THREE RIVERS DISTRICT COUNCIL

Notes of the SpecialMeeting of the Abbots Langley Local Area Forum held atSt Michael’s CatholicHigh School, High Elms Lane, Garston, Herts on Tuesday1 December2009 from 7.30pm to 9.45pm.

Present:Councillor Paul Goggins(Chairman).

Ward Councillors: -Matthew Bedford, Stephen Giles-Medhurst,David Major,Keith Peutherer, Kate TurnerandKeith Williams.

Officers: -Renato Messere, Head of Development Plans

Joanna Bowyer, Planning Assistant

Chris Fagan, Committee Manager.

Also in attendance:- Riette Oosthuizen, Head of Planning and Jane Threlfall, Project Architect of HTA Planning Consultants for the owners of the Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf Course site..

Over 60 members of the public in attendance.

1.INTRODUCTION

The Chairman welcomed those present and introduced the Members and Officers in attendance. He informed the meeting of the recent sad death of former District and Parish Councillor Susan Bartrick, wife of Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst and mother to Cllr Kate Turner who were both presentat the meeting, who had represented Leavesden on both Councils and at his request the meeting paid her a minute’s silent tribute.

  1. LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK - CORE STRATEGY FURTHER PREFERRED OPTIONS – PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, introduced the item as a member of the all Party Local Development Framework Panel and set out the context for the consultation, which sought the views of the public on potential housing sites for Three Rivers District. He stressed that the consultation was about potential future housing provision sites and that planning applications had not been submitted for any of the sites referred to in Abbots Langley and that the consultation on the sites had the backing of all the political groups on the Council.

The Government required Councils to identify potential sites, irrespective of ownership, for future new housing development. The Government Office for the East of England and the East of England Assembly had set down targets for each council area. The overall target for Hertfordshire was 85,000 new housing units by 2021. Of this total, the target for Three Rivers was 4,000 new units, the lowest in Hertfordshire.

The District and County Councils had objected to these housingtargets on a cross-party basis as being neither right nor reasonable, but were unable to overturn them as they were statutory. Among the reasons for the objections were an existing serious shortfall in Hertfordshire’s infrastructure – from roads and utilities through to schools and adult care – which it was estimated would cost about £2.5 billion to resolve. In the current economic climate there was no guarantee that this scale of spending would be forthcoming.

Three Rivers District Council had set up an all party Councillor Working Group, of which Councillor Giles-Medhurst was a member, which had looked at a number of possible sites suggested by landowners. All sites had been assessed and ranked against a large number of criteria. A large number had been rejected because of their detrimental effect on the areas concerned or because they were totally unrealistic. However 40 sites had been included in a public consultation in February/March 2009. He stressed that the chosen sites were not favoured by the Council but were regarded as being the ‘least worst’ options available to meet the Government’s statutory requirement. Over 600 representations had been received and evaluated, together with a number of new proposals from site owners for their sites to be included. The whole report on the consultation and evaluation was available in the local library and on the Three Rivers website.

Following this consultation, three of the original 40 sites had been removed and 37 had been retained, six of which had been amended. The excluded sites were:

  • Woodside Road, Leavesden(a high risk of opening up for development the whole area to High Elms Lane and a large majority ‘vote’ against it)
  • The Working Men’s Club in Trowley Rise (strongly opposed by Club members) and
  • land at Love Lane Reservoir, Abbots Langley (opening up the Green Belt area to East Lane; also a majority against its inclusion).

Since the first consultation, the Government had extended the period of targets from 2001 - 2021 until 2026. The effect was to increase the number of new dwellings required from 4,000 to 5,000. However, taking account of the numbers of dwellings resulting from existing planning permissions and those already completed the Council only had to find sites for 2,200 new dwellings. In addition to the 31 unchanged sites and six revised sites, the Council was now consulting on 13 new housing sites.

