Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

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.