CD2 Codicote Garden Centre, High Street

I have objected to all other sites as they are Green belt and far too large. I do understand that there is a national picture for house building and feel that if anywhere is to be developed within the village then this brownfield site with only 54 house should be the location.

I am writing to strongly oppose the development and over-residentialisation of sites in Codicote and specifically that of the area of Codicote Garden Centre.
Codicote is an ancient village of historic interest, the character and preservation of which is of enormous importance.
Traffic
The main road through the village is lined closely on both sides with attractive, period cottages and houses and the road is further constrained by parked cars belonging to the cottages.
The High Street is the main thoroughfare between the A1 and Welwyn and Hitchin, Knebworth, parts of Stevenage and the surrounding villages and is regularly blocked by weight of traffic, especially during the rush hours, following an accident on the A1 or at any time of lorry deliveries to and from the quarry, to businesses or at refuse collection times. Traffic is already way in excess of capacity.
The roads leading from Codicote to the surrounding villages are single track lanes at many points and are already totally unsuitable for either the volume or size of vehicles that use them. There are many serious accidents along the lanes, often caused by rush hour speeding. These lanes are shared by many horse riders and cyclists and are already extremely dangerous.
The road surfaces are already unacceptable and these standards will only descend to almost impossible levels with an increased level of traffic using roads in the area.
Public transport is simply not comprehensive enough to be practical for the vast majority of residents.
The levels of pollution will rise with increased traffic with resultant health issues for any residents with asthma and other breathing related illnesses. There will also be pollution damage to historic buildings, flora and fauna.
Schools
The school provision is plainly inadequate for the large influx of children that this new housing will produce. Codicote Primary School is already over-subscribed from the current population.
Under the National Planning Policy Framework 2012, the Government states that 'key facilities such as primary schools ....should be located within walking distance of most properties. The Government attaches great importance to ensuring that a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities.'
There will also be increased pressure on the secondary schools in the wider area and the necessarily increased transport links.
Green Belt
Codicote stands in the Green Belt and is therefore protected from development and expansion.
According to the National Planning Policy Framework 2012, the idea of the Green Belt 'is a ring of countryside where urbanisation will be resisted for the foreseeable future, maintaining an area where agriculture, forestry and outdoor leisure can be expected to prevail.' The Framework continues: 'Once an area of land has been defined as green belt, the stated opportunities and benefits include:
* Providing opportunities for access to the open countryside for the urban population
* Providing opportunities for outdoor sport and outdoor recreation near urban areas
* The retention of attractive landscapes and the enhancement of landscapes, near to where people live
* The securing of nature conservation interests
* The retention of land in agricultural, forestry and related uses
* Green belt in England is protected both by normal planning controls and against "inappropriate development" within its boundaries.'

Implication for collage in terms of :
Environment
Character
Community
Access to healthcare
Infrastructure
Wildlife
Traffic
Parking
Road safety
Schooling
Power
Water
Drainage

See attachment

This retail outlet adds employment and character to the village. It would be a harmful loss to the community. As said before traffic chaos will ensue.

I believe the NHDC plan is unsound and will have implications for the village in terms of:
Environment
Character
Community
Access to healthcare
Infrastructure
Wildlife
Employment
Traffic
Parking
Road Safety
Schooling
Power
Water
Drainage

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

I object to the NHDC's plan and believe it is unsound and will have implications for the village in terms of:
Environment
Character
Community
Access to healthcare
Infrastructure
Wildlife
Employment
Traffic including the safety of our children and damage to our vehicles
Volume of traffic and the impact on the road maintenance
Parking
Road Safety
Schooling
Power
Water
Drainage

This I consider to be the only site of the proposed that fits requirements and is not a green field site.
Some new homes (houses) are required to met local needs and this site would supply what I think would be sufficient.
S106 payments towards the school should be built into the approval as demand already exceeds supply on school places for children in the village.

