Please add the following comments to the submission of the local plan to the Secretary of State.

North Hertfordshire District Council's Local Plan is lacking in flexibility for the provision of housing in the future by drawing the new green belt proposals too tightly around villages and settlements within the district thereby eliminating small scale development within and on the edges of villages and settlements which would enhance their viability and long term future. Furthermore, applying green belt protection to settlements by sweeping the green belt over them precludes any natural growth.

The argument that development in settlements and villages within the green belt is not sustainable is clearly false as these communities have been sustained some for many hundreds of years.