247201 170719 Welham Green Belt Report Comments
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LAND AT WELHAM GREEN Welham Green Promoters Green Belt Review July 2017 LAND AT WELHAM GREEN Welham Green Promoters Green Belt Review July 2017 Issue / revision Prepared by N M Edmonds Reference Signature This document is issued for Date July 2017 [ ] Information [ ] Approval Checked by Richard Burton [ ] Comment [ ] Submission Signature Comments Date July 2017 Authorised by Richard Burton Signature Date July 2017 Please return by © Terence O’Rourke Ltd 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. All figures (unless otherwise stated) © Terence O’Rourke Ltd 2017. Based upon the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the Ordnance Survey on behalf of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown Copyright Terence O’Rourke Ltd Licence number 100019980. Contents 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2 Background ......................................................................................................................... 2 2.0 Review of the Part 1 - Green Belt Review Purposes Assessment, November 2013 4 Review of stage 1 Green Belt review parcel 48 ..................................................................... 5 3.0 Review of the Part 2 - Welwyn Hatfield Green Belt Review, Stage 2 (Sites), October 2014 .................................................................................................................. 6 SHLAA ID: WeG1: Welham Manor House ............................................................................ 6 SHLAA ID: WeG3: South of Welham Manor ......................................................................... 6 SHLAA ID: WeG6: Skimpans Farm, Bulls Lane, Welham Green ............................................ 7 SHLAA ID: WeG10: Dixons Hill Road ................................................................................... 7 HELLAA ID: WeG12: Land at Pooleys lane, Welham Green .................................................. 7 HELLAA ID: WeG15: Potterells Farm, Welham Green ........................................................... 7 4.0 Assessment of school sites .................................................................................. 8 5.0 Combined assessment of study sites and school sites .................................... 15 6.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 17 Appendix 1A ................................................................................................................. 18 Appendix 1B ................................................................................................................. 19 Appendix 1C ................................................................................................................. 20 Appendix 1D ................................................................................................................. 21 Appendix 1E ................................................................................................................. 22 Appendix 1F ................................................................................................................. 23 Appendix 1G ................................................................................................................. 24 Annex A – Location of sites at Welham Green ........................................................... 25 Annex B – 1FE and 2FE layout at the proposed school site ...................................... 26 Figures Figure 1 Study parcel sites Tables Table 1.0 Assessment of existing school site – Document review, site & landscape appraisal Table 1.1 Assessment of existing school site – Green Belt purpose assessment Table 1.2 Assessment of existing school site – Site location plan Table 1.3 Assessment of proposed school site – Document review &site & landscape appraisal Table 1.4 Assessment of proposed school site – Green Belt purpose assessment Table 1.5 Assessment of proposed school site – Site location plan Terence O’Rourke Ltd 2017 1 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This Green Belt Review has been prepared on behalf of the Potterells Farm Partnership, Landform Estates and Hill Residential, collectively referred to as the ‘Promoters’, who are promoting a number of land parcels that sit around Welham Green, to the south of Hatfield. This area falls within Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council authority boundary. See figure 1. 1.2 As part of the promotion of these land parcels Terence O’Rourke Ltd has been commissioned to review both the part 1 Green Belt review published in November 2013 and the part 2 Sites assessment report, published in October 2014. 1.3 Specifically, Terence O’Rourke Ltd has been commissioned to produce a combined Green Belt assessment, using the council’s Green Belt assessment methodology of sites WeG1, WeG3, WeG6, WeG10, WeG12, WeG15, as well as the existing Saint Mary’s Church of England primary school site and a proposed primary school site south of Dixons Hill Road, in order to ascertain the cumulative impacts of potential development of these sites in relation to the purposes of the Green Belt. Background 1.4 The Promoters own and/or control land at Welham Green identified as sites WeG3 (Hill), WeG6 (Landform) and WeG15 (Potterells Farm Partnership), which have each been assessed as being suitable, available and achievable for residential development in the council’s Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) 2016. Sites WeG1, WeG10 and WeG12, also at Welham Green, have been similarly assessed as being suitable for residential development in the HELAA. The plan of Welham Green provided at Annex A identifies the locations of these sites. 1.5 The council has not proposed the allocation of sites WeG1, WeG3, WeG6, WeG10, WeG12, and WeG15 to provide new housing in the Draft Local Plan that was submitted to the Secretary of State on 15 May 2017 for independent examination. 1.6 In the Draft Local Plan, the council has proposed limited growth at Welham Green, restricting it to 92 homes, including 80 dwellings at Marshmoor (WeG4b) and 12 gypsy and travellers pitches at Foxes Lane (GTLAA01). As set out in the Housing Sites Selection Document (June 2016), the council resisted further allocations at Welham Green, on the grounds of the limited capacity at the existing Saint Mary’s Church of England primary school, which is a 1FE. 1.7 During the Regulation 19 consultation the Promoters jointly promoted the provision of additional primary school capacity at Welham Green, through a Common Position Statement that the parties at sites WeG1, WeG10 and WeG12 also entered into. This was submitted to the Regulation 19 consultation in support of the Promoters’ position that additional residential sites at Welham Green was not constrained by primary school capacity and should be released from the Green Belt and allocated for housing through the new Local Plan. 1.8 The development potential of sites WeG1, WeG3, WeG6, WeG10, WeG12, and WeG15 is approximately 447 dwellings. This figure is in line with the council’s objectively assessed housing need for the village and is consistent with its Terence O’Rourke Ltd 2017 2 preferred spatial strategy. The release of all of these sites would generate the need for around a further 1 FE of primary school capacity. 1.9 The Promoters have identified land south of Dixons Hills Road (adjacent to WeG3 and the rear of properties at Manor Close) as a preferred location for the provision of a new 1 FE school, with scope to accommodate, or expand to, a new 2 FE primary school. Illustrative 1FE and 2FE layouts at the proposed school site are provided at Annex B. 1.10 The Promoters have agreed to jointly prepare a School Delivery Plan to demonstrate that additional primary school capacity at Welham Green is deliverable. The preferred operator of the school is the Diocese, which operates the existing primary school. The provision of a new primary school at Welham Green provides an opportunity to release the existing school site for redevelopment. For the purposes of technical assessment it has been assumed that the existing school site could accommodate approximately 20 residential units. 1.11 This Green Belt Review has been prepared in support of the School Delivery Plan to demonstrate that there are no overriding constraints to providing additional primary school capacity at Welham Green. The review builds on the initial findings in SLR’s Green Belt Assessment (October 2016) that accompanied the Common Position Statement. 1.12 This review identifies relevant considerations in the assessment of land at Welham Green in Welwyn Hatfield’s Green Belt Review Parts 1 and 2. This informs the following Green Belt assessments carried out in this review: • Contributions to the Green Belt of the existing Saint Mary’s Church of England primary school sites • Contributions to the Green Belt of the proposed school site at land south of Dixons Hills Road • Cumulative impact of residential development at WeG1, WeG3, WeG6, WeG10, WeG12, WeG15 and the existing school site, and a new 1FE or 2FE primary school at land south of Dixons Hills Road Terence O’Rourke Ltd 2017 3 2.0 Review of the Part 1 - Green Belt Review Purposes Assessment, November 2013 2.1 SKM were commissioned to undertake an independent Green Belt Review on behalf of Dacorum Borough Council, St Albans City and District Council, and