I object to the NHDC's plan and believe it is unsound and will have implications for the village in terms of:
Environment
Character
Community
Access to healthcare
Infrastructure
Wildlife
Employment
Traffic including the safety of our children and damage to our vehicles
Volume of traffic and the impact on the road maintenance
Parking
Road Safety
Schooling
Power
Water
Drainage

High Street already heavily congested with village used as a cut through by residents of Hitchin and surrounding area to avoid A1. Not enough facilities for extra housing. Green belt land and important Codicote remains as a village NOT a town.

See attachment

Loss of green belt land
Loss of employment and recreation. Garden centre and cafe enjoyed by many local and elderly people. Centre activly supports local charities and fundraising.
Access - Additional traffic down Codicote road will exacerbate existing congestion problems.
Housing - NHDC are pushing extra houses on local communities to support Luton and Stevenage requirement. Development of a new Garden town/city should be prioritised

I understand that we need some hosuing - this would be my preferred location - its brown land and wouldnt directly effect the village with traffic.
Careful consideration would need to be given to views, nature and the enviroment

See attachment

Broadband infrastructure is not sufficient to support new houses.

The number of houses planned will increase the size of the village disproportionately. There are few opportunities for employment in the village and removing this place of employment will cause problems for the families who work here, many who live in the village itself. New homes will increase car levels as these new residents will need to travel to work.

See attachment

NHDC Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft
Section Four - Communities
* Codicote(13.77)
* * CD1 Land south of Cowards Lane
* * CD2 Codicote Garden Centre, High Street
* * CD3 Land north of The Close
* * CD5 Land south of Heath Lane
Objections are as follows:
The proposed sites are all on Green Belt land and there are no 'exceptional circumstances' that warrant building on them. As our local M.P. Stephen McPartland states " the local plan is not positively prepared, justified, effective or consistent with national policy". He suggests consideration should be given to a new Garden City. It is not justifiable for Codicote to lose so much recreational space i.e the open countryside. Our local NHDC Councillor for Codicote Jane Gray is also "not in favour of the plan" and states that there should be an "urgent attempt to establish a new settlement in the District". Why has this not been considered by NHDC? This would save the character of so many villages being destroyed in North Hertfordshire.
Codicote does not have the infrastructure to cope with more houses. There is a poor bus service and no train station, therefore people need to use cars to travel in and out of the village. The roads are clogged with parked cars and over run with commuters using the B656 as an alternative route to the A1M. Other roads that allow access to the village, are simple, narrow, country roads. There is no Doctors Surgery in Codicote and getting an appointment at neighbouring Doctors is difficult. What improvements to services are planned to cope with all the new patients? We regularly get power cuts and breaks in Broadband service, what plans are there to cope with the extra draw on power and services?
Parking for the current school is not sufficient, with local residents experiencing blocked drives and difficulty accessing their properties. This situation will get worse if the school is expanded. How will the issue of parking for the School, be addressed? There is no more capacity in the roads surrounding the school. St Albans road near the school is notoriously dangerous for school children to cross, due to the parked cars and HGV lorries that travel up and down the road, to the Quarry. (Reducing the number of lorries has been, so far, unsuccessful by campaigners). A bigger school can only mean more parked cars and more children walking to school on this dangerous road. It is also not sustainable to create a larger school, as there as there is no expansion planned for the local secondary school. The proposed school site has a footpath running through it, how can you have a footpath through a school site? (ref 13.77 CD5 "sensitive incorporation of existing rights of way")
Please consider all the above objections to this plan.

See attachment

I have seen some of the information publicised in connection with your proposed local plan and have also read Stephen McPartlands comments in connection with the proposals.

Unfortunately, I have been away and unable to make a detail comment on the whole plan at this stage but I would like to say that I agree with Stephen McPartland comments and would also like to add my own observations and concerns in relation to the scale of the proposed expansion and the potential implications and impact, should the plan be approved, on the rural landscape and character of Hertfordshire and existing infrastructure.

My initial comments in relation to Codicote are as follows:

* The proposed 315 new houses represent a growth of 25% and question whether this growth is actually required. Stephen McPartland also makes comment about additional houses that have already been approved that seem not to be included in these figures.

