Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I would like to express my sincere reservations about plans to expand Baldock further than the Clothall boundary onto land which is currently farmland and green belt.

It is my understanding that Herts CC currently own the land and so its re-development is, of course sadly inevitable. I would like to point out, however that I suffer the daily problem of trying to exit Walnut Avenue onto South Road in order to get to work. The traffic on South Road is so heavy that a significant delay is inevitable because of cars from this estate queuing for their chance to join the existing heavy traffic from both directions. It is often the case that residents from the South Road cottages opposite Walnut Avenue park their cars on the junction thereby preventing two lanes from exiting, which means that the wait is even longer. If the car in front wishes to turn right in the direction of the A507, the wait is interminable. I shudder to think how much worse this will be with all the extra cars from the new houses which are planned using the Laxton Gardens/ Walnut Avenue route to access the main road.

I do not think that our current road system can accommodate all this extra traffic. Baldock is already very congested, please reconsider the plans as they currently stand, life will be really miserable if they go through.