Draft Hertsmere Local Plan, our full technical analysis and submission

We have now completed our detailed analysis of the Draft Hertsmere Local Plan. The public consultation on the Plan is currently underway with a closing date of 6^th December. It’s vitally important that as many local people respond as possible. We hope our submission will be helpful in this regard but we urge everyone to frame your response using your own words.

The Draft Plan is titled “Planning for Growth” and we are deeply concerned that the Plan over-emphasises traditional economic growth at the expense of nature, biodiversity and the environment.

There is insufficient protection of the Green Belt, with the Council instead proposing to allocate an estimated circa 1000 hectares of Green Belt land for residential and commercial development. (Arriving at an exact figure has not been possible as the Council has not yet published a tally of the land area for all their proposed sites).

Although more housing for local people is undoubtedly needed, we believe the Council has underestimated the opportunity for regenerating and recycling previously developed land. Taking full advantage of such ‘brownfield’ redevelopment opportunities would help save and protect the countryside on your doorstep.

You can read the details of all our concerns in our full analysis and submission. Our submission is organised sequentially by the chapters, sections and proposed policies contained in the draft Plan document.

The consultation documents can be viewed at https://www.hertsmerelocalplan.com/site/homePage

How you can respond

We hope all local people and communities in Hertsmere will respond to the consultation and have your say about the draft Local Plan.  Here’s what to do.

Be sure to submit your response before the deadline of 5 PM on Monday 6^th December.

We recommend using email which means you can keep a copy and share it with others. If possible you should include clear referencing of the matters you wish to comment on e.g. page number, chapter, policy number, objective, site address, etc.

Responses can be made either by:

• email to local.plan@hertsmere.gov.uk
• or by post to Planning Policy and Transport Team, Hertsmere Borough Council, Civic Offices, 3 Elstree Way, Borehamwood, WD6 9SR,
• or alternatively via the Online portal https://www.hertsmerelocalplan.com/site/homePage

There is also an on-line survey but this is very limited in scope and only allows up to 250 words for general comments.

One more thing

We are a local charity whose aim is to protect and promote the Hertfordshire countryside for everyone. We are a small charity and we depend upon membership subscriptions and fundraising to be able to continue our work. If you can help, please join us or make a donation of any amount. Your support is very much appreciated.