Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

This site will have an adverse impact on traffic through the town and will significantly increase congestion and pollution as most of the new traffic will pass through the town to access the A1M (north- and south-bound), the supermarket, and to get to other North Herts towns.
There is insufficient infrastructure to support the development of 4 sites in the Clothall Common area without detriment to the life of present residents.

This site will have an adverse impact on traffic through the town and will significantly increase congestion and pollution as most of the new traffic will pass through the town to access the A1M (north- and south-bound), the supermarket, and to get to other North Herts towns.
There is insufficient infrastructure to support the development of 4 sites in the Clothall Common area without detriment to the life of present residents.

There are acknowledged negative impacts of this site and so it is not the most appropriate site to have selected for such a large development which is disproportionate to the size and housing needs of Baldock. The railway line creates a hard border between site BA1 and the rest of Baldock which would make integration difficult. This is almost a new settlement in its own right although NHDC says it does not intend to create new settlements in this Plan.
The traffic flow and resulting pollution will add to an already difficult situation where both peak and non-peak time congestion is problematic and waiting times at the crossroads are long. It is likely that air quality standards in parts of Baldock will be breached as a result of this development.
The proposed link road for BA1 would involve long round trips to neighbouring towns and experience shows that many drivers will use the shorter more direct route through the town rather than the freer flowing road.
The timing of the new infrastructure is unclear and the town would not cope with such a large development unless most of the infrastructure comes in the earliest phase.

Site BA10 deliberately allocates more employment places than the expanded town needs (paras 4.25-6). This is likely to increase the number of journeys through Baldock undertaken each day especially at peak times. Paras 2.31, 4.27 and 13.14 stress that Baldock, Letchworth and Hitchin are interconnected for movement.
An increase in traffic will increase the pollution levels in the town especially in Hitchin Street / Whitehorse Street area and could well cause damage to the historic buildings.
As with the proposed number of dwellings, this places a disproportionate burden on the smallest town.

The proposed allocation of 2800 homes on site BA1 (North of Baldock) under policies SP8 and SP14 would have a serious negative impact on the Green Belt. This is acknowledged in the Plan and supporting documents (Housing and Green Belt background paper para 3.14) as making a significant contribution to Green Belt purposes and is identified as having moderate to high landscape sensitivity.