Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I am writing to you provide you with my objections to the proposed Codicote Local Development Plan.

Having seen the proposed development plans for the village, I cannot see how the village infrastructure will cope with the proposals, and two of the sites (CD1 and CD5) are located just off single track lanes that are presently only used by their respective residents, and often perilously at that. Both Cowards Lane and Dark Lane are accessed via faster parts of the roads through the village, and drivers have to dash across the road, avoiding oncoming traffic, in order to get to these two lanes. There is no way that they can cope with proposed quantities of housing that the plan has put forward.

I was born and raised in Codicote and then owned my own home here until just 5 years ago. I continue to make weekly visits to my parents who still live there, and enjoy the village and its rural nature with my 3-year-old daughter, including walks to the Mimram river and playing 'pooh sticks' with her, as I did when I was a child being raised there.

As a child I would visit the river often with my young friends and family, looking for ducks, herons, egrets, sticklebacks and water rats. Sadly if these proposals were to go ahead I fear that way of life and access to nature would be gone forever for the villagers and their families. Many of the species of wildlife living in the hedgerows and river area are shy creatures who would not tolerate living in such close proximity to the engulfing conurbations shown in the Codicote Local Development Plan.

The Green Belt was devised to ensure a balance between man and wildlife. This proposed plan rides roughshod over that.