Potters Bar – we’re at the planning appeal Inquiry

A planning application for 900 dwellings within the designated protected Green Belt was refused by Hertsmere Borough Council. The applicant subsequently appealed and the Planning Inspectorate is conducting an appeal Inquiry in May and June 2026. We’re there as an Interested Party, helping to defend the Green Belt from inappropriate development.

Planning application 24/1101/OUTEI was submitted in 2024, shortly before the Government formally introduced its ‘grey belt’ policy into the National Planning Policy Framework. The application argued that the site constituted ‘grey belt’, although we strongly refuted this assertion. We submitted our objection, and at last tally there were more than 2,300 other objections from members of the local community.

Read our original objection to the planning application here.

Hertsmere Borough Council refused the application, and the applicant subsequently appealed the refusal. Now, the Planning Inspectorate will shortly be conducting an Inquiry in public. This is scheduled for 19, 20 and 21 May and 2, 3 and 4 June and is open to the general public.

Read the appeal documents on Hertsmere Borough Council’s website here.

We’re participating in the Inquiry as an Interested Party, in support of the Baker Street and Barnet Lane Campaign Coordinating Group, comprised of local community groups and residents. We have submitted our Interested Party Statement for the Inquiry, available to download here.

Download

We’ll be appearing on the first day of the Inquiry on 19 May. We also expect to be appearing on 3 June in support of the local groups. We anticipate the Planning Inspector will determine the appeal later this summer.

This appeal Inquiry is the latest in a string of planning applications and planning appeals that are trying to turn the Green Belt into grey belt. The Government’s policy on grey belt poses an existential threat to the Hertfordshire countryside and we’re campaigning to get this hugely damaging policy reversed.

Read our newly released report on the devastating impact of ‘grey belt’, produced jointly by CPRE Hertfordshire and the London Green Belt Council.

And please support our campaign, either by writing to your MP, making a donation or joining CPRE as a member.