The plan remains largely unchanged from the Preferred Options Plan. Despite record levels of participation, the sites, distribution and volumes of development remain unchanged (in fact they have slightly increased and are slightly more disproportionately spread). Policies have been strengthened, but they are still vague and aspirational, rather than concrete and unambiguous - unless they are strengthened, perhaps with examples, then they will be easily pushed aside by the planning and development process and rendered irrelevant. Since there is so little change from the Preferred Options Plan, this raises a question mark over the consultation exercise. If they are not available already, the Planning Inspector should consider asking to see the comments raised against the Preferred Options Plan - these remain relevant as the vast majority of comments were about the location, distribution and volume of development sites (which are almost entirely unchanged). It feels like the Preferred Options Plan, rather than being a genuine consultation, was an exercise in manufacturing urgency. It has succeeded. Like many in North Hertfordshire I have no desire for our district to be left without a development plan (either a 5 year land release plan or a full Local Plan) and I fear the dangers of speculative development in the absence of a Local Plan. For this reason I will not be re-raising objections to the plan as a whole or the disproportionate distribution and volume of development contained within it; I will be limiting my comments as much as possible to areas of North Hertfordshire I know best and to specific elements of the plan that most affect me. This does not mean that the distribution and volume of development described in this Local Plan are any more proportionate, sustainable or desirable than they were in the Preferred Options Plan, but that I think it is important that a valid plan is now put in place. For this reason I think the Planning Inspector should look at the comments raised on the Preferred Options Plan and should recommend any adjustments to the Local Plan that might ensure a more proportionate and sustainable (and less risky) plan is put in place, rather than rejecting it out-right.
In respect to the specific policies affecting the areas of North Hertfordshire that I know well and that affect me most closely, I see a marked improvement over the previous version in the Preffered Options Plan.