* The provision of these additional properties will impact on the existing rural character and landscape of the area.

* I understand that there is no new infrastructure planned. The addition of the proposed housing will therefore have a detrimental impact on the existing traffic flow through the village, the car parking and road safety, schooling and the supply of power, water and drainage. We are already subject to repeated power cuts in this area.

At first glance it is clear:

Area CD2 will be visible from the B656 as you drive up and down the hill (on the west and northern boundaries) and will be detrimental to the existing landscape character of the rolling rural landscape along the road. New hedge/tree planting are unlikely to screen the new development due to the existing contours.

Area CD3 is more secluded but is at the base of a valley and accessed from a road that already presents severe access difficulties in bad weather due to ice and with added parking problems as residents park higher up the road so they can get out in the mornings.

Area CD5 is more secluded but is shown to have an access onto St Albans Road which is a rural lane and already very busy at peak times.

Extensive tree and shrub planting will be required (not odd trees, grass areas etc as shown on the west of Stevenage proposals in the past) if any of the these schemes are to settled into the fabric of the existing rural landscape.

However, I do not believe this will be sufficient (representing a mere sticking plaster) against what is a fundamental problem of over development of the area. This overdevelopment will impact severely on the character, landscape, infrastructure of the existing village and is completely out of scale and character and therefore should be considered as inappropriate development in the area.

I would therefore ask the Inspector to turn down the proposed NHDC local plan.

See attachment

I would like to register my objection to the amount of housing being planned for Codicote. I appreciate that you must build houses somewhere but I don't understand why you have to destroy villages in the process. I don't think there is anyone in the council that appreciate how much traffic goes through this old village from outside the village let alone the locals. How do you plan on dealing with this?... Knock one side of the high street down. This high street was never built to cope with this amount of traffic, we are now inundated with huge lorries. Obviously we are going too have to take legal action somewhere along the line...as every house you build will have at the very least two cars....there is not in infrastructure here for that amount of housing. Last year we had all the trouble with the school not being able to allocate places for all the local children...that will only get worse. I know there must be some housing, but there is constantly houses being built here on every scrap of land...in gardens...you name it they build there.

See attached

Find below my objections to the local plan for Codicote:-

Of the 4 sites (CD1 - CD4), 3 will involve building on green belt (CD1, CD3 and CD4). According to NPPF this should only be carried out in exceptional circumstances. Building on green belt will change the character of the area by reducing the distance between villages.

CD2 which is a brownfield site although a preferred site for redevelopment also provides one of the few opportunities for employment within the village.

Transport does not appear to be considered problematic. Public transport is limited and therefore it is likely that at least 2 cars per dwelling will be added to the car total in Codicote. All the proposed building sites will discharge their traffic onto the B656 which is already busy on weekdays at peak times. Adding a possible 600+ further cars will further exacerbate the queues which build up in the High Street and mean that it frequently takes 25 minutes to travel the 2.5 miles to the A1. A problem on the A1 increases the congestion further. The road congestion is aggravated by the trucks going to the quarry. All these reduce the air quality in the High Street.

Land south of Cowards Lane - 73
Land north of The Close - 48
Codicote Garden Centre, High Street - 54
Land south of Heath Lane - 140 (and an extension to the school)

I write in connection with the above planning proposals.
I wish to object to the development of this number of houses and I object strongly in particular to development on Land south of Cowards Lane and Land south of Heath Lane which are on undeveloped farmland.
Green belt is recognised by the government as very important to retain and should only be built on in very exceptional circumstance which in this case I do not believe can be met.
Codicote is a small village reached by a B road and small lanes and as such is very unsuited to this number of large housing sites.
Most working residents have to travel out of the village to work.
The traffic congestion is currently very bad and the increase in traffic which the proposed developments would bring will have a serious impact on the area.
Witness the tailbacks that currently occur between Codicote and Welwyn morning and evening together with standing traffic through Codicote High Street.
The surrounding lanes will inevitably become car and lorry rat-runs making usage increasingly dangerous especially for local walkers, riders and cyclists.
(Many cyclists use the Great North Way Cycle Route which passes through Codicote.)
The extra cars and lorries will cause rapid deterioration in the road surfaces and the destruction of verges where vehicles try to pass on the narrow lanes.
The public transport through Codicote is not currently adequate to serve the residents.
There is no railway station and no suitable bus service to one.
The nearest railway stations to Codicote are at Knebworth and Welwyn North which have inadequate provision for existing car parking resulting in commuters filling up residential streets to their detriment.
For these reasons, I am objecting to the proposals.

