Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

We were extremely disappointed to hear rather suddenly of the proposed plan to develop our lovely village of Ickleford. Residents had been aware of proposals IC1 and IC2, but with the sudden addition of IC3 we are all left in shock. Residents were not consulted on this additional site which in my mind cannot be legal.

Ickleford is a small village on the outskirts of Hitchin with a lovely "village" school [...] We specifically chose to live in Ickleford for the very reason to live in a "village". The school is centrally located on the village green near to the church, village shop and village hall; a triangle which binds the hub of the village and the local community. We currently walk to school across fields, one of the reasons we chose to move to the village to give our children a better life. The school is closely connected to the church, and the children have the opportunity to walk across to the church to celebrate festivities such as Harvest Festival, Easter and Christmas. The majority of the families whose children attend the school are of the Church of England faith. Moving the school to the Bedford Road, along with doubling the number of pupils will make trips to the church near on impossible.
Those children (and families) will lose their connection with the church and the historic character of the village as the school will amalgmate pupils from the village along with others from Hitchin with no affiliation to the church and it;s beliefs.

The proposal to build an additional 150 houses concerns us greatly [...We] get stuck in the traffic that builds up on the Bedford Road leading down from Lower Stondon and have witnessed traffic delays of up to 30 minutes even after 9am from Ickleford to Hicthin (Paynes Park). These additional 150 houses (IC3) PLUS 120 in Lower Stondon (LS1) will no doubt cause an increased bottleneck of traffic all trying to make their way through Hitchin to the A1(M) and other routes leading south adding to the turmoil and grief of all who use these roads. If the Primary school is relocated, then the majority of Ickleford residents (from the Lower Green end) will have to drive to school adding to this traffic. We do not feel that the proposed local plan with regards to the increased burden on traffic is sound and has not been accurately researched.

In summary, we do not feel that proposal IC3 has been thoroughly thought through in conjunction with IC1 and IC2 - this in total adds nearly 346 dwellings to Ickleford (a potential of a 40% increase which is not in proportion for the size of the village).
Such a massive increase in the number of dwellings/ residents will fundamentally alter the nature of the village. The larger villages and towns in NHDC are better able to absorb the increase in housing without altering the basic character. It is clear that the impact on quality of life for residents of the Plan is profound.