Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I live in Offley and believe there are several areas where the above plan in UNSOUND:

1. Removing this Land from Green Belt status to meet 'Luton's Unmet Need':
* The National Planning Policy Framework document states that the Removal of Green Belt Status does not fit the Governments criteria of "Except in Exceptional Circumstances." Luton's Unmet Need is not and exceptional circumstance, it also states "an Unmet Need is unlikely to outweigh the harm to the Green Belt unless there are very Special Circumstances." There are sufficient undeveloped Brown field sites in Luton to meet its unmet needs;
* The removal of this land from the Green Belt as proposed in the NHDC Local Plan, leaves this land unprotected and open to Applications from Developers.

2. The infrastructure surrounding the development, both into North Herts and Luton:
* Luton Borough Council base their traffic modelling on an unbuilt link road to the A505 at Lilley. A Freedom of Information request states: "The transport modelling includes the alignment of the proposed spine road through that development site and LBC have also assumed by 2031 that will be extended at its northern end to join the A505 near its junction with the road into Lilley". See Bloor Homes "Access and Masterplan slides" www.wandenpark.co.uk ("Newly constructed Relief Road linking Luton Road with Chalk Hill...") is this the spine road?
* However NHDC state on P72 of the NHDC Local Plan Para 4.222 - "Our assessments show that this level of development can be accommodated without a significant adverse impact on the wider highway networks of Luton and Hertfordshire".

3. The proposal is completely out of proportion. 2,100 homes is 14% of the total allocation of houses in the NHDC Local Plan, a 1,025% increase on the 205 houses in the three hamlets, placing these, and the houses in Wigmore bordering the development into the middle of an estate.

We hope you feel the above points are fair and would really appreciate if you would take them into consideration.