Essex town closer to Stansted Airport than London wanted an …

Two airports, a port, hundreds of miles of roads and a vast train network which covers all corners of East Anglia. It’s fair to say that Essex has a pretty comprehensive transport system.

With London Underground stations in Brentwood, Epping, Shenfield and Loughton – and not to forget the likes of Romford, Ilford, and Barking in historic Essex – we also have excellent connections into central London.

Just two years ago, however, Harlow Council announced they would look into an extension of the Central Line into Harlow town centre. That line currently goes as far as Epping, but an extension of almost 10 miles to Harlow would have been a significant expansion into Essex.

It came as part of the council’s ambitions to be “the best town in Britain to raise your family, to send your kids to school, to start a business, to live and to be”.

Councillor Michael Hardware (Cons.) said at the time: “With Harlow’s close proximity to London our plans include investigating the potential for the extension of the central line to Harlow, lobbying to extend London Transport Zones to Harlow, examining connectivity to Crossrail 2 and promoting four tracking of the mainline to Stansted Airport as well as improving existing public transport links in and out of the town.

“Our Town Plan, which will detail our ambitions, is being developed at present. A draft of the plan will be brought forwards within weeks and we will be involving the whole town in our vision with full consultation on the plan be held in the autumn. The draft plan will include our ambitions for levelling up transport infrastructure and much more besides.”

Speaking previously to the LDRS, Dr James Fowler, a lecturer at the University of Essex Business School and expert of London transport, said there was “no doubt” a tube station would benefit Harlow, but conceded residents should “check the small print” over factors like journey times.

He said: “I know that Harlow is very well served already, so the big question is how fast is that connection once it goes in. Your speed of getting into town on the tube is the real convenience, so that’s the thing that people in Harlow would want to watch and see what they get at the end of it.”

Harlow Council were approached to understand their latest viewpoint on the proposals but did not respond.

References

1. ^{^} The family-run Essex pub with an outdoor cinema in its beer garden (www.essexlive.news)