Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

The KB4 site appears to have been added very recently without any apparent community involvement. Part of it appears to have been added in 2015 allowing for 55 dwellings, however it has now in 2016 been increased to 200 dwellings. The reason for its earlier omission is not clear, but would seem likely to be due to its total unsuitability for development as outlined below:-
1 The site is Green Belt for the obvious reason that Stevenage is less than 1 mile away. Accordingly the proposal would not appear to be legally compliant as there are no exceptional circumstances outlined in the plan for removing this part of the Green Belt.
2 The site appears to involves building on one of the three fields which separate Knebworth from Stevenage. This would appear to be totally against the whole principle of Green Belt which is surely to stop the creation of continuous urban development. If built on, this gives further ammunition for further developments on the next field, when future planning reviews occur irrespective of the suggestion of strengthening the proposed new Green Belt boundary.
3 Anyone who lives in the vicinity or drives down Old Lane will know that with the slightest rain, due to the topography and no doubt underlying geology, part of Old Lane routinely is flooded with the slightest rain.While there is a mention that this will need addressing no thought has been put into the magnitude of the problem.
4 Watton Road and Swangley's Lane are indeed lanes. Two vehicles approaching in opposite directions, if any larger than small cars, cannot in general pass each other without one stopping or slowing down considerably. Furthermore the bends in Watton Road coupled with the narrowness contribute to accidents.
5 A significant access road to KB4 is via St Martin's Road. It is planned for the Village Doctors surgery to be located here which will increase traffic flow issues down the narrow initial part of the road by the Church which is already under stress at school drop off and pick up times. No consideration has been made for the increase in traffic here if KB4 is developed.
6 The fields in question are agricultural land heavily used for farming purposes which is surely helpful for the English economy.
7 The proposed housing would no doubt use the space occupied by allotments accessible by the footpath leading South from Watton Road. I understood allotments were not meant to be built on apart from in exceptional circumstances.
8 The site will impinge heavily on the natural country side of the area which provides good walking areas for the population of Knebworth and South Stevenage to enjoy the open countryside. In an era of increasing obesity discouraging exercise through the taking away of local open countryside, which may lead to inhabitants resorting to cars to take them to such areas, should surely be discouraged.

In conclusion I consider that:-
a It is not legally compliant due to its failure to show exceptional circumstances for destruction of Green Belt.
b It is not positively prepared with no significant consideration of infrastructure demands
c It is not justified as there are other areas recognised by the Council with less development constraints.
d it is not effective as the infrastructure demands are such that development is unlikely to be considered viable and certainly not for affordable housing which is required.
e It is not consistent with National Policy with regard to the destruction of critical Green Belt

This site not only provides direct employment to the Village of Knebworth, but indirectly brings people to Knebworth, providing additional custom to the existing retail outlets and hence employment. Accordingly building houses on this site would not only reduce employment prospect on the site but have an effect on the Village retail outlets. The plan has no comments at all about employment opportunity in the village.

Conclusions
a Not positively prepared as it does not adequately consider the needs of the community with regard to employment.
b Not justifiable as all it provides is 14 houses.

A Legally compliant
The plan as it stands does not appear to be legally compliant as there have to be exceptional circumstances to build on Green Belt and the plan does not state what the exceptional circumstances are. In particular the proposed KB4 site plan would result in the encroachment of Knebworth on Stevenage and with the proposed separate development for Woolmer Green on the latter.

B Positively prepared
The plan should objectively assess the needs of the Village of Knebworth and for the reasons set out below I consider it fails on multiple counts.

C Justified
It is clear that there is a need for increased housing in South East England. However increased housing in a particular area, even when legally compliant, has to consider the implications on that area. Furthermore no significant consideration has been made for affordable housing which is I believe is almost universally agreed to be required.

D Effective
General comments
The plan would seem incapable of being delivered in its present form, even if legally compliant, due to it's failure to address multiple issues which are now discussed.
The plans for the Village of Knebworth involve building 663 houses. This is a massive expansion of the Village by about one third. Despite this size of development, there appear no plans for any changes in the infrastructure of the Village apart from the statement that there will be a need for a new primary school. However, it would appear that NHDC have overlooked a number of critical issues.
Knebworth Village is split in two by the East Coast Railway line. The two bridges which link the two halves are not built for today's traffic let alone a massive expansion of the Village. However more serious is the fact that they are hazardous for pedestrians. Walking young children under the bridges is a nightmare. Furthermore, there is not room for two people to pass and pedestrians run the risk of being hit by wing mirrors of passing cars as the road only just accommodates two cars, let alone anything bigger. The bridge by the station needs to be used by all those on the East of the railway line to access the station and also the Village Hall, and all those to the West of the line to access the Village shops and doctors surgery. NHDC appears to be continuing to have total disregard for the safety of the residents of Knebworth.

The plan proposes increasing the size of Knebworth Village by about a third and yet decreasing employment by removing a local employer and decreasing farm land which may also have an impact on local employment. This would result in Knebworth developing even more into a dormitory area. This will result in more utilisation of the railway, roads with implications for car parking.
a Railway: no consideration has been given to car parking around the station and the current consultation on the railways involves decreasing the service from Knebworth Station.
b The A197 has major traffic flow problems, particularly at peak times and not just past the shops as implied in the plan. In addition the rest of the roads in and out of Knebworth are country lanes such as Watton Road.
c Other car parking issues: the proposed expansion of the Village will result in more people using cars to access the shops on London Road. No consideration has been given to a solution to this, no doubt because there is no obvious solution.

In conclusion there appears to have been absolutely minimal comments in the plan about the infrastructure demands required for increasing the size of the village by about one third.

E Consistent with National Policy
Destruction of Green Belt land is against National Policy unless there are exceptional circumstances and these are not addressed.

F It would appear through failure to address the well recognised issues mentioned above that NHDC have not complied with their duty to co-operate.