20 Jun 2023
Further clarity is needed on whether we need to build on Green Belt land ahead of any decision on a district Local Plan, says Green Party leader Simon Grover.
He was speaking to the St Albans Times ahead of a meeting of the SADC planning, policy and climate committee next week, in which the latest steps will be made towards creating a planning blueprint for the years up to 2041.
The Local Plan will identify land for future housing, commercial and infrastructure developments, with a remit of tackling the climate emergency by ensuring any developments are both sustainable and improve biodiversity.
Current government targets call for around 15,000 new homes over the next 17 years, and although space for 5,000 of these has been identified, land is needed for the remainder, with developers proposing more than 600 potential sites across the district.
Council officers have identified which of these are most suitable for development, and include 12 broad locations each with 250 or more homes and 90 large, medium or small sites that each could provide between five and 249 – a total of 11,826.
Residential areas would be enhanced by between three to four new secondary schools, eight to 10 new primary schools, a minimum of 25,000 new trees and new country parks covering land ten times the size of Verulamium Park.
There would also be a solar energy plant east of Hemel Hempstead and 30km of new or enhanced cycle paths.
But Cllr Grover feels more data is needed on revised housing targets before agreeing any sites for development.
“There is still not clarity about to what extent we will need to build on Green Belt to meet government targets. On the one hand, a lot of the large Green Belt sites that have been brought forward are on prime agricultural land which is not supposed to be built on. On the other hand, the housing figure the council is basing their calculations on is the old 888 homes per year, even though we know the real figure (yet to be released by the Government) is likely to be around 300 to 350. That would mean very little if any Green Belt would have to be built on if we make good use of brownfield sites.”
The committee will consider the proposed sites ahead of its next meeting in July, when councillors will finalise a draft Local Plan ready for public consultation.
This is expected to last until mid-September, giving residents, developers and other stakeholders the chance to have their say on the proposals.
Council leader Cllr Chris White said the production of a Local Plan is one of the most complex and challenging tasks that a district council is required to undertake, but it was necessary in order to avoid government intervention in the process.
“I am pleased, therefore, that after a terrific amount of work by officers we are now very close to being able to hold the first public consultation of the draft Local Plan.
“We had a huge response to our call for people to offer potential development sites for consideration. Our spatial planning officers then proposed sites to go forward for inclusion in the draft Local Plan without councillor involvement.
“It was a selection based on technical studies that considered issues such as sustainability, the need to protect the Green Belt, selecting sites that would cause the least harm to it, and planning authority best practice.
“Getting a new Local Plan adopted will allow us to control where houses and business are built and very importantly, where they are not built.”
Cllr Grover said the committee has to consider a huge document in a short space of time: “This could especially be a challenge for newly-elected councillors who will need further background reading to make a well-informed view about whether the Plan is in a fit state to proceed to public consultation.
“In the meantime, while this Plan is in many ways similar to the last one, there is some welcome stronger aspects on tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. Without real action on that, there is little point having any plan at all. So this is something that Greens on the council will be keeping a close eye on and pushing hard for.”
