Codicote

I have read through the below and reviewed the proposed application by the council for land to develop and feel this will be a massive mistake to expand houses in the designated area's.

Firstly the local primary school that has such a good reputation will struggle with the mass intake of children, Already with out this development the school is having to refuse school places to children that live meters away from the school and this year is the first year of 2 classes for reception class, there is no further land for them to develop on.

And the main concern in the mass pressure this will put on the infrastructure of this little village, the roads are already over used and cars parked everywhere, and we already struggle with the lorry's going to the quarry. The village can not cope with the current houses and infrastructure, so there is no way it will be able to support additional house's let alone streets of houses, this in turn is already destroying the beautiful green fields around this village for what it is accustomed for, ,

there is no way these developments can be classed as sustainable.

There must be another solution to this housing issue, as Stevenage was originally designed to deal with the influx from London would this not be easier to extend as they have a better infrastructure than Codicote on its little "B" road, And lets be realistic with the population growing you will never meet the demands and requirements even if you build on every square inch of this country, seriously these plans and ideas need to be reviewed .

We have a high street which is drowning in traffic cars constantly parked on pavements a quarry that gives us 60 lorries going through the high street every working day a school that's overcrowded stop calling it a village it's a very noisy town I live in a road which fails to get deliveries and refuse collections some weeks because of parked cars

I should like to offer to have an Inspector to stay in my house in SG4 8UT for probably two weeks so he / she can experience first hand the logistical problems already experienced here
Traffic is a major issue not just on the routes through Codicote but of course adding to those in Welwyn too
Factor in similar added disruption by neighbouring local plans and it will easily become evident , We can't handle it

Codicote can't cope as it is , as Inspector will see during his / her stay here

Thanks for listening

No more than to simply reiterate my offer to house an Inspector or two for a week or two , so that they can see first had the chaos already reigning the streets of Codicote

Objection to this plan is widespread throughout Codicote after very vocal concerns at our Parish meetings. There are massive concerns about the already lack of infrastructure to cope. Most of our appeals are in vain as we are ignored by District Council continuously, there seems to be a real drive to push this through and not listen to the experts , the residents of Codicote, who can't park, sit in traffic jams leading to A1 as the village is used as a cut through for Hitchin residents avoiding the congested A1, the schools are bulging the list is endless.
Please listen to us and STOP these building plans now.

I am writing to express my objection and present my argument against all four sites.
As a village with limited infrastructure Codicote will not cope with such a large surge of new houses and residents.
Our high street (and the whole of the B656) is already at breaking point. The numbers of vehicles running through our community is overwhelming, as it stands we are enduring high levels of pollution, noise, disturbance and the risk of accidents. I experience this every day as I walk my child to school.
With this plan of an extra 315 new houses, how many vehicles will we have circulating in our village?
With so many people entering the community local services will be strained. Codicote does not even have a local doctor or clinic, we are currently obliged to visit GPs in a neighbouring village, a clinic which is already over-subscribed.
Our local school, which is one of the best in the county is already exceeding its capabilities trying to accommodate large numbers of local children.
Also, I fear that many families, who are already concerned with these drastic plans, will leave the village. This would have a detrimental impact on the character and future of our community.

I object in the strongest terms to the proposed plans. There is a reason for Green Belt which should not be built on. A new village should be built at Odsey to meet all NHDC needs instead of piecemeal developments all over the County.Huge expansion of villages is simply not sustainable

I have previously written to you in January and May of this year with comments on the draft plans. Now that the definitive plan has been published we are, it would seem, asked to comment again. The points I would wish to make are mostly the same as I made before but I will be much briefer this time.

The need for additional dwellings is accepted but before any expansion of Codicote is allowed the following points MUST be addressed (you have acknowledged some of them in the paragraphs 13.80 to 13.83 but it is not 100% clear how committed the council is to taking appropriate action)

