Land to east of Firs Wood Close, Northaw

Application No. 6/2019/1370/MAJ

Erection of 26 Dwellings on Land to east of Firs Wood Close, Northaw.

CPRE Hertfordshire object to this proposal for inappropriate residential development in the Green Belt.

The site is not allocated for housing in either the current Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan or the Submission Local Plan which is now at an advanced stage of Examination in Public. This application would, in effect, alter the Green Belt Boundary. Paragraph 136 of the National Planning Policy Framework is clear that amendments to Green Belt boundaries must be made through the Local Plan process, not by decisions made on individual planning applications and to determine it at this stage would pre-empt the findings of the
Examination in Public. The Council, following instruction from the Inspector at the Examination in Public, is currently undertaking a search for further housing sites. In our
view, premature approval of residential development of this nature would prejudice balanced decisions on the scale and location of housing in the Borough.