Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

Illegal because the council has not adequately consulted the community on the new proposal to remove important areas from the Green Belt, specifically area KB4 in Knebworth. In July 2016 the same council declared that KB4 makes a "significant" contribution to Green Belt purposes, helping to prevent sprawl, merger and encroachment. Why the sudden change? Reference:
http://www.north-herts.gov.uk/sites/northherts-cms/files/NHDC%20Green%20Belt%20Review%20July%202016.pdf
See section 2.5 Assessment - existing Green Belt, 8 Knebworth.

Unsound, against national policy, because the Council has failed to justify the permanent removal of Green Belt areas. Note that National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF) defines essential characteristics of Green Belts as being open and permanent. NPPF para 83 states that Green Belt boundaries should endure in the long term, beyond the local plan. The draft local plan makes no such provision.

Unsound, unjustified, because the building of more accommodation, as flats or houses or conversions, is normal for a developing village or town and is not an exceptional circumstance.

Lack of co-operation. There is no evidence of any co-operation with other councils to protect the Green Belt and prevent coalescence between population centres in North Herts and surrounding areas.

More effective alternatives exist. For example a substantial area west of Stevenage has been reserved for 3100 homes, which would be more effective in meeting the needs of North Herts than sacrificing significant Green Belt areas around Knebworth. A development west of Stevenage could indeed be part of a more effective strategic plan including a critical east-west link road joining Stevenage to Luton Airport.
Does not meet infrastructure needs, just suggests improvements.

Draft is not legally compliant due to lack of consultation when it was decided to include the removal of KB4 from the green belt.

Unsound because the plan is unrealistic regarding the infrastructure needs of Knebworth, in particular the traffic around the junctions of the B197 with the school on Swangleys Lane, the church and post office on St Martin's Road, and the shops along Knebworth High Street.

This concentrated area is the heart of the village - in the long term it needs to be pedestrianised with provision for public transport and a considerable increase in car parking facilities (for the village and the nearby railway station).

Unfortunately the high street on the B197 is a rat-run for the parallel A1M which reduces to 2 lanes from Welwyn heading North. When there is an incident on the A1M, there are queues of traffic from Woolmer Green through Knebworth up to Stevenage.

Attached are photos of the morning traffic in this area on a typical school day (28 November 2016) when the weather is clear and dry and there are no abnormal incidents on the road system. As can be seen, it is already a dangerous situation, heavy traffic going in all directions mixed with children and other pedestrians.

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Firstly, KB4 should not be in the draft plan because consultation on its sudden inclusion has been inadequate and therefore illegal.

In July 2016 (4 months ago) the North Herts District Council declared KB4 to be one of the most significant Green Belt areas in Knebworth, preserving the countryside and protecting the village from neighbouring settlements. It is not credible to suddenly decide otherwise, and goes against national policy for the permanence of the green belt.

The fields in KB4 are good agricultural land being actively farmed. Development would interfere with current productive activities.

Swangleys Lane bisects KB4 and rises towards Datchworth, providing views of the countryside, the 'openness' required of green belt land, and preventing the coalescence of Knebworth, Stevenage, Bragbury End, Datchworth and Woolmer Green.

Conversely, new development on KB4 would be an eyesore visible from surrounding areas .

Watton Road, Old Lane, Blaines Lane and Swangleys Lane bordering KB4 are all narrow rural roads lacking pavements, with hedges on each side and single carriageway in places. Junctions and corners on these lanes are almost blind, unsuitable for more than light traffic.

The limited road access via Swangleys Lane was one of the factors raised during the 2014 application (ref 14/01683/1SO) for a solar farm alongside Blaines Lane on upper Swangleys Lane. The application was withdrawn.

Delivery vans, lorries, farm vehicles, bin lorries and other service vehicles already have difficulty negotiating the lanes around KB4 and cause serious problems with other traffic, in particular school traffic on Swangleys Lane (as mentioned elsewhere).

