Each town in Dacorum will be affected in different ways by the Local Plan, but the impact of an unchanged plan would change our communities in fundamental ways.

Our general response to the Local Plan can be seen in a previous post.

Paul De Hoest is one of two Dacorum Green Party Town Councillors in Berkhamsted, and he made observations and comments that we included in our official response to Dacorum Borough Council:

Berkhamsted:1. Green Belt: This plan inflicts a 25% increase in housing for Northchurch and Berkhamsted: 2250 homes of which 1750 are on existing Green Belt land (78%).
Various Governments have made numerous statements in support of the protection to our precious Green Belt over the years. As recently as December 16th 2020 this Government, in a published a response to the recent white paper consultations stated, with reference to protected landscapes and Green Belt, “We should be clear that meeting housing need is never a reason to cause unacceptable harm to such places.” This draft plan makes a mockery of such statements as the growth in homes across the borough is driven entirely by a national target that bears no relation to actual local need, topography or infrastructure.

The National Planning Policy Framework (19 February 2019) (NPPF) states: “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 (Paragraph 133 NPPF).” Releasing Green Belt land on the scale envisaged in this draft plan ought to be difficult to justify since paragraph 136 of the NPPF is totally clear that: “Green Belt boundaries should only be altered where exceptional circumstances are fully evidenced and justified, through the preparation or updating of plans.” The “exceptional circumstances” that could justify release of Green Belt land on such a scale are simply not evidenced in these documents.

2. Character: the town is recognised for its charm and character. The 2013 Core Strategy affirmed the Borough’s commitment to maintaining the unique linear valley configuration of the town and recognised the importance of preserving the ridge skyline. Most of the sites chosen are on the southern ridge above Northchurch and Berkhamsted thus reneging on that commitment and creating a massive urban sprawl that fundamentally would alter the character of the town.

3. Connectivity: It is already acknowledged that the town centre is prone to excessive congestion. These new homes are predominantly sited over a mile away from the town up the steep valley sides. There seems to be no acknowledgement that the associated additional traffic flow cannot be accommodated. There is no scope for widening roads to facilitate traffic flow and the main cross roads in the centre of town is already at logjam for much of the day (outside of Covid restrictions). There are no bespoke cycle ways in Berkhamsted and the existing footpaths that could connect these sites to the central hub were constructed as narrow high sided gloomy corridors.

4. Environmental damage: the Green Belt is not just a “nice to have” or just a route for people to pass through. Important as these things are the Green Belt is also a thriving mature habitat for vegetation, animal life and water retention. Destroying this natural environment cannot be replaced by planting a few trees somewhere else. Natural habitats have evolved over centuries and cannot be manufactured anew elsewhere. The soils are a valuable source of water retention that prevents flooding down into the town but also allows the water to seep through the layers to replenish in part the aquifers upon which we rely for water.

5. Water and sewage: there are already water shortages in the area and the River Bulbourne chalk stream is now regularly prone to drying up, again destroying generations of natural habitat. The water companies can only supply the necessary water by degrading these amenities further. Until a national water network is developed so that water from plentiful areas can be moved cross country to areas of water shortage this fact alone should prevent building on this scale.

6. Employment: the plan is completely out of balance. 2250 new homes requires 4000 new jobs. Where are these jobs to be found in this plan? Almost none in Berkhamsted and in fact the Jewsons industrial estate is to be repurposed for residential housing. Despite some likely post-covid increase in home working these developments will create even greater traffic flow as people drive either to the A41 or through the centre of town to Tring, Hemel Hemstead or cross town to the station. This makes a mockery of the sustainable communities pledge in the strategy guidance documents of last year. It also guarantees further increases in CO2 emissions thus undermining the climate emergency pledges made.

7. Medical and Social Care: Despite the addition of an expected 6,000 people there are no plans to increase the already overstretched medical, dental and social care facilities.

8. Recreational provision: not only does the filling in of all this Green Belt land mean that for the existing residents pedestrian access to reach natural countryside but there is little commitment in this plan to maintaining high quality access and green corridors. There is no commitment to increased parkland provision – considered essential for child development and mental well being. There is a shortage of sports pitch provision and despite the release of Haslam Fields, currently a sports field owned by Berkhamsted School, no additional provision is provided.

