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The Green Belt in Hertfordshire is under assault by developers

3rd April 2023

Our stock-take reveals a shocking number of volume house-building proposals on land within the Green Belt in Hertfordshire.

We’re seeing a tidal wave of speculative planning applications for development in the Green Belt.

In just the past 14 months, since 1^st January 2022, we have objected to 36 new volume housebuilding planning applications for 6,000 dwellings on sites in the Green Belt. None of these sites have been allocated for development in an adopted Local Plan. If built, this would mean 370 hectares (about 910 acres) of Green Belt land lost forever.

See our image gallery below showing some of these threatened sites.

We’re also aware of three other big development proposals for Green Belt land, not yet at the planning application stage. These would result in 11,000 more dwellings in addition to the 6,000 noted above, if all were to be built, and thousands more acres of Green Belt land would be destroyed.

Of the planning applications already submitted, the two largest are Redrow’s proposal for 1,400 dwellings at Tring, and Legal & General’s proposal for 550 dwellings at Harpenden.

There are another 6 planning applications for 300 or more dwellings, and another 8 for between 100 and 299 dwellings. Many of these are disproportionate to the size of the existing small communities nearby, and would place immense pressure on all types of infrastructure, as well as fly in the face of recent and repeated Government statements to protect the Green Belt.

The Green Belt is protected under national planning policy

These development proposals are contrary to national planning policy. The National Planning Policy Framework is clear. It says –

'The Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence.'

National Planning Policy Framework

What’s more, recent and repeated statements by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State in late 2022 and early 2023 show the Government’s intention that the Green Belt be protected.

On 25 January 2023 in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister specifically pledged that “the recent changes in our planning reforms will ensure that we can protect the green belt everywhere”. The text in Hansard reads as follows.

Sir Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, asked:

'Dacorum Borough Council, the Conservative-led council in my constituency, has done a fantastic job of building new houses, including social housing and council houses. Can the Prime Minister assure me that we will not be pushed into the green belt any more than we already have been and that we can protect the Chilterns in my constituency?'

Sir Mike Penning

The Prime Minister replied:

'I join my right hon. Friend in praising his local council for ensuring we build homes in the right places so that our young people can fulfil the dream of home ownership. He is also right to say that this Government will always protect our precious green spaces. The recent changes in our planning reforms will ensure that we can protect the green belt everywhere. His local community and others will benefit from those protections as we keep our local areas beautiful.'

The Prime Minister

We want to see the Government upholding this promise.

The purpose of the Green Belt

And the Green Belt is important. The Green Belt is not just a planning concept; it provides a multitude of tangible benefits for everyone. These include providing space for recreation, boosting health and well-being, helping mitigate climate change, providing a home for wildlife, and providing an important resource for our food security.

In formal planning terms, the National Planning Policy Framework specifies that Green Belt serves five purposes:

to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas;
to prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another;
to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment;
to preserve the setting and special character of historic towns; and
to assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.

Here at CPRE Hertfordshire, much of our work in protecting the countryside involves campaigning to uphold these principles and to defend the Green Belt from inappropriate development.

Developer planning applications and developer appeals

In addition to more and larger planning applications for development in the Green Belt in Hertfordshire, we are seeing more developers appeal to the Planning Inspectorate following refusal of permission by the relevant local authority. We’ve even seen a developer appealing to the Planning Inspectorate before the local authority decides the application.

Since the start of 2023, 6 planning appeal Inquiries have been held or are scheduled to start in the coming weeks. These are –

Chiswell Green Lane, Chiswell Green, St Albans District – two planning applications for 391 dwellings and 330 dwellings, Inquiry to start 17^th April
Harris Lane, Shenley, Hertsmere Borough – 37 dwellings, Inquiry to start 18^th April
Little Bushey Lane, Bushey, Hertsmere Borough – 310 dwellings, Inquiry to start 3^rd May
Church Lane, Sarratt, Three Rivers District – two planning applications for 78 dwellings and 9 dwellings in the Green Belt and in the setting of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Inquiry to start 3^rd May
Land east of Tring ‘Marshcroft’, Dacorum – 1,400 dwellings in the Green Belt and in the setting of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Inquiry being held March – April, 2023
Bradmore Way, Brookmans Park, Welwyn Hatfield Borough – 125 dwellings in the Green Belt, Inquiry held February 2023, now awaiting decision

What are we doing about this assault on the Green Belt?

We continue to actively campaign for the protection of the Green Belt and fight this assault on the Green Belt by developers. Our campaign includes several strands:

We have submitted our reasoned objections to each of the above speculative and wholly inappropriate proposals for development in the Green Belt, urging the local authority to refuse permission.
When an application has been appealed, we have participated in the appeal Inquiries in partnership with our local CPRE members and community groups, presenting evidence on why the appeal should be dismissed. Most recently we presented evidence as a Rule 6 party in the appeal Inquiries for Bradmore Way along with North Mymms District Green Belt Society and Brookmans Park Action Group, and for Marshcroft along with the Chiltern Society and the Grove Fields Residents Association. Both of these appeal Inquiries have been major efforts involving a significant amount of resources.
We have participated in the recent consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework that would further strengthen protection of the Green Belt.
We have published our local election manifesto and we are writing to all candidates for the upcoming local elections in May, urging them to make paramount the protection of the countryside including the Green Belt.
We will shortly be writing yet again to all Hertfordshire MPs highlighting these latest facts about the assault on the Green Belt in our County.

What can you do?

If the potential loss of Green Belt land to development concerns you, please join us or volunteer with us. We are a small charity and we rely on membership subscriptions, donations, and a small army of volunteers to carry out our work to protect the countryside for everyone, forever.