Apart from a recent resurfacing of Swangleys Lane, from the junction of Old Lane to Knebworth Primary School on the B197, the lanes around KB4 have been in poor condition with potholes, irregular surfacing (eg Old Lane) and broken edges (eg Watton Road, upper Swangleys Lane) for several years. This is evidence of lack of maintenance of necessary infrastructure.

The housing development suggested for KB4 has to connect with the B197. Haygarth, on the edge of KB4 leading to the B197, has been declared unsuitable. Maybe it should join up with with Woolmer Green? That would need co-operation with the neighbouring council and the coalescence of two villages would be against national policy. The narrow lanes around KB4 are even less suitable, for the reasons given above.

If instead a Knebworth bypass is to be built for the planned development in KB4 behind Haygarth, it would need to be routed between the edge of the existing housing on Swangleys Lane (the houses, iconic tower, the farm and row of cottages) and Blaines Lane. From there towards the A602 at Bragbury End, or past Datchworth to join up with the dual-carriageway roundabout towards Ware and Hertford. See attached map image with coloured lines indicating possible alternative routes under the railway east of Knebworth to join the A602.

It is clear that the existing road infrastructure is not adequate to support development in KB4. Considering the lack of interest shown by the Herts County Council in repairing the existing roads, let alone improving them, it is unlikely that a proper bypass would be built across KB4 before 2031.

Similarly, the concept of building a school on the field alongside Old Lane is unrealistic, the road infrastructure is clearly not adequate. It would be more effective to enlarge and extend (again) the existing primary school on Swangleys Lane including better parking facilities; note that the school is already over subscribed with the current population.

Broadband provision has been mentioned only briefly in the local plan. This is surprising because seriously fast broadband (100-1000 Mbps) is a modern requirement to participate in the 21st century. It can help to reduce commuting and travel in general; it enables businesses to operate effectively with remote customers, staff, suppliers and regulatory authorities - such as HMRC and DVLA. There are still parts of Hertfordshire where half of 1 Mbps is the maximum speed; broadband download and upload speeds and coverage requirements should be included in any plan for the future.

The KB4 area in theory has access to the telephone exchange on Swangleys Lane, and the VirginMedia cable cabinets on Swangleys Lane at the junctions with B197 and Old Lane. The pending legal separation of BT from OpenReach introduces uncertainty, over which the council has no power; it might make things better or worse, perhaps leaving a housing estate without its essential internet connectivity.

The Knebworth rail station has a tiny car park marked out next to the track fence. The ticket office is manned only part-time. There is an ongoing consultation to shift some services to Watton-on-Stone, which may put extra pressure on the road system between Knebworth and Watton-on-Stone along the Watton Road, Swangleys Lane and Blaines Lane. As commuter rail services are cut at Knebworth, platforms and carriages become more crowded. A barrier fence was recently installed between platforms 2 and 3 to help protect people waiting on the platform. Adding another 31% to the population (as in the plan) makes everything worse: traffic jams on the road, commuter parking spreading out across the village, and more crowding on rail journeys.

Draft is not legally compliant due to lack of consultation when it was decided to include the removal of KB4 from the green belt.

Unsound because the plan is unrealistic regarding the infrastructure needs of Knebworth, in particular the traffic around the junctions of the B197 with the school on Swangleys Lane, the church and post office on St Martin's Road, and the shops along Knebworth High Street.

This concentrated area is the heart of the village - in the long term it needs to be pedestrianised with provision for public transport and a considerable increase in car parking facilities (for the village and the nearby railway station).

Unfortunately the high street on the B197 is a rat-run for the parallel A1M which reduces to 2 lanes from Welwyn heading North. When there is an incident on the A1M, there are queues of traffic from Woolmer Green through Knebworth up to Stevenage.

Attached are photos of the morning traffic in this area on a typical school day (28 November 2016) when the weather is clear and dry and there are no abnormal incidents on the road system. As can be seen, it is already a dangerous situation, heavy traffic going in all directions mixed with children and other pedestrians.

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