We understand and agree that our country and our county, Hertfordshire, are in need of additional housing for the future.

However, we have concerns for Codicote and we submit below our representations. My husband and I have previously presented our views at the appropriate times by way of emails and letters since the commencement of the North Herts Local Plan 2011-2031. We fervently trust all views will to be taken into account.

We consider that the sites to the north and south of the village, CD2 Codicote Garden Centre - site number 205 and CD1 Hollard's Farm - site number 318, appear to be the more viable areas for development mainly as their access would be directly on to the B656 and not by way of Codicote's housing estate roads.

On the contrary, our main objection is to the proposed development known as CD3 Land adjacent to The Close - site number 032 and wish to present our reasons as to why we believe this site to be unviable.

The land, a field, is known to be a floodplain, confirmed by an Infinity Water Company representative, when houses adjacent to the right hand side of The Close (address of The Paddocks) flooded again earlier this year. Sewerage has been known to overflow on several occasions from drains in the front garden of a home in The Close and residents have series concerns as to whether or not the water/sewage system in place could cope with additional use in the future.

Consideration should be given to the three water springs at the top end of the field. These have become particularly evident and thereby exposed since 2014 with excess water appearing in the field following rainfall because the farmer (who rents the field) 'dug up', for no apparent reason, many and all young oak trees that had grown over the past years - the beginnings of a wood, such as was in the field fifty years ago. Some of them were at least 20cm diameter (evidence of this is the pile of trees next to the remaining aged oak tree on the far side of the site). A gas main runs directly through the field - there is a 'gas shed' just inside the field. A storm water drain runs parallel to the fence The Close garages and The Paddocks.

Residents are extremely concerned about where the access for the proposed houses will be.

The roads: Valley Road, The Close and The Paddocks (past the junction with The Ridgeway) have residents' vehicles parked all along both sides of these roads. It is known that residents from Newtown also use Valley Road for parking and visitors have trouble finding parking spaces. The Close also provides access to 19 NHDC garages. Officials wishing to understand the difficulties of driving along the narrow centre of these housing estate roads would be advised to visit the area at 8 am and 6pm week days and on weekends. Any inspection, as has recently been the case, during mid-morning, when many cars have left for the day, would give a completely misinformed reading of traffic congestion in the vicinity.

The site off The Close is frequented by many dog walkers, ramblers and families enjoying an area of Codicote countryside. There are the public footpaths and other pathways (clearly seen on aerial views) ingrained over the years by walkers. Residents understand that these paths, if walked for over 20 years, do indeed become 'public footpaths'.

This is Green Belt land and although we understand it is permissible to extend the boundaries for Green Belt, it is hoped that some Green Belt land will remain surrounding Codicote.

The field has been fallow in excess of 30 years and many indigenous varieties of trees, shrubs, wildflowers and wildlife survive in the field and its bordering areas of natural habitat, together with numerous wild birds, including wrens, song thrush, kestrels and the once rare, Red Kite, roost and breed in the mature oak tree on the site and the trees and shrubs edging the field. Owls frequent the area and bats have been spotted.

Furthermore, there are public concerns regarding the high volume of traffic on the roads leading into the village.

