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December 2009

26th December 2009

SECRETARY OF STATE GRANTS PLANNING PERMISSION FOR 3000 HOUSES WEST OF STEVENAGE

After a delay of some 5 years from the end of the public enquiry, the Secretary of State announced that he had chosen to grant planning permission for 3600 houses West of Stevenage. The Secretary of State cynically chose to make this announcement in the immediate run up to Christmas in order to "bury" the bad news.

CASE are considering whether or not it is possible to appeal this decision, but the grounds on which an appeal can be made are extremely limited.

In addition to the 3600 houses in respect of which planning permission has now been granted, the government are pressing for a further 17000 houses to be built somewhere in the greenbelt around Stevenage. One of the prime candidates for a site is the remainder of the Langley Valley.

CASE will continue to fight these proposals and will be doing all it can do to protect this lovely piece of Hertfordshire countryside from the bulldozers.

December 2007

UTTER MADNESS!

THE EXPANSION OF STEVENAGE INTO RURAL NORTH HERTS HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH

Now the Stevenage and North Herts Area Action Plan, or SNAP gives you the opportunity to have your say.

Please complete the attached form (or go on-line: www.stevenage.gov.uk and put ‘SNAP’ in search window) and help save the Langley Valley and quality of life for all in North Herts.

SIGN & DATE, CUT OUT AND SEND, TO ARRIVE BEFORE 18TH JANUARY TO:

STEVENAGE BOROUGH COUNCIL, DANESHILL HOUSE, STEVENAGE SG1 1HN

December 2006

Amazingly, over a year after the Deputy Prime Minister stated that he was "minded" to grant planning permission for 3600 houses west of Stevenage, no decision has yet been made. The reason is that the three local authorities (Herts County Council, North Herts District Council and Stevenage Borough Council) and the developers have failed to arrive at an agreement as to what facilities the developers should provide in order to create a properly sustainable development. The decision will now have to be made by the new Secretary for State, Ruth Kelly. It is unlikely that this decision will be made until next spring.

It would now appear that even if planning permission is granted by Ruth Kelly, it is unlikely that any significant number of houses will be built prior to 2011. Bearing in mind the whole rational of the proposed development was to provide for Hertfordshire's housing needs up to 2011 and that Hertfordshire has had no problems meeting these needs without the development, it is clear that there was never any need for such a large greenbelt develpment.

November 2005

Deputy PM "minded" to allow 3,600 housees in Greenbelt

On 20th October 2005 the deputy Prime Minister announced his decision with regard to the Planning applications to build either 5,000 or alternatively 3,600 houses in the Greenbelt to the West of the A(1)M.

Mr. Prescott refused planning permission in respect of the application to build 5,000 house. However, he has indicated that he is “minded” to allow the application to build 3,600 house provided the developers to enter into certain obligations with regard to the provision of Community infrastructure.

This means that is almost inevitable that early next year planning permission to build 3,600 houses will be formally granted.

See copies of the Deputy Prime Minister’s decision together with the report of the Inspector who held the planning inquiry.

CASE is obviously bitterly disappointed by this decision. In many ways it represents the worst of all worlds. The fact that the A1(M) boundary has been breached and building has been allowed in the Green Belt means that it will be extremely difficult to prevent further development beyond 3,600 houses. This is particularly so as a development of 3,600 houses may be too small to provide the necessary infrastructure such as schools and so on that the development needs to be sustainable.

CASE, together with other objectors such as North Herts District Council and the County Council are considering whether the decision (once it has been formally made) can be challenged in the High Court.

In the meantime CASE are actively participating in the Examination in Public in respect of the East of England Plan which contains proposals that West of Stevenage should grow between now and 2021 to up to 14,400 dwellings in total. These proposals are being strongly resisted by CASE and we will continue to fight to minimise any development West of the A1(M) even if planning permission is formally given.

July 2005

3000 objections lodged by CASE supporters

CASE have been informed by EERA that some 3000 CASE supporters lodged complaint forms with EERA. This makes CASE one of the best supported organisations objecting to the East of England Plan.

In a demonstration of their lack of interest in democracy EERA have failed to include CASE in the list of organisations invited to attend the forthcoming Examination in Public. CASE have lodged an objection to this omission.

April 2005

26,000 objections to East of England Plan

The time for objecting to the East of England Plan has expired. The East of England Regional Assembly has announced that it has received in excess of 26,000 objections. How many of these come from CASE supporters has yet to be announced. However it is clear that the proposals contained in the East of England Plan have been met by unprecedented opposition.

