A hugely successful fireworks night took place on Friday 07 November with another big display courtesy of Fury Fireworks based in Great Canfield.

Thank you to the many volunteers who helped with car parking, setting up the bonfire and making this a brilliant event for the village. This fireworks display was the first to feature electronic firing and that helped to produce an excellent display from Chris Easter and the team at Fury Fireworks.

The fireworks were started by Jack, aged 10, who won a special competition to push the first detonation button. 

​None of this would be possible without the support and sponsorship provided by local businesses and families. 

Residents, businesses and stakeholders are invited to take part in a consultation on proposed modifications to the emerging Uttlesford Local Plan.

The plan was submitted to the Secretary of State for examination in December and this was followed by a public examination in June.

The planning inspectors have now recommended a series of main modifications to the submitted plan. Uttlesford District Council are consulting on those modifications.

All feedback received will be passed directly to the inspectors, who will consider it carefully before reaching their final conclusions.

The consultation is open until Monday 27 October 2025.

Please click here to take part in the consultation.

Details of the main modifications can be found here on Uttlesford's New Local Plan website.  

The refurbished Village Hall in Great Canfield won the seal of approval from the local community on Saturday, 6th September 2025 as residents came together at a special celebration event. 

There was plenty of food and drink on offer along with face painting for children. 

Great Canfield Parish Council Chair, Cllr Ginny Barlow said: 

More details on hiring Great Canfield Village Hall can be found here.

Cllr Ginny Barlow [centre] and Cllr Jenny Jewell [left] met with Great Canfield’s local Member of Parliament and had positive discussions and were delighted that Chris got to see the interior of the new village hall.  
 
Chris Vince, MP for Harlow said:

Planners are considering giving the green light to more than 100,000 square metres of new commercial industrial units in the North Essex countryside.
Essex County Council is considering two planning applications to build 38,065 sq. m of commercial units on a disused landfill at Crumps Farm, Little Canfield [ESS/16/24/UTT & ESS/16/24/UTT/OUT].

Meanwhile, in a totally disjointed fashion – Uttlesford District Council [UDC] looks set to start building 84,541 sq.m of industrial commercial units up the road at Takeley [UTT/24/2682/SCO].

The UDC Local Plan projects a need for 21,000 sq.m of additional office space between 2016 and 2033 across the district.

This means that effectively the two councils are planning to build industrial and commercial units with a footprint the size of the O2 Dome with the two zones set to total a whopping 122,606 sq. m.

The case for building more commercial units in the Uttlesford [Stansted Airport and North Essex area] is FALSE.

Great Canfield Parish Council Chair, Cllr Virginia Barlow said:

​The planning application at Crumps Farm, Essex will DESTROY the visual character, wildlife and nature of the surrounding woodlands and the Flitch Way [15 mile-long Local Nature Reserve on an old disused railway line from Braintree to Takeley].

All of the road transport traffic for the Crumps Farm commercial units would cross the Flitch Way Local Nature Reserve at a single point totally destroying the character of this valuable public green space. The planning applications propose to build a car park of 700 spaces next to a treasured local walk.

Yes, the landfill requires remediation works to prevent pollution escaping into the rivers and wider environment, but why should that come at the expense of wildlife and nature around the site.

The leachate leaking from the site already poses a threat to human and wildlife health and will undermine attempts by the Mayor of London to provide a £3million regeneration for the River Roding further downstream in Ilford.

The O2 Dome has an approximate commercial square metre footprint of over 100,000 and Stansted Airport’s retail terminal is 10,600 sq.m.

These two planning proposals alone are proposing to provide enough commercial space within the local area as the O2 Dome in London or 12 Stansted Airport terminal buildings and associated traffic to the local road network. A large part of Uttlesford’s projections also already incorporate significant quantities of floorspace at Great Chesterfield Research Park with some 25,000 sq.m already granted planning permission.