Dacorum Local Plan, Revised Strategy for Growth – our final submittal

We have now submitted our final response to Dacorum Borough Council’s consultation survey on their ‘Revised Strategy for Growth’, in which we have indicated that we DISAGREE with the revised approach. We urge all local people to respond before the deadline of 11:59 PM on Monday, 11 December.

The current consultation follows on from Dacorum’s ‘Emerging Strategy for Growth’ launched in November 2020. This resulted in huge numbers of local residents expressing their opposition to the massive amount of protected Green Belt land that would have been lost to development.

In response to this public outcry, the Council is now consulting on changes to their proposed site allocations for housing. This includes a reduction in the number of Green Belt sites and the total Green Belt land area being proposed for housing.

But we continue to have many significant concerns…

Our concerns include –

• Very considerable amounts of Green Belt land, circa 466 hectares, are still proposed for the allocation of development
• Continued very high levels of growth with approx 14,345 new dwellings, 34,428 new residents, and 20,500 more cars on our congested local roads
• Continued use of the Standard Method and out-of-date population and household projections
• Insufficient consideration of brownfield redevelopment opportunities
• Continued impacts on market towns and villages
• The ‘Hemel Garden Communities’ programme
• General impact on the Green Belt and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
• Affordable housing
• Continuing lack of concern for additional environmental issues
• The AONB, the Chilterns Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation, and Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANGs)
• Water supply constraints and chalk streams
• Waste water issues
• Local sites for SANGs

Download our submittal to read more. You might also wish to refer to our earlier site analysis showing the impact on each community.

What you can do

It’s not too late for you to submit your own consultation response, and we encourage all local people to do so. It’s really important that the Council understands local residents’ views.

Comments on the Dacorum Local Plan ‘Revised Strategy for Growth’ must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Monday 11^th December 2023:

• By registering on the Council’s consultation portal and completing the online survey (to which you can upload supporting documents if needed) at https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/home/planning-development/planning-strategic-planning/new-single-local-plan
• By post by completing the downloadable survey form and and sending it (and any attached documents) to: Strategic Planning, Dacorum Borough Council, The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1DN

We are concerned to note that the Council are not accepting comments by email. However, it is possible to upload documents via the on-line survey above. If you need any support with this, we suggest you contact the Council at: strategic.planning@dacorum.gov.uk

And one more thing….

We are CPRE Hertfordshire, the countryside charity. We work on behalf of everyone across Hertfordshire to protect and promote the beautiful countryside, for now and for the future. Our charity relies entirely on memberships and fundraising. Please help the countryside and become a CPRE member today – it’s easy and quick to join online. Or make a recurring or one-off donation – any amount is most welcomed.