Great Ashby and North East of Stevenage

I object against building 17809 houses in and around Stevenage for many reasons the country walks and views will disappear, our local services will be overstretched, traffic will be heavier and nearby houses will drop in value. Instead we need more business investments in Stevenage and most of the shops in Stevenage have closed down.

Great Ashby already has problems regarding parking spaces and there will be a major effect with schooling and doctor availability

My objections to the development of land north-east of Stevenage are that the designated sites are on green belt with inadequate access and are lacking the necessary infrastructure to support them.
I do not believe that sufficient attention has been given to the development of brown field sites, the development of land west of Stevenage or the provision of a New Town between Baldock and Royston.
The road access is totally inadequate to support the designated areas both during and after construction. This applies to estate roads in Great Ashby and the 'A' roads feeding Stevenage town centre, the bus and train stations, the industrial areas and the A1(M) motorway.
Great Ashby is devoid of a doctors' surgery, dental surgery and other health related services. There is one heavily over-subscribed primary school and no secondary school provision. In addition public transport to a destination other than the town centre is non-existent.

My concerns about the local proposal are that the amount and number of the houses is too high. The effect will be to have continuous building for twenty years. I am not sure that this can be sustained.

The new estate stands the possibility of the same problems as bedevilled Great Ashby, Stevenage where the population turnover is some 24%. The reasons for this I understand are;
'GA is 4 miles from the town centre with very few local resources. A couple of shops and a community hall cannot cater for the current population. The school is way too small, roads too narrow and house frontages too close to footpaths meaning no room to park off-road. The net result is an estate that on first glance looks to meet family needs but once people move in they find it woefully inadequate, I have moved to within a 10 minute walk from the town. The kids now have the freedom to walk to friends' homes, the town centre shops and sports facilities. They now enjoy life much more.'

In order to prevent his situation we will need to hold the developers' feet to the fire and make sure that they do not cut corners.

This is a serious criticism and one which could consider in depth.

There is inadequate road provision. The Buntingford Road is used as a rat run and the traffic coming into Baldock need to be diverted onto the bypass before the town.

The lights at the junction of station road are inadequate to control the traffic. There does not need to be a left turn after the railway bridge. You will be aware that the traffic is built up for about a mile back and that arrival in the town from that direction often takes 20 minutes or more.

The road to Royston needs to be developed so that Hitchin Street is not used as a rat run from Letchworth East as it is now.

The railway bridge is inadequate. This needs to be widened and possibly a new line needs to be installed. The town will become a major feed to Cambridge and the line needs to be upgraded.