1. The village school would definitely need to be expanded. There have already been problems with local parents finding it difficult to obtain a place for their children.
2. The additional dwellings would definitely require action on the infrastructure for which the water company is responsible. This year there have been frequent problems necessitating the digging up of roads.
3. On top of the problems created by lorries going to Codicote Quarry, it does not take much to cause holdups to traffic on the High Street, and building additional houses not only in Codicote but in villages to the North and West is not calculated to improve this. Assuming that no extra lane is built on the A1(M) in the timespan covered by this plan, and that no other bypass of the village is likely to be built in the near future, there is probably no easy answer to this, but one thing that could help the traffic flow would be decent parking space off the High Street if some way could be found to provide this.
4. As the village seems to suffer more than its fair share of power cuts, it would be desirable to that developers should be required to work with the electricity supplier to deal with this.
5. It is already difficult to get appointments at the nearest Doctors' surgery in Old Welwyn; although it is appreciated that this is something that is mainly within the remit of the NHS, the NHDC may have a part to play in encouraging extra provision.
6. There are a number of footpaths giving access to the surrounding countryside that should not be allowed to disappear, for example the section of the Hertfordshire Way leading west from St Albans Road past the school towards Codicote Bottom, to name but one.
7. There is a considerable amount of wildlife centered on the area to the West/Southwest of the area labeled CD5, (including black squirrels which are not usually found this far south and west in England). It is suggested that any development should respect this, both during construction and afterwards.

Having failed to register online I simply want to be able to say, many people in and around Codicote would welcome the new (affordable) family homes . Don't be swayed by the well organised vocal old NIMBYs
Many like me have children unable to buy a house more for shortage than price although price is relevant.
My son and family currently rent a two bed terrace house at £900 per month and would love to be able to buy within the village.

With reference to your decision on the Codicote Local Plan, we would ask you to consider most strongly the effect it will have on the rural aspect of the village.
The infra structure is not able to cope with this amount of building. The traffic is already at a level where an accident is waiting to happen with the lorries and the school. The High Street is fully parked, often both sides over the curb.
Please use your power to curtail this plan.

I feel outraged at this greedy, ill-thought-out plan. How can people be so short-sighted? Here are my objections:

1 The green belt is increasingly precious. It must not be violated any more, on clear environmental grounds. It provides essential respite in the over-populated south-east of this country for diminishing species of wild life of both the plant and animal variety. To dangerously compromise this with a 25% expansion scheme is almost Trump-like in its crassness. If it were a limited number of houses in the 'affordable' bracket - say, no more than 60, to be generously realistic - then this construction scheme might to an extent dovetail with such major environmental concerns. But if land owners could be persuaded, in the interests of the planet as well as Codicote, to invest in renewable energy projects rather than a glut of houses, this would be kinder and more appropriate than to propose 315 new houses.

2 There is absolutely no space in and around the village for the necessary major infrastructure development to support these proposed 315 new houses! If only two people were to occupy each house, there would be an additional 630 people needing support to maintain their everyday lives! If an average of three people were to occupy each house, this multiplies to a rise in little Codicote's population of little short of 1,000 people, all of whom require doctors, schooling, water, drainage, sewage ... !

3 I would draw the Inspector's attention urgently to the question of traffic in this area, which already grossly supercedes the space available only on small 'B' roads and a limited network of pot-holed, single-lane side roads, some of which are little more than tracks. This, of course, is typical of rural areas like Codicote. Again, there is no space available whatsoever to alter this, either by road widening or by, say, an urban style underpass dug at great cost and hideous disruption - no, a remedy as fanciful as that does not begin to be feasible. So. At a conservative estimate, what is being proposed is introducing new 630 car owners to Codicote - you have to have a car in a country village to get to work, do the weekly shop, ferry your kids to school and not live in isolation (buses are too few and far between to accommodate the needs of busy, modern living). Air quality along the roads through and around Codicote is already severely compromised at times. To consider the release of an additional 630 cars on roads which are already groaning with traffic is a rather desperate form of madness.

4 I have saved this until last, because aesthetic and general well-being concerns are maybe lesser than the absolute necessity of blocking this proposal on grounds 1-3 above. Also, the proposers will no doubt be quick to accuse such an objection as 'nimby-ism'. But to wilfully destroy the character of an ancient village where people live modestly and peacefully, as they have done for hundreds of years, is what this dreadful plan actually proposes. Don't entertain it.

Whilst I am sympathetic to the need for additional housing in Hertfordshire, I do not believe that Codicote is a suitable place for such development. Principally, I am concerned with the additional traffic that will be created, the pressure on local services and the loss of community by adding so many extra dwellings.

