats under permitted development rights and long treated as shorthand for the town centre’s decline, is now in council hands. Contracts were exchanged in August 2025 and the purchase completed on 4 August 2026, with the building fully vacated after the previous owner rehoused all non-Harlow residents elsewhere. (Harlow Council, Harlow Council completes purchase of empty Terminus House)

The published decision record shows the council intends to take around £24m of Public Works Loan Board borrowing to refinance the acquisition, following approval of the funding options in the 2026/27 budget. (Harlow Council, Decision details: Town Centre Strategy, Terminus House, 4 August 2026) Dan Swords, the leader of the council, said the building “became a symbol of everything that had gone wrong in our town centre” and that the council had promised “we would buy it, clear it and redevelop it”. No planning application for its redevelopment has been submitted yet, so the design, the number of homes and the demolition question are all still open.

Fieldfare Way: a care home and a shop, decided this week

At Gilden Park, the council has applied to itself for a 64-bedroom care home and a 242 square metre convenience store on 0.45 hectares of vacant land south of Fieldfare Way, the plot last used as the site compound for the Gilden Park housing. The care home would be four storeys with 23 parking spaces, offering residential, nursing, memory and respite care for people aged 65 and over; the shop is single storey with 15 spaces. Officers recommend approval, and the Development Management Committee decides it on 12 August 2026, reference HW/FUL/26/00169. (Harlow Council, Development Management Committee agenda, 12 August 2026)

How to check and comment on an application yourself

Harlow’s planning register is online and free to search. Every current application, the plans, the officer’s report and the comments already submitted are on it.

• Search the register at planningonline.harlow.gov.uk. You can search by address, postcode, application reference or a date range.
• You have three weeks to comment. The council says that for most applications the statutory consultation period is three weeks from the date the consultation letters go out. (Harlow Council, Search and comment on planning applications)
• Comments go to the case officer, who takes them into account whether the decision is made under delegated powers or at committee.
• Major schemes go to the Development Management Committee, which meets in the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre and is webcast. To speak you must register with Democratic Services at least 24 hours beforehand; three speakers for and three against, three minutes each.
• Sites over the boundary are not Harlow’s to decide. Latton Priory is Epping Forest’s, and Gilston is East Hertfordshire’s, so comments go to those councils even when the traffic lands in Harlow.

Frequently asked questions

Does Harlow have a five-year housing land supply?

No, not quite. At 31 March 2025 the council calculated 4.9 years of deliverable supply once the 5 per cent National Planning Policy Framework buffer is applied. It describes this as “just” short of the requirement.

How many homes does Harlow have to build?

9,200 between 2011 and 2033 under the adopted Local Development Plan, on a stepped trajectory of 361 a year to March 2024 and 501 a year after that. Averaged across the plan period that is 418 a year.

When can I comment on the new Local Plan?

The council’s published timetable puts the first formal, eight-week public consultation in October to December 2026, with adoption in November 2028. Dates had not been confirmed at the time of writing.

Is the new hospital still happening?

Yes, but not soon. Under the timetable the government set out in January 2025, construction of the new Princess Alexandra Hospital is expected to start between 2032 and 2034, which is why the existing hospital site no longer counts towards the Local Plan’s housing supply.

Sources

• Harlow Council, Housing Land Supply Monitor 2024 to 2025 for completions, the five-year supply calculation, the plan requirement and the quotations on delivery.
• Harlow Council, Authority Monitoring Report 2024 to 2025 and Local Development Scheme 2025 for the new Local Plan timetable.
• National Planning Policy Framework, December 2024, paragraph 11 and footnote 8, for what a shortfall in supply does to decision-making.
• Epping Forest District Council, Council to defend refusal of Latton Priory development following appeal and Harlow Council, Latton Priory response for the appeal and the application detail.
• Harlow and Gilston Garden Town, East Harlow for the East of Harlow site.
• BBC News, Timetable confirmed for hospital rebuild for the Princess Alexandra Hospital construction window.
• Harlow Council, Terminus House purchase and the decision record of 4 August 2026 for the acquisition and its financing.
• Development Management Committee agenda, 12 August 2026 for the Fieldfare Way application.
• Harlow Council, Search and comment on planning applications and the online planning register.

Checked on 10 August 2026. Planning positions change; the register is the record.

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