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Welcome to Roy's Harlow

Harlow is a town in the South East of England in the County of Essex.
The town is about 26 miles from the centre of London and 18 miles from Stansted airport.
Harlow is on the borders of the county of Essex and the county of Hertfordshire,so close that while standing in Harlow you can have a foot in both counties.
Harlow has all of the amenities you would expect of a modern town.
Sports are well catered for. See over 100 Harlow Sporting Links.
Industry is diverse, many firms taking advantage of the M11 and the nearby A10 linking Harlow with London, Cambridge, Stansted Airport and the M25 & A14.
Harlow now has two enterprise zones.

Harlow was one of the first new towns constructed since the Second World War.

In 2017 Harlow "new town" celebrated it's 70th birthday.

Harlow's current population is around 89,000 but the immediate local area population would be well over 100,000.
Harlow's population is increasing daily, with over 20,000 new homes built or planned in the area, but not the infrastructure to cope with any additional traffic.

Harlow's Future

The Conservative Party decided to free up even more green belt land for housing to the North, South and East of Harlow.

Harlow & Gilston Garden Town has nothing to do with Harlow

To call a Conservative-run East Hertfordshire council new development, Harlow seems to me to be an insult to Harlow residents.
It is just using the same name, Harlow, as a previous East Hertfordshire proposed development project with 20,000 houses, "Harlow North" in another East Hertfordshire village of Hunsdon.
Conservative-run East Hertfordshire council and the developers have taken the name Harlow and made it their own.

There is a significant difference between Harlow New Town and Gilston Garden Town.
Harlow New Town was built for a population of 60,000 by the Labour party using council houses.
There will not be any council housing in Gilston Garden Town, just some social housing.
Gilston Garden Town has some "affordable housing" amongst its initial 8,500 homes.

There will be another bridge at the Burnt Mill roundabout, linking together with Eastwick roundabout.
Both roundabouts will have traffic lights on them, giving priority to buses, cyclists and pedestrians.
There will be a bus every six minutes from Gilston garden town to Harlow Station and Harlow Town Centre.
Plus a 40 mph speed limit on the A414 next to the village of Eastwick, with traffic lights for a pedestrian crossing.
Why?
With all of the buses linking Hertfordshire and Essex with a new bridge at Burnt Mill it seems strange that Conservative-run East Hertfordshire council
would need another massive road structure to come into Harlow within Riverway, into the centre of Harlow's main shopping centre Templefields.
Unless, of course, this development is just the start of much more significant housing developments in Hertfordshire.
The Hertfordshire traffic might need to access the M11, and unfortunately, the town of Harlow is in the way.

Friends of Latton Island have put forward a less expensive proposal to the Stort Crossing both in environmental cost and monetary cost.
Redricks Lane offers the Gilston "garden" town access to the M11 whilst keeping most of the development and road infrastructure within Hertfordshire.
Places for People are the driving force behind Gilston Garden Town.
It will be interesting to see how they explain away their environmental impact on the Stort crossing. (see "The road to Harlow video")
It is not just a bridge. The crossing is a major road development with two large roundabouts and a massive culvert all on "virgin" land,
most of which was used as a landfill rubbish dump, with numerous health hazards when it is dug up.