The traffic in Codicote High Street is already at almost at an intolerable level owing to Codicote's position between Hitchin and the A1(M) motorway junction at Welwyn. During peak hours there are often traffic jams along the High Street and the smallest of obstructions can make this situation worse. The presence of very many lorries travelling through Codicote to the quarry off St Albans Road adds to the high level of congestion. Additional housing anywhere in the area is only going to make matters worse.

Local services are already stretched to breaking point. Specifically , the local GP practice in Welwyn can barely cope with it's existing patient base and it is extremely difficult to get an appointment. Many of the GPs at the surgery are part-time and there is a well documented shortage of such professionals in England. I cannot see how this particular service will cope with an addition 364 families. The local school is also full to the point where demountable classrooms are in use already and last year, several local children were unable to get a place at their local school. The school in it's current form would not have any capacity for the extra children generated from the proposed number of additional dwellings.

Currently, Codicote is a tight and local community where people look out for one and another and where welfare of the individual is of importance to everyone. There is little crime or anti-social behavior. I believe that increasing the population size by 25% will reduce the community spirit that exists, and potentially will add to the crime and disorder in a location where policing is limited and response times from local police is in excess of the accepted norm owing to Codicote's location in the Hertforshire policing map. Our services come from Hitchin (not WGC) and thus, an immediate response to crime is some 10 miles away.

I am once again writing to you to confirm that I object completely to any
new development of green belt land in Codicote.

The prospect of building 315 new homes is absolutely unbelievable and
this would destroy the village. Here are some of my reasons:

1) Environment - More cars (maybe another 500) will produce more pollution
and the new building work could affect drainage. Flooding may be caused.

2)Character - With so many new houses, the character of the village will change.

3)Community - A growing population will be too much for the village to cope with.

4)Healthcare - Maybe an influx of 1000 new people, who will all have to use
the surgery at Welwyn. It is very, very busy at present. What effect will this have?

5) Infrastructure - How can the village possibly accommodate all these new
houses and people? It is estimated that the population would increase by
nearly 25%. This is totally unreasonable.

6) Wildlife - The destruction of green belt land is a disgrace. Wildlife has a right,too. Destroying the natural habitats of animals and birds is sinful. Soon,
the countryside will be a sea of concrete, devoid of wildlife. People live in
villages to be near to nature and to take this away is shameful.

7) Employment - Where will all these new people find work? There are very few
jobs around, at present.

8)Traffic - Is absolutely terrible. In the mornings and evenings it never stops.
Another 500+ cars in the village will not help matters.

9)Parking - The parking problem in Codicote is more than just a problem. There
are cars parked in the High Street totally on the pavement. It is just getting
worse and will become dire, if another 500+ cars enter the fray.

10) Road Safety - The High Street is such a dangerous road. Thousands of
cars and lorries speed through the village and it is quite impossible to cross the
road at times. More cars will make it even more dangerous.

11) Schooling - The schools are full, so what will happen with an influx of
maybe 200 children? Everywhere is so stretched. I cannot see how this will
work.

12) Power - We get so many power cuts. Why is this? More houses need more
power and more pollution.

13)Water - Drainage could be a big problem with building this number of
new houses. It could affect the village greatly.

14) Drainage - As above.

Please acknowledge receipt of this email.

I write to register my strong objections to the planned development for Codicote village.

The village does not have the infrastructure to support further development, which you would know if you had taken the time to go and look at it.

This is a serious, and easily avoidable, mistake. Try to get it right, and STOP the development.

We object to the allocations at Codicote on the basis of their impact on infrastructure and Environment. The plan proposes increasing the number of dwellings by more than 20%, A number which could be further increased by developer proposals. i.e. Ashill Group have suggested 200 dwellings on Site CD5 against the 140 in the NHDC local plan proposal.

1. INFASTRUCTURE
1.1. Traffic. The report prepared by Railton TPC Ltd on behalf of Save Rural Codicote highlights the issues around congestion at peak times, lack of parking and safety concerns, It concludes that Codicote is by far, the least sustainable location as a location for new development and does not minimise the need to travel or maximise the use of sustainable transport modes and the proposed development at Codicote is not, therefore, compliant with paragraph 34 of the NPPF.
1.2. Services. The proposed increase in dwellings will place a significant increase on the already overstretched services such as health care and schooling. Expanding the school next to its current physically constrained site will further increase congestion around peak times in the nearby roads.

