HT1 Land at Highover Farm

This is currently used as agricultural land and assume is part of the green belt. Should this not be sacrosanct? You take this piece of land today, what will then be taken tomorrow? When will we honour such spaces.

There are also practical considerations. 700 homes probably means 1000 plus cars. Cambridge/Stotfold road junction is already becomes gridlocked, especially since the building of Fairfield. Can we accommodate another 1000 cars navigating this highway and hitting the other bottleneck at Walsworth Crossroads? It will no doubt also add to the congestion at Letchworth Gate to gain access to the A1.

1) Regarding national policy / strategy. A better view of sustainable development might be viewed as considering how to regenerate areas of low employment where there are often brown field sites which could be used to develop housing in the future. 5500 new homes have already been built in N Herts and insufficient improvements have been made to local infrastructure. Therefore, to build more homes before this issue is addressed makes no sense.
2) The strategy does not seem to be positively prepared for the quantity of homes impacting one area and is therefore unjustifiable. Having read 'your' vision, I am intrigued as to who shares this and whether you live in a part of North Herts to be built on. It is already a vibrant, pleasant and safe place to live.
3) The proposal to build 700 homes on site HT1 (Land at Highover Farm) would mean that 70% of the 1009 allocated home and almost 50% of total allocation for Hitchin are in this one area. This would have a dramatic effect on the immediate local area and is entirely disproportionate in the allocation of new housing across both the town and North Herts.
4) Furthermore, it is a genuine concern that the distinction between Hitchin and Letchworth will be lost along with the individuality which makes the market town of Hitchin and heritage town of Letchworth, reducing the green space in between. It is entirely unreasonable to expect a single town (Hitchin) and a specific area (HT1) within a town to bear the brunt of these unwelcome proposals.
5) Given that 85 new homes are in the process of being built less than 1 mile away by the Woolsworth / Cambridge road junction, which already floods easily and is extremely congested, even outside of peak travel times, a further 700 homes in the near vicinity, more homes will further exacerbate the problems.
6) Given that there will be significant impact on the local motorway and rail networks which are already beyond capacity, even with some improvements on junctions/roads, there is simply insufficient infrastructure and space to meet needs. Pedestrian access to the rail station is inadequate and an issue which has repeatedly failed to be addressed, even with recent new developments. More development without improving access by foot and is unacceptable. There is also inadequate parking at the railway station giving rise to parking issues on local roads and increased parking restrictions.
7) Publishing a 254 page document on proposals for building new homes in N Herts and the daunting format of the local plan publication stage representation form are in themselves barriers and a disincentive for some people to object. I understand this is the bureaucratic order of things.
The reference numbers on the following points are taken from the 254 proposal document
8) Reference to 9.20. Existing Residents. This would have a large impact on existing residents in the Armour Rise, Highover Way, Great Dane and surrounding roads. In particular, Armour is a quiet cul de sac which residents have specifically chosen to live in because it is quiet and not a through road. Indeed several children live in the close. The proposed homes will add significantly to traffic, noise and speed of traffic.
9) Reference D4; air quality. The loss of the green farm land and the building of new homes will undoubtedly impact on air quality due to reduced green space, increased cars and inhabitants.
10) Reference NE1 Landscapes 11.1 valued landscapes. The proximity of the farm is a key reason for living in Armour Rise & surrounding streets. From an economical point of view, it is very short sighted of any government to reduce the potential for the country to produce food without the need for additional imports, reducing food miles and sustaining the UK farming economy. From a residential point of view, living near the farm gives a genuine sense of a semi-rural location which is invaluable from a sense of well-being as once you travel into Hitchin or local commuter routes, the feeling of congestion and over-crowding are both very intense and unpleasant.
11) Reference NE6 designated biodiversity and geological sites. I have newts and frogs in my garden and bats regularly visit and feed in the garden. A tawny owl also roosts in the trees at the bottom of my garden just within the boundaries of the farm and has hunted for food in my garden. A sparrow hawk has also been seen flying through the garden.
12) NE7 reducing flood risk. Whenever there is moderate to heavy rain, there is flooding on Woolgrove Road at the bottom of the hill. Building on the farm land at the top of the hill will exacerbate this as there is more run off caused by the concreting over of the farmland in homes and roads and there is less drainage land.
13) Local amenities. The local college has recently been turned into housing. Where will the residents of the new housing receive their post 16.

