Town Council seeks to ban further massive developments

Loughton Town Council has requested a one-mile cordon sanitaire around the Forest in Loughton, where no new dwellings or huge enlargements would be permitted, to minimise future damage to the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation. The request follows realisation of the full impact of development and future proposals on the Special Area such as Jessel Green and Woodberrie (pictured seemingly towering over the existing house) in the York Hill Conservation Area. An irony to the Woodberrie development is that the Arts and Crafts house may now have figured twice in momentous change in the last 50 years. In 1972 the Hills Amenity Society was formed to oppose development by pulling down the old house and erecting four new homes. This followed in due course with the creation of the York Hill and then Baldwins Hill and Staples Road Conservation Areas.