2. ENVIRONMENT
2.1. Greenbelt. Part of the plan proposes development on greenbelt. This does not fall within 'exceptional circumstances' and should be classified as inappropriate development.
2.2. Scale. The scale of the proposals has a disproportionate impact on Codicote, is out of context with the rural surroundings and will significantly change the character of the village.

See attachment

To stress objection to new homes proposed at Codicote as the B656 road is overwhelmed/dangerous already with through traffic including massive lorries to/from Codicote quarry and coaches to/from commercial premises off the B656..already I strongly urge 20mph limit in Codicote village and 30mph the stretch between Codicote and Welwyn village. This road is used for families to/from school as well as cyclists and horse riders...furthermore to build on green fields is against sustainable planning policy when we know with climate change happening growing of own food becomes more essential as demands from other countries to seek food will increase...please refer to 'brown sites' or to 'in town' with usual facilities/workplaces/leisure places/buses etc.

I wish to register the fact that I am totally against the 315 new house building proposal.
The extra influx of residents and cars would be detrimental to the village in terms of environment character community access to healthcare INFRASTUCTURE wildlife employment parking road safety schooling power water drainage.

At the commuting periods in the day the traffic is almost at gridlock when passing through the High Street. As and when there are roadworks or building projects requiring coned off sections of the road, tailbacks develop and often traffic backs up if going north into Old Welwyn. Old Welwyn village is a bottleneck area in the mornings, extra building in this area will just exacerbate the already dire traffic situation.
When an incident occurs on the A1 motorway I have had to on occasions detour via Wheathampstead in order to reach home in Codicote High Street.
If an Ambulance has to get through on the B 197 in either direction it will NOT BE ABLE TO in an emergency.
Further development of housing is shear lunacy. Infrastructure is totally inadequate

As a resident of Codicote [...], I should like the following comments to be taken into account before a decision is taken on the Local Plan:-
1)An increase of approximately 25% on the existing stock could only be accommodated with significant infrastructure improvements. Every single unit constructed would have to contribute to the community infrastructure levy, 'CIL', ( not avoid it on the basis of small incremental developments), and the funds collected invested in the obvious need for upgrading local schools, hospitals , Doctors, water and power supplies roads parking drainage lighting and other services, whilst preserving the rural character of the village
2)Traffic congestion caused at peak times in the Codicote High Street, exacerbated by the designation of the Codicote Road as an effective 'bypass' for the A1 M ,would be intolerable, with additional vehicles servicing more dwellings , driving the obvious need for a Codicote by pass that would need to be funded by developers ( through the CIL).
3)The Codicote Garden Centre enjoys a clear visibility access onto the road to Hitchin whereas the Codicote sports field, and Community Centre do not ( their access is dangerously near a blind bend opposite the Church) The opportunity should be taken , in any development of the Garden Centre site, to ensure that the sports facilities can enjoy vehicular road access and egress onto the Hitchin Road. The new houses will have young people that will want to use the present facilities putting pressure on those, so the CIL should also require funding for improvements and expansion.
4)No developments should be permitted without a clear and enforceable plan to fund through CIL charges applied for the purpose, the improvement of all facilities that will be put under strain , directly or indirectly ..
Failure at the point of planning decisions to reflect on , and deal with these issues and failure to extract and apply CIL funds as required will only compound future problems that will surely reverberate around the Council offices! Granting the necessity for expansion , the same has to be sensitively and intelligently managed , not dealt with in a piecemeal fashion.

We would like to make our views known as to the Local Plan put forward by NHDC and specifically as regards Codicote expansion.

[...] We have good local knowledge from both professional and personnel levels.

Objections to the Local Plan as published.

We are NOT nimbys and fully support house construction in appropriate areas. We actually support the Plan as regards areas in Codicote such as Garden Centre/brown field development on the grounds that we need to do something and do it soon.

Codicote is a tightly knit village with a reliance on everyone having an interdependence within the community as well as family, the expansion seen already by transforming a high percentage of the High Street and other areas from mixed business to residential has already taken a toll on the very nature of the village but more importantly the infrastructure is now at a point where it fails on a regular basis.
If we build up to 250 new homes on predominantly Green belt sites (which appears to contradict the Government's published plans) the pressure on the emergency services, schools, hospitals (which are slowly crumbling under the weight of numbers attending) as well as the obvious road population increases will have a permanent negative impact on the area and the wellbeing of the residents.

