THEYDON BOIS: Will Green Belt worries scupper car park plan? (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

THEYDON BOIS: Will Green Belt worries scupper car park plan?

3:56pm Friday 25th July 2008 in Search By David Jackman

A COMMUTER car park for hundreds of vehicles is being planned for Theydon Bois.

Owners of land next to the station intend to submit plans to Epping Forest District Council for a car park with a minimum of 250 spaces.

The land owners believe additional car parking on their land would take pressure off the streets of Theydon Bois and provide an addition to the limited parking available for commuters since the introduction of numerous yellow line schemes around the village.

George Bramley, the major shareholder in the consortium which owns the land, said: “The council is creating a need for car parking but not providing a solution.

“The introduction of the restricted parking in the area has increased the parking problem.”

The proposed car park site would be accessed off Abridge Road where a new junction has already been approved providing access into Blunts Farm Estate.

A consortium spokesman said: “An internal estate road would access the car park which can be laid out almost immediately adjacent to the station.

“Pedestrian access to the station is easily available by footpath and the public footbridge over the railway line.”

Theydon Bois Parish Council vice-chairman Jacq Dodman said the council could not comment until a planning application had been received.

However, she added: “All of the land on the east side of the railway line in Theydon Bois is Metropolitan Green Belt. Green Belt was established to prevent urban sprawl and large scale car parks are certainly not permitted under any of the planning guidance.

“We realise that commuters need spaces to park but perhaps a more appropriate solution is the reopening of the railway line to Ongar.”

Sue Sowerby, chairwoman of the Theydon Bois Action Group, told the Guardian: “This site has caused much consternation locally, and we will study the planning application in detail when we receive it.

“As ever, we are committed to protecting the Metropolitan Green Belt in the village.”

The would-be applicants are seeking the views of local people before any application is submitted.

They want to know whether people believe that additional commuter car parking is needed in Theydon Bois and whether the proposed location – on the opposite side of the line from the existing station car park – is sufficiently accessible to the station.

Responses can be emailed to the consortium at tfl.parking@live.co.uk.