23 Mar 2024
The grassroots campaign group fighting against the over-development of Chiswell Green has issued a damning indictment of yesterday’s appeal verdict – blaming St Albans district council for its repeated failure to produce a Local Plan.
It was announced that Felicity Buchan, the Minister for Housing and Homelessness, has agreed to accept the appeals made by Alban Developments Ltd, Cala Homes, Redington Capital and Headlands Way for developments on the Green Belt at Chiswell Green Lane.
Today Shirani St Ledger McCarthy, speaking on behalf of campaign group Keep Chiswell Green, released a statement on the decision, referring to Ms Buchan’s boss, MP Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
She said: “For the last 18 months, we have had repeated rhetoric from Mr Gove and his ministerial colleagues in support of protection for the Green Belt. The changes to the National Planning Policy Framework in December last year were supposed to give greater protection to the Green Belt, and an analysis of the last 18 appeals to be decided at Inquiry for residential development to be built on Green Belt land shows that 15 were dismissed, with the three that were approved all fully understandable exceptions.
“We are therefore stunned that Mr Gove has gone so categorically against the trend and approved these appeals.
“Keep Chiswell Green has not yet had time to scrutinise the 154 page decision report in the detail required to fully understand the minutiae, but the decision appears to hinge on one sole aspect – that St Albans City and District Council has not delivered the volume of housing that the Government has targeted them to deliver. It is clear that this is a political decision – a punishment for St Albans.
“We hear a lot of talk about “housing need”, but it must be made clear what is really meant by “need”.
“There is housing demand – build nice new houses and advertise them and they will be bought by people who would like to live in green and leafy St Albans. Housing demand is what developers play to.
“There is real housing need – in real time, people who do not have anywhere to live – and we have a social and moral obligation to provide sufficient housing so that everyone can be appropriately housed.
“We would think the Government would talk about real housing need – people who need somewhere to live – but what the Government talks about is what they call the Objectively Assessed Housing Need – the OAHN.
“This is the total government housing target – “we want to build 300,000 houses” – split across the planning districts in the country which gives the “target” figure with no consideration for local limitations such as Green Belt, the historic environment, protected chalk streams, lack of water or sewage systems unable to cope – I could go on.
“Even the 300,000 figure is artificial; it takes arbitrary population data figures, makes assumptions, adds aspirations, and portrays it as “need”. It is this target which St Albans has missed and for which it is being punished.
“Critically, the Chiswell Green decision has serious implications for all the other Green Belt applications in our district, as well as for Green Belt applications across the whole country; our entire district is at significant risk until it has delivered a further number of new dwellings – probably in the region of 1,000 more. Based on the applications already submitted and awaiting decisions from SADC or the Planning Inspectorate, all of these could be built in Chiswell Green in addition to the 721 approved by this savage decision.
“Over the last two years, the residents of Chiswell Green and their supporters have put up a fantastic fight to protect our Green Belt and our village. We are incredibly proud of the engagement we have had from our community and thank all our residents and the ward councillors who have supported us.
“We would also like to thank those councillors on the planning development management committee who assessed these applications with independence and objectivity, putting a lot of effort into visiting the sites themselves and standing up for the protections of the Green Belt despite often strong opposition from officers and other councillors.
“A valid Local Plan is the only way this massacre can be stopped and our council has failed us for 30 years in this regard. The emerging Plan currently includes the approval of over 15,000 new dwellings and the destruction of nearly 2,000 acres of Green Belt.
“Chiswell Green is devastated at the impending loss of our precious Green Belt, and we warn all residents in the district – this will be you if our Local Plan goes ahead in its current form.”