Given the need we so clearly have would not a totally new Garden City/Town such as those we lead the world in constructing last centuary, be the better answer?
There are several brown field sites I can think of in Hertfordshire that would be obvious choices, Henlow Camp is a good example as would any of the ex military or industrial sites. Green Belt usage is both against current environmental thinking and a stated Government policy.

I could list many other arguments to avoid Green Belt exploitation but am sure you will already have heard them all many times over.

Having read in detail the Local Plan we confirm our opposition to it as regards the section where Green Belt is consumed.

See attachment

Traffic:
This village and in particular site CD 5 does not represent an appropriate strategy for delivering 140 new houses - access would either need to come from Heath Lane, St Albans Rd or Dark Lane. The traffic survey described in the draft local plan Section 13.81 makes no reference of the current issue of school drop-offs / pick-ups at Codicote Primary School via St Albans Rd & Heath Lane no reference to the lorries which use the village as a thoroughfare to Codicote Quarry (2000 annually 40 per day - HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT CONTROL COMMITTEE 27 MARCH www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/mm/15520863/15744637/devconctteitem120130327.doc) The impact of the two combining at peak times, combined with the required 147 new primary pupils (IDP Sec 6.76 states that a pupil yield of 42 per 100 new dwellings in Hertfordshire) the primary school may increase twice daily car movements by 160 (80 twice daily) ( IDP Sec 5.18 - walking counts for 43% of school journeys - bike accounts for 3% leaving 54% in cars). There is no doubt that this will create significant traffic issues at peak times on St Albans Rd - potentially with parents removing children from cars whilst 30 + tonne lorries negotiate a single track road with two lanes of parked cars - a recipe for infant injury or fatality - the local plan makes no mention of this. The addition of 140 houses and therefore c. 250 (Rural Villages cars per household =1.77 source: Department of Transport National Travel Survey) additional cars to the south of the village. Combined with the remainder of the new houses the total positive addition of cars to the village would be 557 - a significant number to the already crowded roads in the village - particular consideration should be taken of the impact around the centre of the village where residents park along the B656 to access shops and businesses and no public off-road parking exists. In addition most residential properties located on the High Street (B656) lack off-road parking. Parked traffic along the B656 already creates congestion and difficulties for through-traffic as well as pedestrians, the young and the infirm, increasing the number of parked cars to access businesses (which are proposed to be promoted, protected and enhanced under section 4.37 of the Local Plan, without providing any form of public parking would in no-doubt present a danger on the high-way to both cars and pedestrians - the plan makes no mention of this when discussing enhancing local centres.
Schooling
The North Hertfordshire Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) section 6.47 states that "Very Limited" Schooling exists with "Additional School Places Required" - the IDP also sets out that a new 2fe School would require c.£7.64m + cost of land (IDP section 6.62) - however fails to set out a sound approach to receiving appropriate funding - only providing a general view of how funding is gained in the public sector. In addition the Local Plan states that CD5 "Land Broadly to the east of the current alignment of the footpath is to be reserved for the expansion of the existing school" this plot suffers from poor access (see traffic above).
Healthcare:
Codicote has no primary health care facilities - this is not mentioned in the Local Plan. A significant provider of primary health care for Codicote Residents is Bridge Cottage Surgery in Welwyn Village - it is recognised that this health centre is already over-capacity - this is due in part to the current (2014+) building of 196 new homes and 14 apartments in Wilshere Park with no increase in capacity to the surgery. The Local Plan does not consider or mention capacity increase. This is in addition to the 67 houses proposed in the Welwyn-Hatfield Draft Local Plan 2016 - which mentions that capacity will be increased by constraining catchment (which might mean no-service for Codicote patients). Additionally the IDP Section 7.20 notes that Knebworth Medical Practice is already over-subscribed by 5000 patients - which will be compounded by c.1400 new patients in Knebworth (2.3 patients per household 2011 Census).
Transport:
For each resident in Hertfordshire 0.36 commuting journeys are made per week day (Hertfordshire Country Travel Survey (HCTS) section 4.7.2 - of those 30.5% commute to Greater London (HCTS Sec 4.7.4) with 61.4% (HCTS Table 4.35) of those commuting by train- aligned with an average of 2.3 people per household (2011 Census: Population and household estimates for the United Kingdom, March 2011 Section 1) it is expected that 315 new houses in Codicote would result in c.48 new London train journeys and 24 commuters. Two stations can be identified as being within the catchment of Codicote - Knebworth and Welwyn North - current proposals by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR 2018 Timetable Consultation) to remove all direct, fast and semi-fast services from Knebworth to London by 2018 could result in an increase due to new houses in Codicote and Knebworth alone of c.75 passengers at Welwyn North - the current 250 parking spaces are already oversubscribed - potentially pushing more to commuting by car. Additionally placing a significant number of railway commuters in a village without a walkable railway station and relatively infrequent public transport will result in un-necessary 'feeder' cars to railway stations, congestion both in Codicote and Welwyn North and a negative environmental impact which counteracts the sustainability agenda.

