Three Rivers District Council – Local Plan Consultation

Three Rivers District Council is conducting a public consultation on its new draft Local Plan to 2038. Our CPRE Hertfordshire planning team have completed an initial review of Part 1 of the consultation document, ‘Preferred Policy Options’. A summary of our main concerns along with a detailed site analysis by settlement are available to read here.  We are now working on a more detailed technical review which we will publish in early August, well in advance of the newly extended 20th August consultation deadline. 

The ‘Preferred Policy Options’ contain very concerning proposals which will threaten large areas of the Green Belt and the countryside. As a headline, the Council proposes that more than 7,100 new houses are built on circa 250 hectares of Green Belt land. As well as causing huge loss of countryside, these proposals will result in greater stress on inadequate transport, water supplies and local service infrastructure. We are also concerned about the impact the proposals would have on the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and on 159 nationally and locally designated environmental sites and the failure to include protection of designated areas as a strategic objective.

The consultation documents can be viewed at https://www.threerivers.gov.uk/egcl-page/new-local-plan.  

We hope all local people and communities in Three Rivers will respond to this consultation and have your say about the proposals. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how CPRE Hertfordshire can help your community to protect the local countryside. We are pleased to be working already with a joint group of Residents Associations as they prepare their responses.