Bury Lane running east to west in Codicote. Already a very busy road, being the main route from Codicote village to Knebworth and Stevenage, it can be foreseen that if the large amount of proposed housing on the edge of Knebworth is built, those residents will use Park Lane and Bury Lane travelling through the village, either to Hitchin or Welwyn to access the A1M motorway. Road maintenance is poor on Bury Lane, a country lane with substantial side potholes, particularly on the road from the bottom of Church Hill to the Sally Deards Lane junction - causing traffic to slow in order to manoeuvre safely.

This will create additional traffic on the already very congested B656 through Codicote, particularly at peak times. Congestion and tailbacks through the village have increased since the housing was built at the south end of Codicote Road and on the site of The Clock Hotel on the roundabout at Welwyn when joining the A1M. Additionally, when problems occur on the A1M, Codicote bears the diverted traffic.

The B656 becomes Codicote High Street and then continues to Old Welwyn. The High Street consists of a few shops, public houses and many homes (some of which date back to the Victorian era and earlier), therefore residents' park 'nose to tail' on both sides of this road thus already restricting the available space for passing vehicles - from cars to heavy plant.

St. Albans Road (running west to east in the village) experiences a large number of major large plant vehicles to and from Codicote Quarry joining/leaving the junction at the High Street. (At present this Quarry is subject to an unauthorised development appeal under the Town and Planning Act 1990, under Section 174 and residents of Codicote are in the process of making representations to reduce the movement of vehicles.)

Heath Lane also running west to east in the village experiences a great deal of traffic, including farm vehicles and farm delivery vehicles,) and through traffic.

St. Albans Road, Heath Lane and in particular Bury Lane are country lanes - they are narrow, windy and unkempt - requiring effective maintenance to cope with any increase in the volume of traffic entering and leaving Codicote. Widening of these roads would be costly and difficult to achieve due to the routes they take. At the entrance to Codicote via Bury Lane is the historic 1000 year old St. Giles Church.

Further great concern is the lack of infrastructure for any additional housing and people. Aside, from the congestion on our arterial roads, High Street, estate roads, Codicote has no doctors' surgery or dental practice. Residents currently have to travel to either Knebworth, Old Welwyn or beyond for these facilities - to oversubscribed practices. Codicote Primary School is an Ofsted Outstanding School - it has a waiting list and although could expand in the future, has no accommodation currently for larger classes. There are no secondary schools in Codicote - students have to travel by public transport to outlying towns, Hitchin, Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage.

Reference should be made to the Member of Parliament for Stevenage (including the Parish of Codicote), Stephen McPartland's two page letter, paragraph 4, dated November 2016 headed 'Formal response to consultation on North Hertfordshire District Council Local Plan 2011-2031 (Proposed Submission)'. This letter was linked via his email Newsletter of the 27th November 2016.

I hope due consideration and extensive reviews of the plans are given by everyone making decisions about the future, and also respecting the history and heritage, of the village of Codicote.

Thank you for reading our presentation.

Re: North Hertfordshire Proposed Submission Local Plan
As long time residents in Codicote village we have several objections regarding the North Hertfordshire District Council Local Plan and are concerned regarding the impact on the district and particularly our village, Codicote. The plans show no infrastructure work and seem excessive and do not seem to be joined up as there are plans for nearby Knebworth and Woolmer Green , too much for three villages .

Objections

13.77 Local Housing Allocation

Site CD5: Number of houses in the plan states 140 homes for Land south of Heath Lane based on 20 Dwellings per hectare. However, the developer is promoting circa 200. This is an 45% increase on the proposed number of houses than the local plan suggests.

Site CD5 gives a clear example that the Local Plan has not calculated the number of houses on each site correctly. The proposed number of newly built homes in the Local Plan is 20 per hectare. Government Guidance of the number of house built; 30 per hectare has been withdrawn and therefore the actual number being built by developers is far greater sometimes up to 40-50 per hectare.

The NHDC Local Plan has failed to correctly calculate the number of houses. The fact is that there will be a significant increase in the number of homes built in the Local Plan than have been proposed. Therefore, suggesting the Local Plan has allocated at least 45-50% more land than is required. The only logical conclusion is there is too much land allocated in the plan and therefore there is no need to develop on Green Belt sites and Villages which do not have the infrastructure.