Sustainability:
The inclusion of 557 cars (see calc above) to a relatively rural village with only basic amenities (small shops pubs and a pharmacy), no primary health-care, no secondary education and very limited employment opportunities - combined with infrequent bus services will result in a net increase in car traffic on the county's road network - placing these houses in a location with better accessibility could significantly improve the environmental impact.

Greenbelt
Planning applications within Codicote have recently been objected to in-park due to greenbelt - for example - response to planning application 12/02481/1CM (Hertfordshire County Council - Development Control Committee 27 March 2013 Minutes) states that a major conclusion for not allowing importation and processing of concrete at the Codicote Quarry Site (420m from proposed site CD5) - "1) It is considered that the proposed use constitutes inappropriate development in the Green Belt and that, for the reasons set out above, the application is not supported by the necessary " very special circumstances " for allowing a relaxation of the normal Green Belt policy against which such development should be judged. It is difficult to understand how a Local Plan accounts for "Very Special Circumstances".

Our infrastructure is unable to cope with the level of expansion and the number of houses planned for Codicote.

The roads are inadequate for the levels of traffic already experienced. There is insufficient parking available on the high street. This leads to reduced safety for pedestrians and other road users.

The school is already oversubscribed and this level of development will create still greater pressures on the school.

It is extremely difficult to get a doctors appointment at Bridge Cottage Surgery as it is and this will add significant extra pressure and adversely affect our communities access to health care. This is particularly significant as there are a high number of elderly residents in a Codicote.

Just one of the proposed sites is on a brown field site. The others are going to take away more of the green belt. This will have detrimental effect on wildlife and the environment.

I appreciate we need more houses but the proposed increase of 30% is too much for Codicote to cope with.

The present proposals would give rise to a 24% increase in the number of dwellings in the parish without any serious consideration of the inadequacies of the present infrastructure, let alone the extra loads placed by such a great increase.

The current proposed planning in Codicote is beyond ludicrous, implausible and ethically bank rust. Any reasonable person who has spent a day in Codicote & the surrounding area including Welwyn village can see that this beautiful rural area is already filled to capacity. The roads are full resulting in long delays on the Codicote Road in both directions, and almost no free parking on the high street. The already existing residents often have to resort to parking illegally due to overcrowding. The local school is already full. The local doctors surgery are already overstretched, on average it takes over 3 weeks just to get an appointment. More importantly our Green Belt is sacred. Our beautiful countryside is not dispensable or disposable at our will. We live in a time where we have a moral and ethical duty of care to respect and safeguard our natural environment. With over 60% of the natural world eradicated by man. All that stands between the continuing urban sprawl is our precious Greenbelt. If we fail to protect our precious countryside than the consequences are unthinkable. Thank you for your time & consideration.

We understand that North Herts is a popular area and is attracting additional residents and support the proposals for additional housing. However we have fundamental concerns over an allocation of sites around existing towns and villages which will cause irreversible changes to their historic character and put huge pressure on already constrained infrastructure and services.

Codicote is a village that has grown organically around the B656. Whilst the allocation of around 364 houses forms part of the overall quota for North Herts, we feel that the suggested scale of the development is completely inappropriate for the village of Codicote and outline some of our concerns below:

Traffic & Sustainability
We have concerns about the impact the new developments would have on existing traffic problems.