The post The Dacorum Local Plan – A focus on Berkhamsted appeared first on Dacorum Green Party.

Each town in Dacorum will be affected in different ways by the Local Plan, but the impact of an unchanged plan would change our communities in fundamental ways.

Our general response to the Local Plan can be seen in a previous post.

Sherief Hassan is the prospective Herts County Council Election candidate for Hemel Hempstead North West, and he made observations and comments that we included in our official response to Dacorum Borough Council:

Hemel Hempstead will bear the greatest increase in houses across Dacorum, with a total of 5,945 homes built on Green Belt land of the 16, 899 proposed development across the whole of Dacorum.

Inadequate thought and enforceable commitments on the Council and Developers to the pressures on water supplies, water waste, traffic needs, medical facilities, education, recreation, recycling centres and employment needs (to name but a few crucial infrastructure requirements) have been made.

The Garden Communities document is a good piece of groundwork, but it lacks the power to halt inappropriate development.

Specific Issues to Hemel Hempstead include:

1) Hemel Hempstead would be affected in a similar way to Tring . The pressure on crucial infrastructure it is difficult to justify. The increase in traffic around the existing road network would cause major issues and increases in emissions (contravening SA Objectives 4 & 5 of the Local Plan)

2) Whilst it is recognised that development of this scale would require water extraction that would have a serious impact on the land and environment , it is also true that once the development is approved the water companies are required by law to provide water and waste provision. There is nowhere in the local plan that recognises this serious environmental impact .

3) The largest block of development to the North of Hemel Hempstead is on Green Belt land that is vital to absorb rainfall, which in turn mitigates future flooding. There is inadequate recognition of the effect of run-off water to the delicate protected chalk stream of the Gade that the plan would bring. Similar concerns have been ignored in the LA3 development which predates the new Local Plan.

4) The development stops short of building on areas recognised as being of outstanding natural beauty but fails to recognise that it is within the view of the aforesaid area of natural beauty which would impair the value of what is left .

5) The assurance that developers would replant after the destruction of existing mature forest and Woodland does not recognise the pressures that rewilding would require during development and furthermore does not give any compulsory use of locally sourced saplings that would mitigate the risks of introducing arboreal disease that has been prevalent in other replanting that has been sourced from the continent (meeting SA Objective 1).

6) Increasing public transport needs to be a compulsory ironclad guarantee within the development, with any infrastructure such as roads recognising the need for bus routes to be considered. Despite the production in ‘on the ground retail opportunities’ within housing developments, there must be ‘village centres’ that are a hallmark of the rest of the previous development of Hemel Hempstead. These should include places of worship .

7) To avoid natural spaces that have been referred to as ‘landscaping’ becoming purely dog walking spaces, there must be minimum dimension spaces to allow for natural growth and biodiversity which also includes woodland.

8) Existing cycle paths in Hemel Hempstead are not joined up, starting and stopping in strange places. This only encourages leisure cycling and discourages cycling as a safe form of transport. A guaranteed commitment to a fully integrated cycling network must be part of the plan for Hemel Hempstead.

9) There is a concern is that with an increase of housing/population that is being suggested, there is inadequate Hospital provision. Even if the plan is adjusted to recognise the government’s own data of a reduced volume of housing, an extension to the local plan must include some form of Hospital and A&E provision.

10) New blocks of development are separated from the rest of the town by the industrial zone or by having no natural routes to connect with existing areas without serious disruption and unreasonable pressure on existing infrastructures.

The post The Dacorum Local Plan – A focus on Hemel Hempstead appeared first on Dacorum Green Party.

Each town in Dacorum will be affected in different ways by the Local Plan, but the impact of an unchanged plan would be change our communities in fundamental ways.

Our general response to the Local Plan can be seen in our previous post.

Joseph Stopps is the prospective Dacorum Borough Council By-Election candidate for Tring Central, and he made specific observations and comments that we included in our official response to Dacorum Borough Council:

Tring will see a 55% increase in houses which will be built almost entirely on green belt land. The character of the local town will be changed forever. Inadequate thought to the pressures on water supplies, water waste, traffic needs, medical facilities, education, recreation, recycling centres and employment needs (to name but a few crucial infrastructure requirements) have been made. It seems a huge number of houses will simply be added to the town. We are particularly concerned with the developments being proposed on the East of Tring which seem to have poor connectivity to the town.

