Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

No convincing case has been made for building on Green Belt land. Deards End Lane is highly hazardous for both drivers and (in my case) walkers. I see no way it can be widened. The A1(M) is very noisy when the wind is in a certain direction; people living in the proposed houses would have the noise (and pollution) all the time. The Conservation Area would cease to have any meaning. The railway bridge is a particular 'pinch point'. It cannot take heavy traffic, and if this development goes ahead, it would have to.

There is no justification for developing Green Belt, and no evidence that I have seen that building on brownfield land has been considered (this land might not be in Knebworth). The suggested primary school would be adjacent to the motorway, which seems unwise. The Gun Lane railway bridge is narrow and the additional traffic generated by development would prove unsustainable. There are already serious flooding problems in Gipsy Lane with the existing housing stock. These would be severely exacerbated. Scant if any attention has been paid to the existence of a conservation area (as with KB1).

I understand that this site was not mentioned in earlier versions of the plan. It is currently agricultural land which it would be particularly unfortunate to lose from a food security angle. There are currently some lovely walks to be had in this area of tranquillity, with fine views across the landscape. As with KB1/KB2, traffic volumes would increase unsustainably. The upper part of Swangleys Lane is very sinuous, and in consequence hazardous now, without this development, which would also (taken with KB1) risk coalescence with Stevenage.