Codicote is not currently set up to encourage pedestrians or cycling. When walking around the village my wife often has to take our small children into the B656 road because the path is blocked by parked cars. We have tried on occasions to walk to Welwyn village (where the nearest doctor's surgery is located) and do not feel this is a safe road to walk young children down. In places it is not suitable for buggy or disabled access and traffic is very fast moving with little space between the road and pavement. The council have put in bollards in Codicote but they have not worked, wholescale revisions to the road layout and defined layby parking to the one side might help, but this would impact unfairly on residents to one side. We have lived in many areas around North Herts and feel that Codicote is one of the worse places to walk and cycle around.

I commute to London and for a few months did try and cycle to Welwyn North station. I had many near misses with cars that had little space to pass or would overtake on the many bends between the station and Codicote. In the end I had to give in and drive to the station due to these safety concerns. Parking at Welwyn North and Knebworth stations already appear to be at capacity.

We have also considered using the local bus service but this is prohibitive due to the cost and frequency of buses that serve the village.

There are relatively few employment opportunities within the village and no additional employment land is suggested by NHDC in their plan. Like our household, most people will need to work outside the village.

Although parking restrictions are currently in place in St Albans Road to offer a safe route to school for the children these restrictions are not observed or enforced.

Quarry traffic is already an issue for the village and the quarry trucks affect people's ability to walk or park safely around the village. Large numbers of additional cars and construction traffic are going to add to this issue.

Green Belt
We feel the additional developments would be inappropriate destruction of the Green Belt and find no evidence to support the 'exceptional circumstances' that would be needed in order to make the destruction legal.

Other issues

The school is currently at capacity. Even with expansion, we have concerns that it will quickly be at capacity again. If the existing site is developed this would involve a split in the school over a public footpath and worry how this would be managed in the long term. In order for the footpath to be maintained it appears a large proportion of the new development traffic would need to be accessed via St Albans Road. Parts of St Albans road are a Conservation Area and we have concerns about the impact a large increase in traffic would have on this area.

There is no local secondary school within walking or cycling distance to Codicote meaning large numbers of children would need to leave the village via car or bus each day putting even more pressure on the struggling road network.

The local surgery is at capacity and we currently have to wait up to 6 weeks for a routine appointment. We have concerns that the surgery would struggle to cope with such a large number of new patients but also the roads and area surrounding the surgery are already congested and parking is an issue. This would only get worse with more patients to serve.

The proposed new developments will give a greater than 24% increase in dwelling numbers realistically a 36% increase in those within the settlement boundary.
My first concerns relate to the impact of this big increase in the size of the village on the quality of life in Codicote. I feel that much of the infrastructure of this small country community will be overstretched by the proposed development.

Traffic and road safety. The development will increase traffic through the village centre and on the roads that enter the village. The B656 carries high levels of traffic, including many heavy trucks, through the heart of the village; this already poses a hazard to local residents as they use the pavements and cross the High Street. In addition traffic to access village facilities is high and would be greatly increased with the development, traffic along the Bury Lane and St Albans Road entrances to the village is already too heavy for the design of these partly single track roads.
Parking. Most residents of the High Street have no choice but to park their cars on the pavement and Increased use of the village facilities will increase pressure on parking to a dangerous level. It is very stressful for residents to be unable to park close to home and that this can create a real problem for people with restricted mobility. This problem is not addressed in the plan.
Pedestrians. It impossible navigate Codicote High Street with a wheelchair or child's pushchair without taking part of the journey on the road as cars parked over the kerb; the extra traffic will make this journey more dangerous for pedestrians.
Bicycle route. The Great North Way section of the National cycleway Route 12 runs through St Albans Road, Cowards Lane and Rabley Heath Road and the increased traffic will create dangerous conditions for cyclists on this road. This problem is not addressed in the plan.
Public transport and access to trains. The development will increase pressure on public transport. In the absence of suitable bus connections most people commuting to work rely on the trains from Knebworth, North Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City stations. The service from these stations is at near capacity with no seats available on rush-hour services. In addition there is insufficient parking on the roads of Knebworth and North Welwyn and in their associated railway station car parks. The development will make access to these services difficult.
Access to local healthcare. It is already difficult to get appointments at the local Welwyn doctor surgery.
Water supply. Water levels in the Mimram were recently seriously reduced due to over-extraction, the development will put further stress on the supplies.
Green Belt. The development will remove forever land that has been protected for us by Green Belt designation. Green Belt gives protection that has been respected by Codicote community over the last 60 years. The current plans are linked to protection from further local greenbelt erosion locally, but only until 2031, to me this feels like a shabby neglect of heritage that we hold in trust for future generations.
Loss of Footpaths. The fields of Valley Road and Cowards Lane sites are both well used by residents of Codicote. Short off-road walks close to the village are a great asset and their loss will be sorely felt.
Wider Concerns. I doubt that the policy to encourage investment in building in Hertfordshire and in the South East in general is based on sound evidence. Investment in the housing stock in the South East ensures that the imbalance of opportunities between the regions in the UK will continue and probably worsen; a better policy would be to direct investment to improving the economy of regions that currently have fewer employment opportunities. That way our unique countryside could be protected and vulnerable communities in areas of high unemployment would be helped.

