Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

We are objecting to the NHDC local plan 2011-2031 on the basis that it is not effective, not justified and not in line with national policy.

Our concerns relate mainly to the vast proposed development on the Blackhorse Farm site situated to the north of Baldock (BA1).
These include:
- Inappropriate scale
- Inadequate local infrastructure (schools and doctors surgeries)
- De-designation of green belt
- Loss of valuable fertile, food-producing farmland
- Traffic congestion in Baldock town centre
- Lack of access, capacity and parking at Baldock station
- Proposed new road linking A507 to A505
- Flooding
- Reduced quality of life for current residents

We will address these concerns in more detail below.

The scale of the proposed development in Baldock would increase its size by around 80%, whereas other Hertfordshire towns are only expanding by 10-20% - this seems unfair. Furthermore, the proposed development on the Blackhorse Farm site far exceeds anything that the small town of Baldock could realistically accommodate and would put massive pressure on amenities which are already overstretched. There is only one doctor's surgery in Baldock which also serves the surrounding villages (Weston and Sandon). Over the last 2 years, children from Bygrave have been unable to get places in the primary schools in Baldock due to them being oversubscribed, and I know that this has also resulted in children from Baldock being allocated places in surrounding village schools instead (Sandon, Ashwell and Weston). As the only secondary school in Baldock, Knights Templar already services the surrounding villages of Sandon, Weston and Ashwell too. The current plan does not mention the provision of additional educational and medical services, which would be essential from the outset. These factors deem the current plan ineffective and therefore not justified.

Regarding the proposed de-designation of the green belt, we should be doing everything in our power to prevent this. Greenbelt land is supposed to protect against urban sprawl, and the Blackhorse Farm green belt area has further served its purpose by maintaining an area for agriculture and providing a habitat for wildlife. Farmers in Bygrave have worked this land for generations, what will happen to them if it is developed? With an ever increasing population, surely we need to preserve established fertile farmland for food production. How can we have any faith in a planning system which allows councils to overrule long-established environmental protections as soon as they become inconvenient? There are other sites available that meet the planning criteria that are not in the greenbelt (such as that to the west of Stevenage); has enough consideration been given to their use? This plan is not the most appropriate strategy and is therefore not justified.

Further justification for maintaining this rural greenbelt area includes the lane from Bygrave to Baldock having environmentally protected grass verges. Eight of the RSPB's top ten declining farmland birds have been spotted in our area. These include the grey partridge (numbers down 56% in the last 17 years), skylark (down 24 %), corn bunting (down 39%), lapwing, yellow wagtail, linnet, yellow hammer and reed bunting. We often see turtle doves in Bygrave and the tree sparrow is starting to appear more frequently now.

Baldock town centre is already congested. Every time we try to leave Bygrave and access the A507 into Baldock (which is also the route past the station), we are stuck in traffic for ages, whatever the time of day. The tailbacks often extend much further back than this junction and increase significantly during peak periods. The crossroads creating this congestion have been there for hundreds of years and were never designed to carry anything like the current volume of traffic. They cannot be widened because they are surrounded by listed buildings. Most people living in Baldock, work south of the town (e.g. Stevenage/Luton/London). Development of the Blackhorse Farm site would worsen the congestion problem considerably, with more traffic having to enter the town through this already struggling junction. Baldock currently has a lack of parking, which would also be made much worse by this degree of new development. Air pollution appears to be an issue in Baldock, because it lies in a valley, and the sheer scale of the development planned for the Blackhorse Farm site would simply exacerbate this. These issues deem the current plan ineffective and therefore not justified.

Regarding access to Baldock station, this is already a problem, with commuters using the currently very limited on-site parking, having to negotiate their way through the congestion caused by the aforementioned crossroads. Regarding capacity, Baldock Station is very small, with limited undercover areas. Many commuters already have to stand for most of their journey. There is very limited on-site parking with most commuters having to park in surrounding roads. Have you thought about employment for all the people of working age who will be buying properties in the proposed Blackhorse Farm development; where are they all going to work? A small town like Baldock will not be able to accommodate so many new workers. Mostly they will have to commute by road to areas south of the town, resulting in the traffic issues described above, or by rail into the big cities like London or Cambridge, and this would only worsen both the traffic congestion around the station and the problems with station access, capacity and parking. Would such a development not be better off closer to centres of employment such as Stevenage? The local plan is not compliant with the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework and is therefore not deliverable.

Although a transport assessment has not yet been published regarding the Blackhorse Farm development, the NHDC planners have proposed a road linking the A507 north of Baldock to the A505 east of Baldock. This may allow some traffic to avoid entering Baldock and the congested crossroads via the A507 (North Road). However, if people from the new development wanted to get into the town, they would be unlikely to drive a longer distance to enter the town via the A505 from Royston and the same congested crossroads, so would end up using the A507 but having to join the queue of traffic trying to access the town much further back than the people of Bygrave currently have to. Such a link road would however, benefit people travelling between places such as Ampthill and Royston, resulting in it becoming a very busy trunk road; which is not a desirable feature for the development. Furthermore, in bypassing Baldock, the design of this link road effectively separates the Blackhorse Farm development from the town, aligning it more closely with places like Norton and Stotfold, which would be more easily accessed. This contravenes section 2 of the National Planning Policy which advocates development of 'accessible sites that are well connected to the town centre'.

If the development does go ahead, it would be critical for us and the other residents of lower Bygrave, that any road crossing the railway line goes beneath it (in a tunnel) rather than over it (as a bridge), to reduce the noise and visual impact.

Have you considered the impact of road and house building on the risk of flooding? There is already frequent flooding in the town of Baldock. The Blackhorse farm site is on a hill which could exacerbate this. The surface water runoff currently soaks into the greenfields - If these are developed, it will also flow into the river Ivel which will become polluted. This deems the plan ineffective and therefore not justified.

There is no mention in the plan of what green space would be provided, what tree planting would happen to improve air quality and what parks would be provided for children.

Ultimately, people should have a choice of whether they want to live in a big town or city, or a small rural town or hamlet. Many of the residents of Baldock chose to live there because it is a small, rural market town. The residents of Bygrave chose to live there because it is a small rural hamlet surrounded by greenfields but within easy reach of Baldock. Development on this sort of scale would totally transform both Baldock and Bygrave, and reduce the quality of life for many of their residents.

In conclusion, we fully understand that more housing is needed, but Baldock is a small, historic market town containing over 100 listed buildings, surrounded by beautiful rural greenbelt. Surely it is better to infill carefully and sympathetically at an appropriate scale for the town, and relocate the bigger development to a more appropriate alternative site, or create a whole new town elsewhere to satisfy the requirement for larger development, with the necessary infrastructure put in place from the outset.