The most significant changes for Abbots Langley Parish Area were:-

  • Leavesden Aerodrome where the potential housing numbers were increased from 350 to 400, with a slight increase in the size of the site;
  • Langleybury House, where the total had been increased from 60 to 75, mainly to protect and ensure the listed building would be kept if the site was developed; and
  • inclusion of a major new site of Fairways Farm and Penfold Golf Course off the A405 between the A405 and the M1. It had been suggested the site could accommodate up to 300 dwellings.

Other sites in Abbots Langley included on the list were:

  • Land adjoining 65 Toms Lane – 15 dwellings
  • The Mansion House Farm Equestrian Centre fronting Bedmond Road – 20 dwellings
  • Hill Farm Industrial Estate, Hill Farm Avenue – 30 dwellings.
  • A small site off of Mount Pleasant Lane in Bricket Wood (which was geographically in Three Rivers but part of a larger St Albans site) – 50 units.

None of these sites wasin public ownership and development would be a matter for the owners. Planning applications would have to be submitted for any development proposal, which would have to be in conformity with the Council’s planning policies.

The Government guidance stated that the density of development must not be less than 30 units per hectare, not dissimilar to the Lemonfield Estate.

In conclusion, Councillor Giles-Medhurst stated that the Council did not have the option of refusing to identify any sites. Such a step would render the District lacking credible planning policies, exposed to unwanted development on even more sensitive and undesirable sites than those listed and liable for the costs of planning appeals. The Council needed to know the views of residents on the proposed sites. He asked all those present to contribute their views on these and any other sites within the District, whether on-line or by completing and returning the comment form included in the consultation document sent out in Three Rivers Times. The closing date for responses was 15 January 2010. The Council would analyse the responses before formulating a final Local Development Framework submission for submission to the Secretary of State, and a Public Inquiry. The final decision on the list of sites, which did not mean they would be developed, was unlikely before the end of 2010.

The Chairman invited questions to Councillor Giles-Medhurst, following which HTAConsultants acting for the owners of the Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf Course site would outline possible development ideas.

Questions and comments:

Councillor Keith Peutherer considered the proposals for Abbots Langley to be indefensible for an already heavily-populated area. The JunctionPark development at HuntonBridge had a density of 57 dwellings per ha.

Councillor Keith Williams considered that a disproportionate percentage of the new dwelling sites (52%) was located within Abbots Langley parish and wanted other areas such as Rickmansworth and Chorleywood to take more.

Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst commented that many of the sites within Abbots Langley were on previously-developed land (“brownfield” land) which was considered more suitable for housing than virgin Green Belt sites.

A large number of local residents spoke and raised various issues and expressed a number of concerns about the Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf Course site. They included:-

  • proximity to the Waste Transfer Site, which produced smells and noise;
  • the probability of greatly-increased traffic movement on Bucknalls Lane which was already at full capacity following previous development and on the busy A405, which was congested at peak periods;
  • the effect of additional school-age children on already-full local schools;
  • as the site was on a flood plain, the problems new residents would have in obtaining house insurance;
  • the loss of a well-used local leisure facility in the golf course;
  • the threat of a coalescence of Watford and St Albans along the A405;
  • the alleged lack of sites within the southern part of the District;
  • what percentage of the 300 units envisaged would be allocated to housing associations for affordable housing?
  • with an emergency access and pedestrian accesses from Bucknalls Lane onto the site, how would it be possible to prevent other traffic from using the emergency access and protect residents’ privacy? One elderly resident lived adjacent to the access to Fairways Farm and could be very seriously affected by a development
  • when would the development, if permitted, commence and be completed?
  • Had the Government produced any evidence-based need for development on the scale envisaged in its targets?

Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurstand the Head of Development Plans responded that to be approved, any development proposals would have to satisfy the Council’s planning policy requirements at that time and meet government planning regulations, including those on sustainable development.