Site CD5, CD1, CD2, CD3. Building on Green Belt conflicts with national Green Belt Policy.

Site CD5, CD1, CD2, CD3. The site will have visual impacts on the Countryside and wildlife, loss of trees and nature, impact on public footpaths.

Site CD5. Access to sites is difficult due to width of the existing roads. Heath Lane and St Albans Roads are lanes with one vehicle road width. Government Inspectors need to visit the village and drive these roads at peak time more cars will be dangerous. There is no highways plan to improve the infrastructure.

Site CD5, CD1, CD2, CD3. Thames Water have spent over £4m investigating drainage in Codicote. It is believed some is pre Victorian and have no records on drainage. Codicote has a high water table and sites are prone to flooding. There is no plan to address flooding more hard staying means less run off more flash flooding .

Site CD5, CD1, CD2, CD3. Building over 364 homes in Codicote will have considerable impact on traffic through the village. More than 364 cars as most homes have multiple cars. Increased congestion and pollution

Site CD5 was a last-minute addition to the plan and there was not proper consultation to the significant increase in size to this site.

There is no employment in the village apart from shops , restaurants and the local garden centre Wyevale. The garden centre is an employer and also a social centre for many local elderly and disabled communities. To loose this to housing is not a good plan. Loss of local employment and local community site Wyevale .

13.81, 13.82, 13.83 Infrastructure and Mitigation

* NHDC have not given reasonable consideration to the impact on traffic through the village and the current road networks to people to travel to employment. The plan is not consistent with National Policy Section 4 "Promoting Sustainable transport"
* Heath Lane/Heath Hill. Route to Luton, regularly floods at CodicoteBottom due to the River Mimram. The road has very poor forward visibility and one vehicle width road.
* High Street, Codicote. Route to A1M, Welwyn, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, London, Hitchin and Luton. It's a through road to A1M significant congestion already at peak travel times. Any hold ups on the A1M already results in very heavy traffic through the village, motor vehicles and HGV Lorries. Significant number of residential houses in the high street with no parking which causes one vehicle lane.
* St Albans Road. Working quarry with regular HGV lorries visiting site. Main route from Codicote to St Albans. Road is one lane with lack of forward visibility and regular flooding at three locations.
* Bury Lane. Busy cut through route to Stevenage, one lane roads.
* All roads feeding the high street are becoming rat runs for the lack of accessibility to the A1M and high traffic load on the A1M.
* Lack of consideration to the Traffic impact caused by new housing north of Codicote. We believe there will be a significant increase without the new housing being built in our village as the regular traffic routes would be those named above.
* Limited bus service to local towns and hospitals.
* A & E Department at Lister Hospital is 9 Miles away with no public transport available.
* A1M is expanding to three lanes and during congestion Ambulance services would rely on the coming through Codicote on the B656. Delays in the Ambulance Service could mean life or death.
* Nearest NHS available Dentist is 5.6 miles in Welwyn Garden city, normal journey time 16 minutes.
* Bridge Cottage Surgery Welwyn is our nearest GP Service. Can wait up to 2-3 weeks for an appointment and daily appointments are taken within 10 mins of opening and queuing starts an 1hour before appointments are released.
* Railway stations Knebworth and Welwyn North are already at parking capacity and not in walking distance and the railway plan proposes fewer fast services to London , again evidence no joined up thinking

* No Local Authority Leisure facilities in the village. The sports centre is funded by residents and opened and operates via a volunteer group.
* Codicote Primary school is already oversubscribed without the additional houses being added to the village. The school currently requires immediate expansion to cope with existing numbers. Building new houses would not solve this issue only exacerbate the problem. The Local Plan has not forecast the correct demand for the Primary School expansion.
* No higher education facilities in the village children rely heavily on buses increase in traffic. There would also be further impact on secondary schooling which has not been considered in the local plan.
* No commuting cyclists as roads are very dangerous and nearest employment and railway stations Knebworth and Welwyn North are too far to cycle.

