Wheathampstead Parish Council

The Memorial Hall, Marford Road, Wheathampstead, Herts. AL4 8AY

Tel: 01582 832541

Email: [email protected] Web: www.wheathampstead-pc.gov.uk

March 2015

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council Local Plan Wheathampstead Parish Council Response

Wheathampstead Parish Council’s response to the North Herts Local Plan focusses on the Preferred Option document. We have the following points to make in response:

General Approach (Specifically Housing):

We consider that the Local Plan is a well-written and explains the options clearly. We believe that a housing target of 12,500 is high for a 15 year planning period, given the size of the borough and the existing relatively high existing population of 114,000. We recognise that the approach of ‘proportionate growth’ for each settlement is designed to take a ‘fair’ approach to housing allocation and this is an approach that we generally support. However we feel that the contribution made by the largest settlements is too high, that the housing target is too high and that the encroachments that into the Green Belt resulting from developments Hat 1 (1,100 houses) and Hat 2 (1,350 houses) would cause significant harm to the Green Belt, the transport infrastructure and the quality of life in the Borough. Garden City and Hatfield are already in very close proximity and are effectively a single conurbation. Expanding towards through Hat 1 and Hat 2 Green Belt development would risk Welwyn/Hatfield coalescing into St Albans, negating the role of the Green Belt which is specifically designed to prevent urban sprawl. Recognition also needs to be given to East Herts aspirations for Green Belt land which directly adjoins the Pansanger area of and which, if agreed, will only serve to increase the size of this conurbation.

Infrastructure Delivery Plan

We are concerned that plans for growth in (12,500) will have a significant impact on the wider infrastructure of , particularly the west-east road network across the county which tends to comprise of ‘rural roads’

Clerk to the Council: Julia Warren

(e.g. B653 Hatfield/WGC to Wheathampstead). This road already carries large volumes of local and regional traffic and points along it (Lemsford Junction/Cole Green Junction/Cory Wright Way roundabout) are already accident hotspots with a record of fatalities. The addition of 2,450 homes at Hat 1 and Hat 2 will have a significant impact on the volume of traffic carried by this road. It cannot be assumed that residents will be travelling into London, many may commute via the M1 (/Bedford/Milton Keynes) and the current road network, particularly the Lower Luton Road (B653 between Wheathampstead//Luton) is narrow, poorly maintained and already carries significant volumes of car, bus and HGV traffic. It is a road which is already ‘at capacity’. We are also concerned about the dangerous road configuration at Green Lanes/Lemsford which is routinely the site of car accidents, but does not feature on the Infrastructure Delivery Plan as an area of concern.

Transport networks are so essential, and should be considered along with expansion plans in neighbouring areas, including North Herts LP and expansion plans for London Luton Airport. All will have a significant effect on the locality, besides the rural roads mentioned above the need for access to the A1(M) , north and south of Wheathampstead cannot be underestimated. The impact on the rail network should also be given serious consideration as besides the drive towards greening public transport it is likely many occupants of the new homes will choose to commute towards London.

With regard to social infrastructure we are concerned that Green Belt development at Hat 1 and Hat 2 will add even further to the pressures on primary and secondary schools in the wider St Albans District, particularly in Wheathampstead. Although allocation process for primary and secondary schools is based on distance, the desire to secure a particular school can result in parents renting housing close to existing schools, creating shortages in surrounding villages, such as Wheathampstead.

The existing local authority sports and green space recreation facilities in Welwyn Hatfield are currently poor and not fit for the size of the towns or population demographics– dated, run down and dilapidated. For example, the Gosling Sports Park building, Stanborough Lakes And Hatfield Swimming Pool We are concerned that the town (Welwyn/Hatfield) appears to be already failing to provide well- funded, well-functioning and diverse social/sporting infrastructure in modern well equipped facilities. That given this, the social infrastructure is chronically ill- equipped to cope with the additional demands created by building 7,737 houses (in Hat 1 and Hat 2) in the next 15 years.

We are also concerned that the burden of increased housing from Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, North Herts District Council and East Herts District Council will cumulatively have a dramatic and detrimental impact on the wider road network of Hertfordshire. We feel that the impacts upon the road and rail infrastructure need to be ‘master-planned’ by Hertfordshire County Council in collaborating with all Hertfordshire district and borough councils. We lack confidence that any S106/CIL funding generated by development will reach the rural road network that connect

Wheathampstead Parish Council settlements across Hertfordshire, when so many of our roads are already carry huge traffic volume and are already in urgent need of funding for essential road repairs, reconfiguration and speed reduction schemes.

Conclusion Our concern is to ensure that the consequences of that growth do not create more harm to the community and wider infrastructure than the housing problems that they appear to resolve. The proximity of the Welwyn/Hatfield to London and its location on the A1 and First Capital Connect rail line mean that the potential for growth of this town is always going to register as high. We feel that the District (and other districts of Hertfordshire) should plan for housing principally to support the needs of its existing population, rather than taking into account housing need based on inward migration. In the case of Welwyn Hatfield and other large settlements close to London there is a real danger that the consuming demand for housing will destroy the principal purpose of the London Metropolitan Green Belt: to constrain urban sprawl and prevent the coalescence of settlements. On this basis we feel that the housing targets identified are too high and that the scale of the Green Belt releases proposed would create a harmful precedent which would cause significant harm to this part of Hertfordshire.

Wheathampstead Parish Council