If there were environmental concerns, such as countering noise, smell or drainage issues, these might be dealt with by means of planning conditions. Councillor Giles-Medhurst asked that if residents had current issues over smells and noise with the Waste Transfer Site then they must report it to Environmental Heath at TRDC and / or raise with any one of there three ward councillors present. He pointed out that Environmental Health had not received any complaints in the last two years.

The County Council was the Highway Authority and the District Council could notrefuse an application to develop on highway grounds unless the County Council lodged an objection. However the District Council had already decided not to permit any regular vehicular access from the site onto Bucknalls Lane as it was a cul-de-sac and this was acceptable by the site owners.

On school places, the lack of places within South-West Herts (Watford and ThreeRivers) was widely acknowledged and Councillor Ann Shaw, the District Council Leader, had held meetings with the County Council to press for a site for a new school to be identified.

Regarding sites in the southern areas of the District, one housing site was in the centre of South Oxhey, where the density of housing development would be higher than those sites within Abbots Langley.

The Head of Development Plans commented that the Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf Course site had well-defined road boundaries which could protect against encroachment into the wider Green Belt in the area. He stated that only part of the site was within the flood plain. The site was scheduled in the Local Development Framework for development in the later part of the period, 2021-2026.

Presentation on development possibilities for Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf course

A presentation on development possibilities for Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf course was given by Riette Oosthuizen and Jane Threlfall of HTA Consultants, who then answered questions.

Riette Oosthuizenand Jane Threlfall stated that HTA Design Consultants specialised in high design quality and energy-efficient developments across the country. The development ideas for Fairways Farm/Penfold Golf Course involved a mix of types and sizes of dwellings, including some affordable housing, grouped in small clusters and with amenity facilities including a cricket square, play area and a multi-use track and retention of existing hedgerows and wooded areas. The objective was to give residents a place where people could engage with fellow residents. The overall density envisaged was 35 dwellings per hectare. HTA Consultants would work closely on any formal development proposals with the County Council and other agencies over matters such as highways and transport, drainage and environmental matters and educational issues. They would also work with the District Council to ensure that any development complied with the District’s planning policies.

The access arrangements envisaged a main vehicular access from the A405, with an access for emergency vehicles only which used the existing access to Fairways Farm from BucknallsLane. This would also incorporate a pedestrian access. The emergency access could have lockable bollards with design features which deterred unauthorised vehicles such as motor-bikes. The Consultants noted residents’ concerns about the heavy vehicular use of Bucknalls Lane and said that there would be input from transport engineers into a development proposal but they proposed no normal vehicle access from this road.

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They noted the concerns expressed about noise and smell from the Waste Transfer Station but stated that building design could mitigate these factors and assist energy efficiency, e.g. triple-glazed windows.

In response to questions about provision of facilities such as shops and a GP surgery, the Consultants said that the large building envisaged adjoining the Waste Transfer Station could have a variety of uses and could include these.

A resident of Bucknalls Lane expressed concern about probable overlooking from properties on the site. Riette Oosthuizen responded that the siting of properties would comply with District Council planning policies regarding distances of dwellings from existing housing.

A resident observed that there was an existing unused strip of land of about 10ft width between the gardens of houses in Bucknalls Lane and the horse field to the north. As far as she knew it was not owned by anyone. Riette Oosthuizen took note of this point for investigation into title to the land in question.

Riette Oosthuizen thanked residents for their questions and comments, which HTA would have regard to in preparing future development proposals in the event of the site being retained within the Preferred Options Housing Sites. HTA said that the owners of the site only really envisaged it being released for development towards the end of the lifetime of the development plans i.e. after 2021.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, the representatives from HTA Consultants and the Head of Development Plans for their contributions to the discussions and stated that the Council appreciated the comments from residents. He urged residents to put their concerns in writing and to complete and return the

consultation response slips by 15 January 2010.

10.DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING

The meeting noted that the next meeting had been scheduled for Wednesday 3 March 2010 at ParmitersSchool, High Elms Lane, Garston at 7.30pm.

CHAIRMAN

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