Sustainable Transport Corridors see link
There are three new housing developments, to the North, South and East.
The Conservative proposal is to link the developments together through Harlow town centre using Sustainable Transport Corridors.
What will this mean for Harlow?
If you drive a car, van or lorry, you will face many obstacles,Traffic Lights on roundabouts, bus lanes and cycle lanes on housing estates roads.
If you thought you had a problem parking now, just wait until the cycle lanes are outside your door.
Then there are the traffic lights on the roundabouts, prioritising buses, pedestrians, and cyclists.
The whole of Harlow will be impacted, not just the North of Harlow.
I have asked Essex County Council about Southern Way, Staple Tye roundabout; no information was given despite repeated requests.
You only have to look at the map to see where the Sustainable Transport Corridors will go.
To date, I know of four roundabouts that will have the traffic lights on them these are:
Velizy Roundabout,(Central Avenue) at the junction of Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue and First Avenue.
This means if you work at the Pinnacles you should be aware of delays getting to and from work, the last time authorities put traffic lights on a roundabout the Pinnacles Industrial Estate ground to a halt.
Riverway Roundabout, at the junction of Edinburgh Way the A414, and Central Road, in Templefields.
This will be needed for all of the Hertfordshire traffic if the proposed Stort Crossing goes ahead.
There is always traffic backing up from Harlow Retail Park traffic lights in both directions, it will be interesting to see, that is if your not in your car queuing.
It could be the "death nail" for Templefields shopping centres and Macdonalds.
Plus, of course, there are the Burnt Mill and Eastwick roundabouts.
I have not managed to find out if the Sustainable Transport Corridor will compromise Howard Way roundabout at Templefields A414 or at The Stow roundabout, where First Avenue crosses Howard Way.
The failed Sustainable Transport Corridor
“The Church Langley Express.”was built as a Sustainable Transport Corridor, with bus lanes and priority traffic lights on Second Avenue, it failed to be sustainable.
The express hardly ever runs today.
The S.T.C. was responsible for the “Water Gardens” roundabout, the cause of so many crashes and queues, where two dual carriageways, Velizy Avenue
(Central Avenue) and Third Avenue, attempt to merge into a single lane Second Avenue, past the Leisure Zone.
You could note the designers of Church Langley Express Sustainable Transport Corridor could have put what is being proposed for Harlow today on Church Langley roundabout and the Clock Tower roundabout.
Can you imagine the traffic queues?
Then think about what the Conservatives are proposing today with their Sustainable Transport Corridors, how it will affect Harlow.

This project is backed by the Conservative Government, which might explain why all the Conservative councillors seem to be supporting this Conservative-run East Hertfordshire project.
It does not explain why Harlow and Essex Conservative councillors help other Conservative-run councils to make money in council taxes at the expense of Harlow.
None of the Council tax money will go to the poor Harlow Council.
Conservative-run Epping council will get the Southern and Eastern taxes, and Conservative-run East Herts council will get the Gilston Northern taxes.
All Harlow will get is the disruption and extra traffic with all of the Conservative projects, North, South and East developments.

This, to me, it poses a question, why do the Conservative party hate Harlow?
Many years ago, the Conservative party changed the planned Harlow New Town to save money, by building the M11 in the exact opposite position to the one that was promised to the master planner Sir Frederick Gibberd, this meant all of his plans for the New Town were destroyed.
All traffic going to the two zoned industrial estates, Pinnacles and Templefields, now have to go all the way through Harlow to reach the industrial estates, rather than the promised routes.


London Councils are increasing Harlow's population, by dumping their tenants in industrial units and office blocks within Harlow.
Many are nowhere near schools or doctors and have limited parking provision or none at all.
This has increased demands on local services,
Doctors practises have now seen their lists increase, putting more pressure on local Harlow residents ability to get a doctors appointment, putting more pressure on Princess Alexandra Hospital A & E department.
Schools have had a sudden unplanned rise in pupils putting more pressure on local Harlow residents ability to get the school they wanted.
Police have seen an increase in crime.
The actions of developers like Caridon have made Harlow negatively famous in the media for Caridon's redevelopment of Terminus House offices into flats.
Caridon have been given a major development contract by Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust.


In the 1950's the majority of the new town settlers came from North London, around Tottenham, Edmonton and Walthamstow, consequently there are a lot of Tottenham Hotspurs fans within the town.
With so many Spurs fans in Harlow there is a Spurs shop in the Harvey Centre, Spurs Store location map.

When it comes to retail there are two main shopping areas, The High, (town centre) Map and Temple Fields Industrial Estate Map where the larger "out of town" warehouse type shops are, this is increasingly the main shopping centre for Harlow.
Harlow Public transport links:
Harlow is served by two stations, Harlow Town and Harlow Mill linking to London, Cambridge and Stansted Airport, neither station is in the town centre.
In London the train terminates at Liverpool Street and Stratford Stations, the trains are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia
HarlowRide links to all the bus time tables and routes around Harlow.
Metro Cars   offer a licensed Private Hire mini cab service, plus Harlow Black Taxis

Harlow is the main town in the area for the emergency services, the fire and rescue , police and the East of England Paramedic Service all use it for their main local base.

