Councillors Messages
District News
Both Neil and I welcome you to this issue of District News
Uttlesford District Council
Local Plan update
To follow requirements of the Local Plan procedure the Local Plan team are conducting a six-week consultation on the proposed Modifications and accompanying documentation will be published on the UDC website on Monday 15 September at 10:00am.
To my knowledge It will be an online consultation however, full details on how to reply can be found on the website Local Plan portal (The new Local Plan) from 10am, 15th September 2025. The consultations will close on 27th October 2025.
Recycle your electricals with kerbside collection service
This service is now in operation, recycle small electrical items with your weekly kerbside bin collections in Uttlesford.
All you need to do is leave items – such as hairdryers, toasters and kettles etc – in a carrier bag on top of the bin when you put out your bins on the usual collection day. The items will be checked by our crews to ensure they can be recycled and then removed for storage at the collection depot ready for the final recycling process.
If you do not have a kerbside bin collection, you can continue to recycle small electricals at the drop-off points at Saffron Walden and Dunmow libraries, and at local recycling centres.
For more information go to the UDC website:
Local government reorganisation
Local government reorganisation is where the structure and responsibilities of our existing local authorities are reconfigured.
Most residents and businesses in Essex are currently served by a 2-tier system of local government.
Essex County Council is responsible for services such as adults' and children's social care, maintaining roads, libraries and waste disposal and the 12 district, borough and city councils are responsible for services such as rubbish collection, housing and planning and environmental health. Southend and Thurrock operate as unitary authorities, meaning they manage most local services independently.
The government wants to move away from the 2-tier system to a simpler council structure in Essex. This will make it clearer who is responsible for local services. The process is known as Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).
A new website has been launched to help you stay informed about LGR in Greater Essex. It includes frequently asked questions, an explainer video and updates on the business cases being submitted to the government.
https://www.essexlgrhub.org/stronger-greater-essex
What this means for Essex
The government believes reorganising and simplifying councils can drive economic growth while delivering better public services. This would mean that all 15 existing councils in Essex would be abolished and replaced by several large unitary councils that would be responsible for all local authority services in their area.
Parish and town councils would be unaffected.
These new councils would formally start to run services from 1st April 2028.
There are four proposals to be put forward to Government on or before 26th September 2025. 1 x 5, 2 x 4 and 1 x 3 Unitary bodies.
Uttlesford District Councillors have been supplied with all four business plans and will vote on 23rd September 2025 to achieve this deadline. It is expected that the government will announce its decision in March 2026.
You can also find out more by searching Local government reorganisation on the UDC website
Ward Surgeries
Normal Ward surgeries will take place on the first Tuesday of the month at Great Hallingbury Village Hall, between 2 – 4pm (07 October 2025).
Little Hallingbury Village Hall (17 October 2025) between 9 – 11 am.
The future of this event will be reviewed on 19 September and may be changed to a weekday late afternoon/evening event, suggestions are welcome. The afternoon surgery on Thursday 16 October will be held at the normal location and time, the Dukes Head PH, Hatfield Broad Oak between 2 – 4pm.
And the normal reminder, that should you need to contact Neil or myself (Geof), you can email us on the following addresses.
cllrdriscoll@uttlesford.gov.uk or cllrreeve@uttlesford.gov.uk