Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I have lived and worked in North Herts for the last 40 years. I have worked in the health service at the local Lister Hospital, Stevenage for 25 years and now work in primary care in Knebworth, and live in Graveley near Hitchin. I understand well the needs of the community and the increasing and ageing population in the area and demands on the hospital and community services. I also travel daily & am aware of the daily struggle along clogged up roads between the north and south of Stevenage.
The proposal is for 15,950 houses to be built in North Herts under the plan. Use of green belt land to meet housing needs is inconsistent with national policy & only permitted in exceptional circumstances. Development of green belt land will cause untold damage to the environment & cannot be justified by Unmet housing need at this stage when other options have not been investigated thoroughly.
The proposed Travellers site in proximity to Graveley village is inappropriate use of Green Belt land. This site will have significant impact on Graveley Village as this site will be in close proximity via a short walk to housing developments in Ashwell Common and also a village school. These Travellers sites are only allocated to places where there is a known buffer area between Site & residential area.
Graveley has been ear-marked for 916 new homes. Most of the parish of Graveley is green belt. the village is of historic interest with an ancient church & number of listed & historic buildings. With the proposed building the village will be just 400 metres away from the new Stevenage development. This will result in the inevitable coalescence with Stevenage & the loss of yes another unique Hertfordshire village.
The traffic flow at present on to the the B197 from the side roads - namely Oak Lane and Church Lane in the mornings is continuous particularly in term-time and between 8-9am and between 5-6pm. The traffic is nose to tail all through Stevenage old Town or on the AIM going North or South at these times. If building work starts or house numbers increase, inevitably traffic will increase. The village & surrounding area cannot take this traffic increase. The arguement that this is the responsibility of Herts Highways will not help this situation as Herts Highways is already underfunded & cannot cope with existing road network/improvements needed/work requirements.
Lister Hospital has serious capacity issues already,and the hospital is expected to grow over the next few years to reflect this growing population need. It will need ease of access for ambulances/emergency vehicles and also parking will need to increase to accomodate the extra facilities. This was the reason why Lister won over QE2 - because there was supposed to be more space/easy access for future planning/expansion. if houses are built & traffic increases, this will severely compromise the hospital's functioning.

I have lived and worked in North Herts for the last 40 years. I have worked in the health service at the local Lister Hospital, Stevenage for 25 years and now work in primary care in Knebworth, and live in Graveley near Hitchin. I understand well the needs of the community and the increasing and ageing population in the area and demands on the hospital and community services. I also travel daily & am aware of the daily struggle along clogged up roads between the north and south of Stevenage.
The proposal is for 15,950 houses to be built in North Herts under the plan. Use of green belt land to meet housing needs is inconsistent with national policy & only permitted in exceptional circumstances. Development of green belt land will cause untold damage to the environment & cannot be justified by Unmet housing need at this stage when other options have not been investigated thoroughly.
The proposed Travellers site in proximity to Graveley village is inappropriate use of Green Belt land. This site will have significant impact on Graveley Village as this site will be in close proximity via a short walk to housing developments in Ashwell Common and also a village school. These Travellers sites are only allocated to places where there is a known buffer area between Site & residential area.
Graveley has been ear-marked for 916 new homes. Most of the parish of Graveley is green belt. the village is of historic interest with an ancient church & number of listed & historic buildings. With the proposed building the village will be just 400 metres away from the new Stevenage development. This will result in the inevitable coalescence with Stevenage & the loss of yes another unique Hertfordshire village.
The traffic flow at present on to the the B197 from the side roads - namely Oak Lane and Church Lane in the mornings is continuous particularly in term-time and between 8-9am and between 5-6pm. The traffic is nose to tail all through Stevenage old Town or on the AIM going North or South at these times. If building work starts or house numbers increase, inevitably traffic will increase. The village & surrounding area cannot take this traffic increase. The arguement that this is the responsibility of Herts Highways will not help this situation as Herts Highways is already underfunded & cannot cope with existing road network/improvements needed/work requirements.
Lister Hospital has serious capacity issues already,and the hospital is expected to grow over the next few years to reflect this growing population need. It will need ease of access for ambulances/emergency vehicles and also parking will need to increase to accomodate the extra facilities. This was the reason why Lister won over QE2 - because there was supposed to be more space/easy access for future planning/expansion. if houses are built & traffic increases, this will severely compromise the hospital's functioning.