I am concerned about the knock on effects of such a big development on congestion on the roads leading into Hitchin town centre, especially around points which are already log jammed during peak periods (eg. Cambridge Road, Nightingale Road, Walsworth Road and the Railway Station). I am also concerned about the impact on parking provision within the town centre as well as at Hitchin Station.

1. This is green belt land which is one of many reasons why Hitchin is a pleasant smaller town to live in. Green belt should be preserved and not built on particularly when doing so offers very little separation from Letchworth, a clear point the council makes in their plan (the two towns must be kept distinct and apart).

2. The provision of 700 homes means potentially 700 + extra vehicles on the roads. The council will be aware the road infrastructure can barely cater for the already vast numbers of vehicles travelling on the A505. The plan suggests the main road in would be off Stotfold Road with access via other roads including Highover Way. There are many flaws with this:-

a. The A505 is already overstretched at busy times of the day. Queueing in rush hour can be back to Letchworth and across Hitchin. It only takes one incident such as failed traffic lights, roadworks etc and the traffic comes to a standstill. At least half an hour if not more can be added to a short journey so adding more vehicles to this area is ridiculous. As there is only one main road between Hitchin and Letchworth there is already an inadequate existing road network which should not be dismissed.
An example of the problems already being experienced- small road works on Grove Road in Hitchin meant the whole of Hitchin was gridlocked backing up to Letchworth and beyond at rush hour adding between half an hour to an hour to journeys. It is not fair on employers .This is the industrial area side of Hitchin and the roads cannot cater for more vehicles.

b. Linking the potential development roads to Highover Way and other roads is totally unacceptable. Highover Way is narrow at the top in keeping with a small residential cul-de-sac. There is a sharp bend leading to the junction with Orchard Road and this bend can already be difficult and at times dangerous with parked cars causing blind access. The junction with Orchard Road is equally hazardous at varying times of the day particularly at school opening and closing times where vehicles accumulate to collect children from Highover JMI. The hill section of Highover Way is again at times difficult to manoeuvre with the parked cars and extremely so during icy and snow conditions. This road was not built to cater for the potential volume of cars arising from a development at Highover Farm.

c. Critically, the council closed off the end of Grovelands Avenue leading in to Highover Way some years ago to prevent vehicles using this route to bypass the already congested A505 and cut out the crossroads at Walsworth. Obviously at that time the council could see the problems these roads gave and obviously would not have closed this route off had it not been considered necessary. It is now even more necessary with the existing volume of vehicles on the roads and adding more vehicles would suggest the council would not change their view on this. With this in mind, the council obviously could not therefore condone the user of Highover Way as a route out of a proposed development on the green belt land at Highover Farm.

d. If access is allowed from existing roads then residents in those roads will suffer from high volumes of traffic which is totally unfair. Most roads are either cul-de-sacs or dead ends and to change this is unacceptable considering house purchases are usually made with road styles in mind.

3. Building a new primary school is suggested but no mention is made of where these children will go after. The schools in Hitchin are already overstretched and adding a further primary school will add to the pressure on places in Secondary schools.

4. No mention is made of doctors surgerys and hospital places. Doctors surgerys in Hitchin are already struggling to cater for the existing population and adding a few hundred more people will make a serious problem much worse. The Lister Hospital is already overstretched (not an opinion but based on fact).

5. At present NHDC do not seem able to provide adequate repair and maintenance facilities for existing infrastructure. We had to wait years for trees in Highover Way to be cut back despite many requests. Indeed we were told the waiting list was so long that they had to prioritise work resulting in a four year or so wait. Also street lights in several roads have been out for extended periods of time. Whilst this is not specific to the Highover Farm proposed development it effects all plans under the NHDC umbrella and should be considered.

6. On a personal note, when I bought my home I was told by my solicitor that no development would be allowed on Highover Farm in the future. Surely this must still be correct now as it was when searches etc were done then.

I am concerned about the knock on effects of such a big development on congestion on the roads leading into Hitchin town centre, especially around points which are already log jammed during peak periods (eg. Cambridge Road, Nightingale Road, Walsworth Road and the Railway Station). I am also concerned about the impact on parking provision within the town centre as well as at Hitchin Station.