The Police have the Western divisional headquarters in Harlow, covering the areas of Epping, Brentwood, Ongar and as far South as Chigwell.
There has always been a link to Harlow police but the new website (2020) was too inaccurate to link to any more, regrettably I've pulled it.
The Police station is closed of a night time, the best place to find a police officer is the A & E department at the hospital, where it seems there is always one or two cars parked up.

The hospital, Princess Alexandra is the main accident and emergency hospital for the area. Care Quality Commission report on Princess Alexandra Hospital
At the Conservative Party conference September 19th 2019 it was announced Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust will get the funding to build a new hospital next to a road that hasn't been built yet, (M11 junction 7a) to the East of Harlow near Sheering, Essex.
Looking at the prospect of a new hospital to the East of Harlow I will welcome the drop in noise pollution, I will not have sirens that exceed 90 decibels passing my front door all the time, though I think the residents of Old Harlow, Gilden Park, New Hall, etc will soon tire of the noise.

 

Harlow Shopping

Bensons for Beds

BENSONS FOR BEDS
Unit 3c
Queensgate Centre,
Templefields Ind Est,
Edinburgh Way
Harlow
Essex
CM20 2DH
Tel:01279 432259

MAP

B&Q


B&Q

6 The Oaks Retail Park,
Templefields Ind Est,
Howard Way,
Harlow, Essex
CM20 2AB
Tel: 01279 626634
Click & Collect

MAP

BOOTS
37 Broad Walk,
The High (Town centre )
Harlow, Essex.
CM20 1JA
Tel:01279 425771

MAP

CURRYS - PC WORLD

CURRYS - PC WORLD
Units 10-11
Queensgate Centre,
Templefields Ind Est,
Edinburgh Way,
Harlow,Essex.
CM20 2DA  

MAP

F.Hinds Jewellers

F HINDS
Harvey Centre
The High, (town centre)
Harlow,Essex.
CM20 1XP
Tel:01279 798744 

MAP

Go Outdoors 

GO OUTDOORS
Princes Gate Retail Park,
Templefields Ind Est,
Howard Way,
Harlow, Essex.
CM20 2SU
Tel:0844 3876815

MAP

HARLOW FOOD WAREHOUSE

HARLOW FOOD WAREHOUSE
The Oaks retail park,
Templefields Ind Est,
Howard Way,
Harlow, Essex.
CM20 2AB
Tel: 01279412511

Map

 

HARVEYS
Unit 3c
Queensgate Centre,
Templefields Ind Est,
Edinburgh Way
Harlow
Essex
CM20 2DH
Tel:01279 432259

MAP

ICELAND

ICELAND
22 Harvey Centre,

The High, (town centre)
Harlow
Essex
CM20 1XW
Tel: 01279 436374

MAP

JOLLEYS pet store

JOLLEYS
The Oaks Retail Park,
Templefields Ind Est,
Howard Way,
Harlow,Essex
CM20 2AB
Tel:01279 417290

MAP 

NEW LOOK

NEW LOOK
39 Broad Walk,
The High, (Town Centre)
Harlow, Essex
CM20 1JF
Tel: 01279 437354

MAP

THE ENTERTAINER Toys

THE ENTERTAINER
Harvey Centre,
The High, (town centre)
Harlow, Essex

CM20 1XR
Tel: 01279 417929

Map

THE RANGE

THE RANGE
St James Centre
Templefields Ind Est,
Edinburgh Way
Harlow,Essex
CM20 2DH 
Tel:01279 452332

Map

WICKES EXTRA DIY STORE

WICKES EXTRA
Princes Gate Retail Park ,
Templefields Ind Est,
Howard Way,
Harlow, Essex.
CM20 2DH
Tel: 01279 422322
Fax: 01279 425157

MAP

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