The Gilston Area
To help meet the challenging level of housing need in East Herts, the council has allocated land in the Gilston Area for a new development of 10,000 homes.
The allocation was approved after a lengthy independent examination by the Planning Inspectorate and the site forms part of the development strategy identified in the East Herts District Plan 2018.
In addition to new homes, the site will deliver a significant amount of new infrastructure including schools, health facilities and parks. One of the headline aspirations of the council is the creation of a new place where residents are able to lead healthy and active lifestyles. A key goal is to ensure and enable sustainable transport choices – prioritising walking, cycling and public transport.
Substantial financial contributions will also be made to off-site infrastructure. Infrastructure secured will therefore include new connections and road space for sustainable transport, linking the Gilston Area to key destinations in Harlow.
Planning permission was granted for two outline planning applications for Villages 1-6 (reference 3/19/1045/OUT) and Village 7 (3/19/2124/OUT) on 9th January 2025.
All documents associated with the applications such as the s106 legal agreement and decision notice (which contains the planning conditions) can be found on the East Herts Planning Portal link on the right side or bottom of this page and enter the relevant East Herts Council reference numbers above.
The Strategic Landscape Masterplan conditions for both outline applications have been submitted for discharge.
The Village 7 Masterplan conditions have been submitted for discharge.
Information on submitted conditions and reserved matters applications will be listed on the planning application portal when searching for the outline application reference numbers above. The two developers have launched a new website: gilston.info which will record information such as planned construction works and provide a means for the community to report any estates management issues.
Current and planned construction activities [sub-heading]
Construction related works are underway on the Central Stort Crossing scheme (reference 3/19/1046/FUL) with works on the Eastern Stort Crossing (reference 3/19/1051/FUL) to follow later in 2026.
Improvement works were recently complete on the Fiddlers’ Brook Footbridge (reference 3/19/1049/LBC)
Essex County Council are delivering the first part of the Sustainable Transport Corridor from the Burnt Mill Roundabout to Harlow Town Centre, with works due to be completed by end of 2025
East Herts Council
- Jenny Pierce - Gilston Area Team Leader. Jenny has overall responsibility for the Gilston area project. Her key focuses are the infrastructure proposals (Central Stort Crossing and Eastern Stort Crossing) and the Places for People development known as Villages 1-6.
- Emily Harvey - Village 7 Lead. Emily is responsible for the Taylor Wimpey development for Village 7, focusing on the masterplanning and legal agreement workstreams.
- Kevin Steptoe - East Herts Garden Town Lead. East Herts lead for Harlow and Gilston Garden Town, Kevin also works on aspects of Gilston relating to the legal agreement and compulsory purchase workstreams.
- Ciaran McCullagh – Urban Design and Conservation Lead. Ciaran is the East Herts lead in terms of heritage and conservation matters. He is also working on the masterplan workstreams.
If you are interested in joining the Gilston Team please email Gilston.applications@eastherts.gov.uk.
Hertfordshire County Council
- Matthew Wood – Growth and Infrastructure Lead. Matt is the Hertfordshire County Council lead for the Gilston Area development. He ensures liaison and collaboration in relation to county matters, including on the masterplan workstreams.
- Roger Flowerday – Transport Lead. Roger is the Hertfordshire County Council lead for the Gilston Area development in relation to strategic transport planning. He ensures liaison and collaboration in relation to county highways matters.
Places for People
Philip Murphy. Phil is the main contact at Quod who are planning agents for PfP.
Taylor Wimpey
- Will Lusty. Will is the main contact at Savills who are planning agents for Taylor Wimpey.
The Gilston Area Monitoring Framework was endorsed by the Council on 23 July 2025
The purpose of the Monitoring Framework is to provide an overarching approach that explains how the Gilston Area (GA) development will be monitored, the key milestones for delivery and helps to ensure that relevant planning policies are implemented. It explains how the required infrastructure and identified mitigations to support the development will be monitored to ensure they are delivered in accordance with the agreed timescales, throughout the build out of the development. The Monitoring Framework sets out how the monitoring process for the development will ensure that the high-level vision and objectives of the Development Plan and other relevant guidance, are delivered. It outlines:
• The policy and planning context for the Framework
• How the development will be monitored
• The role of various parties in undertaking monitoring activities
• How monitoring outputs will be reported
• How we will manage compliance and resolve issues
• The need to ensure the framework is up to date.
Appendix A of the Framework contains two tables that track the progress of the development. These will be updated regularly as the project moved forward. For convenience Table 1 has been separated into two tables, one for Villages 1-6 and one for Village 7
Table 1: Planning Process Milestones for Villages 1-6
Table 1: Planning Process Milestones for Village 7
Table 2: Development Phasing and Infrastructure Delivery – to follow
Appendix B of the Framework contains a Monitoring Matrix that provides an overview of the different categories of the development that require monitoring broken down by theme, which body organisation is responsible for leading on monitoring, requirements, triggers and targets and strategic objectives, principles and policies against which they will be assessed in terms of outcomes.
Monitoring Matrix