The scale of opposition can be seen by comparison with the North East England Plan. This Plan received a mere 260 objections. T North East Regional Assembly announced that this response had been so great that it was delaying progressing the Plan whilst it considered the objections. The East of England Regional Assembly faced with a hundred times the number of objections appears to be continuing with the timetable for implementing The East of England Plan regardless.

Meanwhile nothing further has been heard from John Prescott as to the application for planning permission to build 5,000 house in the green belt to the west of Stevenage. It is unlikely that a decision will be made this side of the General Election.

12th January 2005

MASSIVE NEW HOUSING THREAT TO NORTH HERTS

Having fought proposals for thousands of houses West of Stevenage for nearly 8 years, we are now confronted by a much greater threat to our countryside.

SO WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO WEST OF STEVENAGE?
On the 5th November the Planning Inspector who presided over the Public Inquiry into the West of Stevenage Consortium's Planning Application to build 5,000 houses in the Greenbelt to the west of Stevenage submitted his report to John Prescott. Mr. Prescott's decision as to whether or not to grant Planning Permission is expected some time this year. CASE, who participated in the Inquiry, believe that there is a real chance that the Inspector will recommend that the planning application be rejected.

THE EAST OF ENGLAND PLAN
However, even before this decision has been made, a new and even greater threat to our countryside has arisen. The East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) has recently published its plan for the development of the region up to the year 2021. We are now part of this region which includes Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. The proposals set out in the East of England Plan make devastating reading for us.

• 478,000 houses to be built in the East of England.
• 79,600 of these dwellings to be built in Hertfordshire. The Plan's strategy for Hertfordshire is to concentrate development around the expansion of two towns, Stevenage and Harlow.
• 15,800 new dwellings are proposed for North Hertfordshire. 8,500 of these on greenfield / greenbelt sites to the west and north of Stevenage.
• A further 6,400 dwellings within Stevenage Borough of which 3,400 will be built on greenfield sites such as the Forster Country. The effect of this is that Stevenage will grow by 14,400 dwellings to become a town of around 117,000 people.
• The Plan also encourages the doubling or possibly tripling of the number of flights from Luton Airport, the flight path of which crosses North Hertfordshire.

North Herts comes out particularly badly under the proposals. In addition to the housing proposed under the East of England Plan, there are also proposals for the Luton/Milton Keynes area for yet more dwellings in North Herts near Luton Airport.

The Government, however, doesn't think this will provide enough houses and is pressing for a further 18,000 dwellings across the region in addition to the 478,000 provided for in the Plan.

Building such a large number of houses in North Hertfordshire would require huge Government investment in the necessary infrastructure. A combination of the expansion of Luton Airport and Stevenage will inevitably have a huge impact on traffic, hospitals, and schooling. Large tracts of our countryside will be lost. North Herts will become much noisier and more crowded.

However, central Government has indicated it will not fund the essential infrastructure. This situation is so obviously unacceptable that in recent weeks EERA voted to suspend its endorsement of its own East of England Plan. This has not, however, stopped the Plan going forward.

WHAT NOW?
This draft East of England Plan is now open to Public Consultation until 5pm on the 16th of March 2005. The Plan will then be tested in front of an independent panel at an Examination in Public (EiP) starting in September 2005. The panel will use what we say to help decide the key issues.

Unless there is a very large public rejection of the proposals there is a real danger that this plan will be put into effect.

WHERE CAN YOU GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PLAN?
The Plan can be downloaded from the EERA website www.eera.gov.uk and Hertfordshire County Council have prepared a very helpful dedicated website called www.speakuphertfordshire.org.uk.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT THE PLAN?
CASE urge as many people as possible to object to the Plan. In order to assist those who wish to object, CASE has prepared a response form with a summary of the issues CASE wish to raise. All you have to do is fill in your name, address etc, and press 'submit'. We have left a space for you to make any additional comments you wish to make. Where possible can you ask each member of your family to complete and submit one of these forms as the total number of responses can make a real difference.

CASE will have a stall on Hitchin Market Place on Saturday 5 March and in Letchworth on 12 March where more forms will be available. CPRE Hertfordshire are holding a public meeting on Tuesday 1 March, 7.30pm at the Plinston Hall in Letchworth. Watch the press for details.

You can also object by:

• completing the simple on line response form that we have already set up for you which will be submitted direct to EERA. (Click here to be taken to the form)
• filling in the response page on the East of England Regional Assembly website on-line at www.eera.gov.uk
• downloading the response form and returning it by e-mail to planning@eera.gov.uk
• post to EERA at Flempton House, Flempton, Bury St Edmunds IP28 6EG
• fax to 01284 729447

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