Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I am objecting to the proposal to build 663 dwellings on the Green Belt around Knebworth. This is around a 31% increase on the current size of the village and there is insufficient infrastructure or services capacity to cope.

Travel and Parking

* The B197 is permanently busy. Traffic is very slow moving, frequently at a standstill, from early morning and all through the day. Queuing traffic and pollution is a real problem. Residents often cannot access the B197 from the side roads due to the amount of traffic.

* When there is an accident or breakdown on the A1(M), the B197 becomes even worse, crawling traffic for hours on end. Years ago there were plans to widen the A1(M), but these were shelved even though the problems were well known.

* Many of the housing proposals within North Herts will make traffic flow along the A1(M) even worse. Thousands of extra commuters will need to join the current traffic jams.

* The three bridges in Knebworth make driving within the village a problem even now. Extra housing will make this worse. These are very narrow bridges especially for modern cars. There is another narrow bridge south along the B197 in Woolmer Green where they recently narrowed down the road, making traffic much slower.

* Rail travel from Knebworth has increasingly got worse. Commuters come in from areas around Knebworth to use the train station. The trains are packed, often with standing room only. There were plans to put extra tracks in and widen Welwyn viaduct, but these seem to have been shelved. It is a problem that has been known about for years.

* Parking is made worse by those travelling from out of the area to commute using Knebworth train station as their starting point. There is not enough parking for current users, the additional proposed housing would make train travel unbearable, perhaps even impossible. Local roads have cars parked from very early morning, all through the day. This makes life difficult for local residents.

* Parking is also a problem in the village centre, but the local traders need people to be able to park and visit their shops to keep them going. Parking issues could be improved slightly if NHDC allowed and hour's free parking in the car park of St Martin's Road.

* The infrastructure problems in Knebworth have been known and growing for many years. It is time that NHDC addressed the issues and tried to solve them rather than add to them.


Environment and Services

* The housing proposals are huge and would mean the loss of Green Belt around the whole of Knebworth. The three largest proposed sites are in the Green Belt. I understood government policy is to protect the Green Belt, so this does not make sense.

* The character of the whole village would change with losses of open views, productive agricultural land and a separate identity.

* There is a danger that Knebworth would merge with Stevenage and/or other settlements along the whole B197.

* Doctors, dentists and the school are all struggling with being over-stretched. Additional housing would make all these worse.

* I understand there have been issues in the past regarding effective sewerage services and constraints connecting with Rye Meads Sewage Works. I don't think this has changed.

* Knebworth has a long history of water run-off and flooding over the years. There have been issues recently with flooding at the cemetery on the edge of the village and there is often standing water on the proposed KB4 site. This is currently productive agricultural land. Building houses would increase the flood risk.

* The two other large sites are both accessed via narrow bridges and are near to established conservation areas one side and the motorway the other side. There would be pollution issues in these cases.

* NHDC have land available for over 3,000 houses to the west of Stevenage which they now no longer wish to consider, instead going for the easy option of putting houses in all the villages without taking into account the implications. They do not seem to have considered the infrastructure, environment, local employment, Green Belt or residents' quality of life, even the new ones who would occupy the new houses. This land has direct access to the motorway and would be a better option for housing development than Knebworth and other North Herts village sites.