Under these circumstances I would recommend New Garden City or Cities which be developed that would be able to meet future housing needs at the same time developing public services and employment opportunities and transport networks for the new community. This plan causes more problems than solutions for current residents and indeed future residents.

I am writing to you in connection with the District Council's consultation on its Local Plan, and particularly in relation to the proposed expansion of Codicote. I strongly object to the proposal to allow the construction of over 300 houses in the Green Belt surrounding Codicote. I shall explain my reasoning beginning with reference to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). I shall also demonstrate that the proposal is inconsistent with North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC's) own policies.

Driving a coach & horses through the principles outlined in the NPPF
The proposals for building houses in the areas CD1 - 5 run contrary to the principles enshrined in the NPPF, as follows:

Par. 79
'The Government attaches great importance to Green Belts. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open; the essential characteristics of Green Belts are their openness and their permanence.'

Par. 87
'As with previous Green Belt policy, inappropriate development is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved except in very special circumstances.'

Comment: Building in the Green Belt is only allowable under very special circumstances, and NHDC has simply not demonstrated this is the case. Here I would like to refer to CPRE's submission of 23rd November 2016, and there is little purpose in my repeating what CPRE has said. However, it is worth emphasising that case law has demonstrated that general housing need does not constitute an exceptional circumstance, as were it to do so then in effect the Green Belt would be afforded no protection. This argument is made very clearly by CPRE and I would like to endorse everything they say concerning the fact that NHDC has failed to demonstrate the case for exceptional circumstances justifying the release of the Green Belt for development around Codicote.

Par. 109
'The planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by:

* protecting and enhancing valued landscapes,...recognising the wider benefits of ecosystem services;
* minimising impacts on biodiversity and providing net gains in biodiversity where possible, contributing to the Government's commitment to halt the overall decline in biodiversity..'

Comment: This proposal can only harm biodiversity, resulting in the local extinctions of farmland dependent species.

Par. 113
'Local planning authorities should set criteria based policies against which proposals for any development on or affecting protected wildlife... or landscape areas will be judged... commensurate with their status.. [giving] appropriate weight to their importance and the contribution that they make to wider ecological networks.'

Comment: Where has the Council established a policy that states that new developments are acceptable in the context of eliminating populations of fauna that rely on farmland?

Incompatibilities with NHDC's District Local Plan with Alterations (1996)
The proposal to expand Codicote by nearly 25 per cent is not supported by the Council's Local Plan:

Policy 3
Settlements within the Green Belt
Comment: This policy states that development may only be considered for strict agricultural need, the service needs of the settlement within which the development is proposed, a single dwelling not resulting in outward expansion, or an identified rural housing need which meets the criteria of Policy 29. Policy 29 refers to a 'specific and proven local need,' which would not be available on the 'general housing market,' visually sympathetic to the existing character of, in this case Codicote, not detracting from the 'character' or local 'landscape,' all of which would be 'secured in a legal agreement.' In short, neither Policy 3 nor Policy 29 permits development of the nature envisaged for Codicote in NHDC's Local Plan.

Policy 5
Excluded Villages
Comment: This policy states that the Council may permit development in Codicote 'only if the development is compatible with the maintenance and enhancement of village character [my emphasis] and the maintenance of Green Belt boundaries... Clearly increasing a settlement by some 25 per cent cannot by any definition 'maintain and enhance' village character - what this development does is begin the inexorable transformation of our village into a small town. How can the following inevitable consequences of this expansion maintain or enhance Codicote as a village, but to the contrary it will degrade village life in a number of respects:

* there is insufficient capacity in the local primary school for more pupils and as it is secondary school pupils have to travel on overcrowded buses to neighbouring towns like Welwyn Garden City on congested roads;
* Codicote does not have a GP's surgery and the local surgery at Bridge Cottage is already at overcapacity;
* Codicote's High Street is already overfull with limited parking, with cars often obstructing the pavement - this situation can only worsen with more housing;
* Affinity Water will not (rightly in my view) allow any more abstraction from the Mimram. How, therefore, is the demand for more water going to be met? There are already constraints on the infrastructure for waste water;
* There are currently frequent short power cuts in Codicote - how can this improve with more demand for electricity unless power cables are to be strengthened.