The amount of development proposed is completely out of proportion to the size of the village and will fundamentally change its character. There is already a severe traffic problem in the village, with heavy lorries travelling to the nearby quarry, general traffic using the road to by-pass the AI, and local traffic transporting children to schools/going to stations or work. The public transport in the village is negligible so these new properties will represent more than 25% increase, given that they will tend to be active younger people. The road is relatively narrow and the heavy traffic through the village at rush hours makes it difficult and dangerous to cross the road, and gives rise to noise and pollution. When the traffic is lighter vehicles speed through the village. The village simply cannot accommodate any increase in traffic. It is difficult to understand why Codicote should be faced with this damaging increase in homes just because these sites happen to have been offered - this does not suggest a thoughtful plan which has been devised for the benefit of local people.
It is a central feature of Codicote that it is surrounded by fields. I, and many others, walk regularly in these fields and there will be a considerable loss of amenity if they are built on, and the village comes closer to surrounding areas.

We are disappointed with the proposed submission which appears to be looking at the identified sites, within the overall proposal, individually as opposed to a collection.
Codicote/Kimpton/Knebworth and Whitwell are in close proximity to each other and the high density housing proposed will impact adversely on an already overstretched infrastructure.
The transport network is a particular problem. Access/through routes for the villages included in the proposal during the weekday rush hour and Saturday mornings are already at capacity, Codicote High Street in-particular exasperated by the lack of off road parking. The daily commute, as after all these are commuter locations, in /out to places of work, the rail network and schools is difficult in itself and it is intolerable that it can take 40 minutes plus to travel to and from Codicote and Welwyn Garden City.
Local junior schools are at capacity, with some children having to go elsewhere, and there are no secondary schools. Children are bussed in and out of the villages putting further strain on the crowded road network as buses negotiate narrow high streets and connecting access roads.
Codicote's and the surrounding villages Green Belt are being ignored by inappropriate development and we are set to lose swathes of wildlife habitat along with public bridleways and the local inhabitants right to the enjoyment of open space.
There are many more negative aspects of the proposed local plan as a whole and, whilst it is appreciated that there is a nationwide need for additional housing that, on the scale proposed for Codicote and the surrounding villages, is both poorly structured with a total disregard for the already stretched capacity.

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I am very concerned about the future of Codicote. I see every day increasing traffic and local services being stretched to accommodate the needs of local people.

Therefore I am very much against further development around Codicote and I'm writing to express my objection and present my argument against all four sites.

Fist of all, our high street is highly congested during rush hours which makes it dangerous to cross, especially during school run. More houses would mean more cars and that will lead to more congestion, increased pollution and high risk of accidents.

Our outstanding local school is already under pressure, trying to accommodate large numbers of local children. With over 300 new houses, how can we expect our school to cope?

Codicote is a village with a strong local community. This is at risk with intense over-development as many families might move out seeking a better environment.

Also, I cannot see how with so many new homes the village can provide all necessary services. Not to mention that Codicote does not have a local doctor or clinic and we are currently using GPs in a nearby village, which is already over-subscribed.

Please reconsider these development plans, as I can see it will badly affect my family and the lives of all our neighbours on many levels.