North Herts Local Plan Adoption – a very sad day for the Green Belt

The Plan will cause the unnecessary destruction of huge areas of the Green Belt across North Hertfordshire.

We are massively disappointed that the North Hertfordshire Local Plan 2011 – 2031 has been adopted by the Council. Earlier this autumn the Planning Inspector found the Plan “sound” subject to modifications. On 8 November, the Council voted to adopt the Plan.

We advocate for the role of local democracy in Plan-making and are supportive of local decision-making. We have up until now always supported the importance of adopting a Local Plan as a way of controlling speculative development and ensuring the appropriate distribution of development.

But the current political landscape has led us to reconsider our position.

Current context

Over the past three years, Government ministers have repeatedly and consistently stated that the Green Belt should be protected from development. The currently-pending Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is making its way through Parliament, and changes to the National Planning Policy Framework are promised for the near future. Also, the most recent ONS census data shows that household formations are lower than the previous forecasts relied upon by the national Government’s ‘standard method’ algorithm for determining housing need.

Pause and reconsider?

In light of this current context, over 30 local planning authorities around England have paused or withdrawn their Local Plans, including several in Hertfordshire. We wrote to each North Hertfordshire District Councillor to highlight this and to point out that they had a choice, that they too could pause and reconsider, before it was too late.

It is now too late

But now, with the adoption of the North Herts Local Plan, it is too late for several large areas of countryside. The Plan will cause the unnecessary destruction of huge areas of the Green Belt, destroying the countryside next door for local people. This is because of the Plan’s reliance on outdated projections of housing need and its possible over-provision of housing for the Luton area.

The newly adopted Local Plan has failed to take account of what we believe is clear guidance to Councils in the National Planning Policy Framework to protect designated areas. It has removed land from the Green Belt and allocated dozens of sites for development. Among these are sites at:

Baldock

Site allocations for 3,360 new homes and commercial development including this site for 2,800 new homes

Cockernhoe, Mangrove Green, Tea Green and East of Luton

Site allocations for 2,100 new homes

Graveley and North of Stevenage

A large site allocation for 900 new homes in the northern area of ‘Forster Country’, the open rural landscape that E M Forster characterised as among “the loveliest in England” when he lived there in the 1940s

Hitchin

Site allocations for 971 new homes and commercial development including this site at Highover Farm for 700 new homes

Letchworth Garden City

Site allocations for 1,485 new homes and commercial development including this site to the north of Letchworth for 900 new homes

We are disappointed that Councillors in North Hertfordshire have lost the opportunity to join colleagues elsewhere in the County to put pressure on the Government to strengthen and reinforce the protection of designated land like Green Belt. This is leading to the loss of thousands of hectares of highly valued and vital open countryside.

We will be urging North Herts Councillors to review the adopted Local Plan as soon as possible to prevent any further loss of Green Belt. And we will continue our campaigning with Local MPs and Council Leaders to urge the Government to maintain and enhance the countryside, especially where it is supposedly protected by law, and to uphold repeated Government pledges to protect the Green Belt from development.

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