Dear Cllr X,

Dacorum Council Local Plan: Land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens, Shootersway, (Site Be-h6, Schedule of Site Appraisals, October 2017)

I am writing to you regarding land in Berkhamsted that Crest Nicholson is promoting for allocation in your council’s new Local Plan, further to my previous letter of November 2017.

The land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens is approximately 3.5 hectares on the southwestern edge of the town, off Shootersway. As I set out in my previous letter we believe that this site would make an ideal location for a development of up to 100 homes:

• Located in Flood Zone 1 (Low Risk) • Not in a Conservation Area or the AONB • Surrounded on two sides by existing homes • Vehicle access easily provided off Shootersway • Easy pedestrian and cycle routes into Berkhamsted town centre • Defensible boundaries provided by A41 and thick belt of mature trees • Principle of new homes established by ‘Bearroc Park’ development opposite

Your council recently finished consulting on its Local Plan Issues and Options paper, and the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens was identified as site Be-h6 in the accompanying Schedule of Site Appraisals. We have submitted representations to the council setting out our thoughts on the most effective strategy to deliver new homes for the borough, and some of our key considerations are outlined below.

1. Increasing Dacorum’s housing target will help to meet affordable housing need and accommodate new jobs in the borough

• Your council’s Issues and Options document proposes that the council increases its housing target beyond the current 430 homes a year agreed in the adopted Core Strategy, to better meet the borough’s housing need. We agree with this approach.

• A higher housing target would help Dacorum to meet all or a greater part of its affordable housing need – identified in your council’s 2016 Strategic Housing Market Assessment at 366 homes per year – at the existing level of 35% of all new homes built.

• A higher housing target would help provide the new homes necessary to accommodate the 10,900 extra full-time jobs forecast to be created in the borough up to 2036.

2. After , Berkhamsted is the most sustainable location for new homes in the borough

• We believe that it would be most appropriate for housing growth in Dacorum to be focused on the borough’s three towns, starting with the largest, Hemel Hempstead.

• However, delivering all of this growth at Hemel Hempstead alone would require a reliance on the delivery of a few large-scale sites, which is not always easy due to their scale, complexity and upfront infrastructure costs.

• As the second largest town in the borough, Berkhamsted is better placed than to accommodate the highest proportion of housing growth outside Hemel Hempstead, with better provision of services in the town centre and better connections to the surrounding area, including a centrally-located railway station.

3. The Local Plan will require sites that are capable of being delivered in the early part of the Plan period

• In order to enable a timely increase in housing delivery to meet pressing need, sites will need to be allocated in the Local Plan that are capable of being delivered in the early part of the plan period, especially in the first five years.

• Smaller sites are more straightforward to deliver in a shorter timeframe, and a number of these will need to be put forward for development to meet a higher housing target, whatever figure is ultimately chosen by the council.

Because of these considerations, it is likely that some smaller sites on the edge of Berkhamsted currently in the Green Belt are likely to be needed for development to ensure that Dacorum has in place a robust, deliverable strategy for new homes in the coming years.

In this context the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens is a logical site for development – the site was reviewed in your council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) document last year, and its evaluation was very positive, with “no significant constraints identified” and the site “available for development”. Indeed, the SHLAA used the site as a design case study for development of a small / medium greenfield site on the edge of an urban area, indicating that your council recognises the appropriateness of the site for development.

Development of the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens could also provide an opportunity to increase bus service provision in this part of Berkhamsted. One possibility could be to provide a second hourly service on an amended 354 route via Shootersway, benefitting over 500 homes in the vicinity including new homes on the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens. Residents along the remainder of the 354 route would then benefit from an increase in bus frequency to a half-hourly service.

We also have undertaken some comparative studies of the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens, compared to the seven other Green Belt sites in Berkhamsted identified in your council’s Schedule of Site Appraisals. We have identified that:

• While each site has different strengths and weaknesses, the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens is no less suitable for Green Belt release than the other sites.

• The land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens is not affected by some of the constraints that affect the other sites, such as the AONB, flooding and visibility issues.

• Of all eight potential development sites in Berkhamsted, the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens is closest to a primary school and sources of employment.

• Only two sites are currently closer to a bus stop than the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens.

In closing, we remain confident that the land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens represents a great opportunity to create a modest-sized development of high-quality new homes in a sustainable location in a thriving town, and I hope you will feel able to support the allocation of this site in the Local Plan when the time comes.

I hope you have found this update useful, and if you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact David McFarlane of SP Broadway on 020 3405 1400 or at [email protected]. SP Broadway has been appointed by Crest Nicholson to assist us with community engagement on these proposals.

With best wishes.

Yours faithfully,

Susie Hartas Senior Planning Manager

Enclosures: Site Plan – Land adjacent to Blegberry Gardens, Shootersway, Berkhamsted