Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I strongly object to the Outline North Hertfordshire Local Plan 2011-2031 especially the Sites EL1, EL2 and EL3 which affect the areas of Cockernhoe, Mangrove Green, Tea Green and east of Luton for the several strong reasons:-

This area is Green Belt, and there is no supporting evidence that the application meets the "Very Special Circumstances" required to build on it as stated in paragraph 80 and 83 of the National Planning Framework. The Green Belt Boundaries should not be amended in response to an individual planning application.

The plan cites 1950 buildings are required to be built to support Luton' unmet needs. This statement cannot be supported by Luton Borough Council who in the past five years have used Brownfield sites to meet 2200 such dwellings, with more planned in the period 2016 to 2031. This number has not been qualified when challenged and there is insufficient evidence to conclude the dwellings are needed.

The Local Plan itself outlines strategic Objectives which need to be met by its own standards. These are:-

ENV1 The site needs to be sustainable.... this is clearly not the case as there is no public transport to this development from North Herts, there is no school on the EL3 site, and the proposed school on the EL1 site is too far away for pupils to walk, this means that the vast majority will be driven to school. The mere fact that the local dentists, doctors surgery, pharmacy, Tidy Tip, Library, banks, Hospital and shops are all in the Borough of Luton mean that these resources will be oversubscribed.

ENV1 reduce water consumption .... this will not be the case with 2100 homes being proposed.

ECONT discusses the need to minimise travel,, which will not be achievable as the only roads into North Hertfordshire are single access roads which are already used as rat runs.

SOC1 and SOC3 will not be achievable either.

Transport links as described above will not pour out towards the North Herts Borders. This will see droves of vehicles pour down the Crawley Green Road, to the already over breached Wigmore Lane Roundabout intersection. The consequence of this will knock on to the access routes to the Town Centre and the Airport, where access is limited in normal time, let alone rush hours at each end of the day.

The airport itself is looking to expand with more passengers and business parks the objective. This growth inevitably means more than 5000 vehicles pouring in to this already over congested area on a daily basis, without the building of these dwellings.

The obvious need for a link road from the A505 to the Airport itself would balance this out, but as yet there is no plan for this on the Luton Borough Council schedule and this is not apparent in the North Herts District plan either... without this road this planned development is doomed to failure, let alone the fact that funding for such a road has not ben mentioned by either Council. The traffic survey carried out in 2015 was not representative and was not carried out to industry standards and needs to be revisited.

Unjustly the burden for the resources will be borne by Luton Borough Council, whilst the benefits of government grants and rates revenue will be enjoyed by North Herts.

As stated, this development is not needed, meets no objectives of the Luton Borough Council, gives no thought for sustainability and as for traffic in an already overcrowded area, no provision has been made to counter the already compelling argument that the roads will be unable to cope. For these reasons I wish to register my objections.

I strongly object to the Outline North Hertfordshire Local Plan 2011-2031 especially the Sites EL1, EL2 and EL3 which affect the areas of Cockernhoe, Mangrove Green, Tea Green and east of Luton for the several strong reasons:-

This area is Green Belt, and there is no supporting evidence that the application meets the "Very Special Circumstances" required to build on it as stated in paragraph 80 and 83 of the National Planning Framework. The Green Belt Boundaries should not be amended in response to an individual planning application.

The plan cites 1950 buildings are required to be built to support Luton' unmet needs. This statement cannot be supported by Luton Borough Council who in the past five years have used Brownfield sites to meet 2200 such dwellings, with more planned in the period 2016 to 2031. This number has not been qualified when challenged and there is insufficient evidence to conclude the dwellings are needed.

The Local Plan itself outlines strategic Objectives which need to be met by its own standards. These are:-

ENV1 The site needs to be sustainable.... this is clearly not the case as there is no public transport to this development from North Herts, there is no school on the EL3 site, and the proposed school on the EL1 site is too far away for pupils to walk, this means that the vast majority will be driven to school. The mere fact that the local dentists, doctors surgery, pharmacy, Tidy Tip, Library, banks, Hospital and shops are all in the Borough of Luton mean that these resources will be oversubscribed.

ENV1 reduce water consumption .... this will not be the case with 2100 homes being proposed.

ECONT discusses the need to minimise travel,, which will not be achievable as the only roads into North Hertfordshire are single access roads which are already used as rat runs.

SOC1 and SOC3 will not be achievable either.

Transport links as described above will not pour out towards the North Herts Borders. This will see droves of vehicles pour down the Crawley Green Road, to the already over breached Wigmore Lane Roundabout intersection. The consequence of this will knock on to the access routes to the Town Centre and the Airport, where access is limited in normal time, let alone rush hours at each end of the day.

The airport itself is looking to expand with more passengers and business parks the objective. This growth inevitably means more than 5000 vehicles pouring in to this already over congested area on a daily basis, without the building of these dwellings.

The obvious need for a link road from the A505 to the Airport itself would balance this out, but as yet there is no plan for this on the Luton Borough Council schedule and this is not apparent in the North Herts District plan either... without this road this planned development is doomed to failure, let alone the fact that funding for such a road has not ben mentioned by either Council. The traffic survey carried out in 2015 was not representative and was not carried out to industry standards and needs to be revisited.

Unjustly the burden for the resources will be borne by Luton Borough Council, whilst the benefits of government grants and rates revenue will be enjoyed by North Herts.

As stated, this development is not needed, meets no objectives of the Luton Borough Council, gives no thought for sustainability and as for traffic in an already overcrowded area, no provision has been made to counter the already compelling argument that the roads will be unable to cope. For these reasons I wish to register my objections.