Specific issues to Tring include:

1) The High Street is very narrow and at points dangerous to pedestrians and cannot accommodate double the amount of traffic. Air quality on the High Street is also very poor with schools close by.

2) With the loss of local business hubs such as Akeman Business Park there is a lack of local business space in the town centre to accomodate a doubling in size of the local population.

3) Tring has no recycling centre and already desperately requires one. Fly tipping is increasing due to lack of local facilities.

4) Tring Station has poor public transport connectivity and inadequate parking. Buses are infrequent, unreliable , expensive and only operate during certain times. Cycle paths are poorly maintained and dangerous with cars given priority. Sustainable connectivity to the station would need to be greatly improved to accomodate a doubling of the towns size and should in the Local Plan.

5) Tring has lost all it’s banks and other valuable local amenities, many of which have been converted to residential, already the local post office is struggling to cope with demand.

6) Tring will lose a huge amount of it’s valuable Green Belt. We call for every acre of Green Belt which is developed a further two acres is rewilded with public access. Such rewilded sites must be protected for future generations and located within easy access of the new developments.

The post The Dacorum Local Plan – A focus on Tring appeared first on Dacorum Green Party.

The Dacorum Local Plan for Hemel Hempstead has a radical increase in the numbers of houses, the increase of pressure on infrastructure and eating away at the Green Belt. This will bring dramatic change to Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and the surrounding area.

We recognise the need for housing, but the numbers and environmental impact in the plan are dramatically higher than current Government statistics demand.

There are fine intentions in the document, but precious few that have any ‘cast-iron’ guarantees.Sustainable Development in Dacorum:
The Local Plan must have firm commitments to build Net Zero Homes. We are calling for all new buildings to be designed to meet the highest externally certified sustainability standards and to be at least net-zero carbon (including Scope 3 emissions). Examples include: Every property with a parking space to have an electric vehicle charger built into it. Every property to have a dual aspect to allow for natural ventilation. All new homes must incorporate solar PVs and other appropriate sustainable sources. No new building should be directly reliant on fossil fuels for heating (i.e. no gas boilers) and each home should collect rain water for toilets. The homes must have top class insulation. These standards should be mandatory for all developers in the Local Plan.

The current wording of the plan is aspirational but fails to commit to firm quantifiable performance measures.

Trees and woodland are very valuable to the environment and the community’s physical and mental health. We welcome the commitment in the plan to retain existing trees but in order to compensate for any removal of green belt it is vital that we seek a commitment that new mixed woodland and re-wilding, with public access, be planted close to, and be integral to, each new major development area.

An increase in habitat for wildlife must be incorporated into any green field development areas including wildlife corridors. The local plan should commit to every new building incorporating wildlife into the properties design. Simple and very cheap commitments could easily be incorporated into every building design which would greatly benefit local wildlife. Spatial Strategy for Growth:
We call for the 40% minimum affordable homes objective is enforced across the Borough. ( see 1) The Settlement Hierarchy / Employment Strategy :
Towns such as Tring need to be places where people live and work. We don’t want these towns to become dormitory commuter towns. Tring has already lost a lot of its small industrial and office spaces to residential conversion (Akeman Business Park, Silk Mill). The Local Plan must incorporate new business hubs and locate them where the local high street can be easily reached to benefit existing local businesses. The Retail and Leisure Development Strategy:
We must support our local businesses and our local economy. Public transport must be greatly improved both to connect these new homes to their town centres but also to reduce traffic congestion on the roads which cannot be widened. Well connected and maintained dedicated cycle routes throughout our towns must be implemented along with secure bike storage. Delivering the Infrastructure to Support Growth:
Insufficient commitment is made in The Local Plan with regards to both water supply and sewage. Firm commitments should be made that sewage never goes into local rivers and that the valuable and protected aquifers in Hemel will not be further depleted. The water must be obtained from outside the catchment areas of the Bulbourne, Gade, and Ver.

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