Planning magazine Front page 23 July 1999.

County Pulls Out Of New Settlement Bid

The Future of a controversial 10,000 home development west of Stevenage has been cast into doubt following Hertfordshire County Councils decision to withdraw from the consortium proposing the project.

Hertfordshire, which has project managed Garden City 21 and provided approximately 100,000 worth of financial support since its inception last year, has pulled out of the scheme following the Conservative Party's capture of the council in the wake of a by-election last month.

North Herts District Council, which abuts onto the site of the proposed scheme, has also signaled its intention to withdraw from the project following May council elections in which the Tories took control.

Hertfordshire's newly elected environment chair Jane Pitman said officers from both authorities had been instructed to examine "all the options open to us " to fight development of the site to the west of the A1 motorway, removed from the green belt in the county's structure plan adopted last year.

She said the forthcoming review of the structure plan, announced three weeks ago, will be guided by the principle of avoiding the loss of greenfield sites to housing. "Make no mistake, we mean to do whatever it takes and however long it takes to protect this part of Hertfordshire's green belt" said Pitman.

A spokesperson for Persimmon, Bryant and Taywood homes, the main housebuilders involved in the Garden City 21 project said the three companies "remain 100 per cent committed to the project." But representatives from the three firms have written to the leaders of Hertfordshire and North Hertfordshire asking for reassurance that they will not oppose a masterplanning exercise due to be held in Stevenage in October.

Stevenage District Council is to project manage the scheme following Hertfordshire's withdrawal.

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