Expanding Codicote by 25 per cent is unsustainable
The NPPF makes clear the Government's support for sustainable development but the NPPF also incorporates the Brundtland understanding of what sustainability entails, namely that it must have economic, social and environmental protection at its heart. The proposal in the Local Plan fails on all three criteria. That is, there will be few economic benefits to the village with this development (in terms of long term employment - as almost all the new householders will work elsewhere), when there is already pressure on schools, health facilities and other infrastructure the development can only create tensions rather than improved community cohesiveness, and finally environmentally it can only be very harmful. The new houses - assuming they will not be zero carbon homes - will produce green house gases and 315 new houses will result in approximately 550 additional cars, all of them queuing at rush hour along the rural roads surrounding Codicote as the new residents drive to work elsewhere. So together, home energy consumption and transport, will contribute to Climate Change. And what these developments will be replacing is rural land which currently serves as a habitat for wildlife.

Conclusion
In summary, the NPPF explicitly states that the Green Belt can only be developed in very exceptional circumstances, and as CPRE has pointed out NHDC has not demonstrated any such exceptional circumstances, and general housing need categorically does not constitute an exceptional circumstance. In this regard I would like to quote from the letter of the Chief Planner to all Planning Authorities in 2015. Here he says:
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that most development in the Green Belt is inappropriate and should be approved only in very special circumstances. Consistent with this... unmet need are unlikely to clearly outweigh harm to the Green Belt... so as to establish very special circumstances. (Letter from Steve Quartmain CBE of 31 August 2015)
Moreover, when the Council considers its own Local Plan, it is clear that the development proposed for Codicote does not 'maintain or enhance' but rather is of a place changing scale and should not be permitted. It is also wholly unsustainable, from the perspective of socially dividing the community rather than bringing people together, increasing the congestion on lanes not designed for 'rush hour' traffic, increasing green house gas emissions, threatening already overstretched water supplies, and replacing wildlife habitats at a time when the State of Nature report published recently tells us how much of our rural wildlife is declining. In every respect, therefore, the proposal to expand Codicote should not be permitted.
Thank you for considering the evidence I presented in this letter.

Land south of Cowards Lane:
Huge impact on already congested High Street
Huge impact on an already over-subscribed school
Huge impact on wildlife
Huge impact on drainage and risk of water run off
Huge impact on local services - health centres, refuse and recycling collection, standard of the roads, child road safety, elderly road safety, care of the elderly and disabled in their homes as numbers increase, with lack of extra provision in all of these areas.
Heath Lane
Huge impact on already congested roads - lanes and High Street.
Huge impact on an already over-subscribed school
Huge impact on wildlife
Huge impact on drainage and risk of water run off
Huge impact on local services - health centres, refuse and recycling collection, standard of the roads, child road safety, elderly road safety, care of the elderly and disabled in their homes as numbers increase with lack of extra provision in all of these areas.
No space to increase the size of the school.
Garden Centre:
Huge impact on already congested High Street
Huge impact on an already over-subscribed school
Huge impact on wildlife
Huge impact on drainage and risk of water run off
Huge impact on local services - health centres, refuse and recycling collection, standard of the roads, child road safety, elderly road safety, care of the elderly and disabled in their homes as numbers increase with lack of extra provision in all of these areas.
Loss of provision for the elderly who use the only cafe in Codicote that they can walk to.
The Close
Huge impact on already congested roads
Huge impact on an already over-subscribed school
Huge impact on wildlife
Huge impact on drainage and risk of water run off
Huge impact on local services - health centres, refuse and recycling collection, standard of the roads, child road safety, elderly road safety, care of the elderly and disabled in their homes as numbers increase with lack of extra provision in all of these areas.