Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

The proposal is unsound for the following reasons
There has been no response from the Council regarding the traffic congestion that would be caused by such large scale development.
Similarly no consideration has been given to the access to construction traffic via small lanes and over a narrow railway bridge.
There is significant risk of damage or destruction of wildlife sites on the adjacent site of special scientific interest.
When taken into consideration with the proposed further construction in Woolmer Green there will be removal of the Green Belt buffer between the villages.

The council has failed to consider or respond to the valid concerns relating to the access for construction traffic or the resulting congestion should the homes be built. The site is only accessible via country lanes and under a narrow railway bridge. Not only would this cause congestion but would be dangerous to the public as the bridge is the only access from one side of the railway line to the other for pedestrians and the footpath is already barely wide enough for one person.
The site would remove the Green Belt between the village and the A1(M) (which itself is due to be widened in the near future), increasing the impact of the noise and air pollution on the local population.
No credible plan has been brought forward to alleviate the already serious flooding that has occurred in the village that would be heightened by an increase in the built up area.

The proposals put forward and the resulting destruction of the Green Belt all around the village would result in the village coalescing with Woolmer Green on the Western edge and Stevenage on the Eastern boundary and would create almost continuous housing development between the towns of Welwyn and Stevenage. The development has been put forward with no regard to adjacent authorities or their proposals, Stevenage Council having already concluded that much of the Green Belt land in question makes "a significant contribution to Green Belt purposes". No measures are put forward to alleviate the problems of traffic (there being two narrow bridges under the railway with restricted view and already insufficient footpaths that are not able to allow large vehicles to pass under them) and one bridge over the railway with a weight restriction and no footpath. The danger to residents trying to use footpaths less than one meter wide is already considerable, with increased traffic this would only be heightened. There is also no reference in the plans to the lack of adequate commuter parking at the railway station, the impact the loss a substantial part of the village high street (being changed from commercial to residential) would have on the local economy or the volume of traffic along the high street resulting in loss of trade to local businesses as people are unable to access them. There is also no provision for secondary education that would be required when all current provision (in Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage) is already at capacity.

Changing a large part of the current commercial heart of the village to residential would have a devastating effect on the economic sustainability of the village and employment for residents. The site currently not only brings external visitors who use the local businesses but is a valued source of local work and an asset for residents.

This proposal has not featured in previous versions of the plan and therefore there has been no consultation on it. Development of this area of land would bring the boundary of Knebworth directly next to the development already proposed for the West of Stevenage and would mean Knebworth would cease to be a village. Due to the topography of the land it would be above the current village and create a new urban skyline to a rural location. It would destroy current agricultural land and increase the problems of drainage that the current use of the land helps to mitigate.