Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I wish to the following points to be considered by the Inspector into the proposals submitted by North Herts District Council
Site KB4 : Land East of Knebworth 9ID278)

Greenbelt
The green belt (site KB4) is in use as good productive agriculture land and as we desperately need to retain this land for our food chain. Swangleys Farm is a working farm, which brings employment to the Village

The land also is essential to check unrestricted sprawl between neighborhoods

The land is also very high and undulating and any housing would be an intrusive blot on the landscape., and will dominate the skyline if allowed.

Highways
Swangleys Lane is a very narrow Lane with poor site lines for traffic .It is already used extensively by local traffic and large farm machinery/heavy lorry's .The local school is also served by the Lane and with no footpaths and parking most of the day the lane is congested with parked cars .At school picking up and dropping off times the Lane is nearly impassable.

Swangleys Lane just could not cope with any additional traffic. This goes for Old lane and St Martins Road, which is privately maintained. The proposed Doctors surgery planned in St Martins Road would make the existing congestion worse.

In addition the B197 is also extremely busy with existing traffic particularly in mornings and early afternoon. On many occasions in the late afternoon traffic is bumper to bumper from the junction with Station Road and past Tesco's Broadwater Retail Park, London Road.

So it would be very difficult to see how it could cope with additional traffic from a proposed additional 200 dwelling plus any that are proposed for land in neighboring Woolmer Green (Welwyn Hatfield District Council),and other sites in Knebworth.

A strategic plan
There needs to be an integrated approach to all the proposals including those in adjoining Local Authorities to ensure that adequate provision is made before any development.
To include

* How the extra traffic will cope with the already overloaded roads.
* The provision of schools the one proposed does not appear to meet even the developments proposed in Knebworth.
* The existing and proposed replacement Doctors Surgery does just meet the needs of the existing population so there will need to be provision for a Local Health Centre.
* The provision of community facilities i.e. Village Hall both in Knebworth and Woolmer Green are totally booked .

Employment and car parking
With the development of the Builders Merchant in Knebworth High Street there will a loss of many local jobs with the prospect of no further employment opportunities. This will mean even more people commuting to London, which will create even greater pressures on the Govia Thameslink, which is already proposing to reduce the existing service. The car parking is already a major problem in the area so with out provision for additional car parking the situation will get even worse.