Harlow Online is an independent news and information site for Harlow, Saffron Walden and the towns between them. We work from public records, we link to them, and we are not connected to either council.
Two very different halves
Harlow is a post-war new town: planned neighbourhoods, green wedges between them, a town centre built from scratch and a public sculpture collection that came with the plan. It has its own district council. Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow are in Uttlesford, a rural district of old market towns and villages that also contains Stansted Airport, and airport-related development is a permanent subject in its planning papers. The two ends have little in common beyond a county, and we write about them as the separate places they are.
What we report
Each council’s planning register and committee papers, licensing notices, police.uk crime data, HM Land Registry sold prices, Food Standards Agency hygiene ratings, Environment Agency flood warnings for the Stort and the local brooks, and company filings in The Gazette. Essex County Council runs roads, schools and social care in both districts, and we name the responsible body rather than letting the blame land in the wrong place.
Reorganisation
Essex is due to be reorganised into a smaller number of unitary authorities from April 2028, which will change who is responsible for planning, bins and council tax across this area and may put Harlow and Uttlesford under different successors. We will report what the published documents say as the detail is settled.
Tips and corrections
Email hello@harlowonline.co.uk with anything we should be looking at, an event worth listing, or a correction. Tips are treated in confidence, and corrections go up quickly and are noted on the page.
Harlow Online is part of Future Business Media.