Harlow Town Station at Fifty Years

I was very proud today as MP for Harlow to have opened the new refurbishment of Harlow Town Station and cut the ribbon for the new car park. The Station was celebrating its fifty years with a brand new facelift.

It was a great celebration. The many guests were welcomed by the incredible Harlow Steel Band which played just outside the Station Entrance. As we all assembled upstairs, there were a number of speeches, from National Express, Essex Council and Harlow Renaissance.

When I spoke, I made the point that in Harlow, we always use the term 'Gateway' to describe various regeneration proposals. Yet, there could never be more obvious a 'Gateway' than our main railway station. For years, this has been an iconic building, yet quite grim inside.

No longer. It now has a beautiful wooden ceiling, two new excellent lifts and state of the art floors and benches. At last people arriving in Harlow will feel that the Town really is the place to be. I only hope that Network Express will repair the damaged roof and restore the platform, as well as National Express have taken care of their part of the station.

The Station plays an important part in the regeneration of Harlow : changing what is necessary in order to conserve what is best about Harlow's traditions.

I enjoyed too, meeting many of the station staff, who put so much work in making the new station a reality. The new station car-park, is a similar success story, completed two months earlier than planned. Hopefully the Station parking problems will now be over.

P.S. It was great to see the exhibition prepared by Harlow Museum Historian David Devine. All the history of the station is contained in a huge frame which hangs proudly on the station wall.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Busy Day in the Commons: Apprentices and Business Rates

I was fortunate to have two opportunities to ask questions in the Commons today. At Questions for Business, Innovation and Skills, I was able again to highlight the Essex Council Apprenticeship scheme as an example of best practice for the rest of the country. This was recognised by Business Secretary Vince Cable who set out the Government plan for Apprenticeships. You can read the full exchange here: (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/01.htm)

Later I was able to intervene during questions on Parliamentary Business. As you can see from the exchanges below my question concerned business rates. To incentivise local regeneration, it is vital that local business rates are spent locally and not salted away by the Treasury. My question to the Leader of the House of Commons yielded hints of a positive outcome:



Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con): Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate to follow up the important issue of business rates and major regeneration schemes? In the Gracious Speech, we saw our first glimpse of the excellent Bill for decentralisation and localism, which promises to give local communities a real share in local growth. In my constituency of Harlow, the regeneration of the town centre would be hugely supported if a greater share of the new business rates could be kept in the local community.

Sir George Young: My hon. Friend makes a forceful point. There will be CLG questions a week today, when he will be able to press the Ministers on that, but I agree that it is important that those who pay business rates should have access to the relief that they are entitled to automatically, and that there should be opportunities to recycle the business rates within the local community.


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Our Newhall Visit

I mentioned to you on Tuesday, that Greg Clark, Shadow Environment and Climate Change Minister was visiting Newhall. I thought you might like to know what transpired.

I was pleased to go with Greg Clark to meet the Moen Brothers who were behind the development. They have a vision for Newhall and for Harlow which is quite remarkable.

Mr Clark was shown how the development features energy-saving initiatives and is built with the local habitat in mind.

I wanted to show Greg the ground-breaking and sustainable housebuilding project. Newhall is a great example of this. The care that has been taken in building sustainable materials for the houses, including energy-saving measures, is excellent.

Similarly, the placing of reed beds and the efforts made to preserve natural habitat, including a preponderance of great-crested newts, shows just how dedicated Newhall is in developing in harmony with local habitat.

Newhall is a place that Harlow will be proud of for decades to come. I am really looking forward to the development of the rest of the site.

Greg Clark said that he was delighted to come to Newhall today to meet Jon and William Moen, who were behind the development. His view is that creating buildings that use energy efficiently helps residents save money, reduces our dependence on imported fuel and is good for the environment. He saw Newhall as combining striking architecture with a focus on sustainable buildings.

I couldn't agree more. Now wonder it is a place that is attracting national attention.

For more details, click on this weblink on the Harlow Star website.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

One of the largest developments in England.....

.......is about to occur in Harlow, if everything goes as planned. This is what I heard tonight, when I attended the visionary and imaginative exhibition that set out proposals to regenerate Harlow's Town Centre. It is envisaged - through a strong partnership with Harlow Council, Harlow Renaissance and Stockland Development - that by 2013, the town centre will be rebuilt, transformed and will be unrecognisable from its current state. The aim, according to the tri-partite partnership is to:

"reintegrate Harlow Town Centre North with the rest of the town centre and include proposals for new shops, businesses and homes alongside transformed public spaces, a new bus interchange and new leisure facilities".

I am very excited about these plans. Not only will the Town Centre become a hub of cafes, major retail department stores, a new hotel and possibly a new theatre, but the image of Harlow will be enhanced. No longer will snobs and people who should know better, have any simplistic or ignorant excuse to criticise the Town, in the way they do at present. Harlow will be an even better and bigger place to come to, shop, and enjoy local facilities.

I was struck tonight, not just with the unity of all the major political parties, but also with the passionate and heartfelt speeches made by the representatives of the partners involved. Council Leader, Cllr. Andrew Johnson and senior Liberal, Cllr. Linda Pailing in particular set out what the regeneration would do for Harlow, and what it meant for them and the constituents they represented. For Labour, Cllr. Mark Wilkinson, read out a statement of support from the Labour MP, Bill Rammell, who was unable to attend. Stockland and Harlow Renaissance told the assembled audience, in no uncertain terms, their determination to make this vision as a reality.

The partnership team is encouraging as many people as possible to come to the Exhibition, which is open for the next few days and is opposite McDonalds in the former Dorothy Perkins Store (next to Vodafone). It is well worth going to see. They also want as many people as possible to set out their views on their website. It is essential, that the public comment and make their views known to the developers and the partners, so that the final plans, really do reflect local aspirations and desires. I left the event feeling inspired by what I had seen and heard. Roll on 2013.

For full details of the proposals you can click on HERE. To leave feedback, go on to HERE.

By Rob Halfon ~ Working hard for Harlow, Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon & Sheering. http//roberthalfon.blogspot.com