Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I am writing regarding the proposed Village Plan for Knebworth.

My understanding is that the any proposed development must be compliant under four main headings:
*Is the Positive
*Is the Plan Justified
*Is the Plan Consistent With National Planning Policy
*Is the Plan Effective

There are currently four development sites proposed for Knebworth and it is my assertion that each fail to meet the requirements of the inspection process.

Knebworth is a small area and any issue that affects one area of proposed development will have the same impact across all sites. Also many objections can be lodged under one or more of the inspection process criteria: for this reason I am grouping my responses as a whole.

Consultation
For a plan to be adopted it is required to be developed with the interests of the village at its centre and with full consultation with the residents. The KB3 site is a relatively new addition to the development and there has been no formal discussion regarding it. This is the same as KB4 which has not been, as far as I am aware, discussed at any level with residents. This is a large area to be developed without full discussion and local input, especially as it is agricultural land that has never been developed.

Housing Targets
It is my understanding that the housing targets have increased during this process: there is a concern that the numbers of houses required by the plan are not actually required by the village. There is a view in the village that new houses will be for those moving from London who cannot afford London prices rather than for local people. Recent developments in the village have sold for £400k+, this is not affordable housing. I have neighbours that rent and who are desperate to buy but there is no affordable housing stock. What assurances are there that the plan is for local people to help build a community rather than create a larger commuter belt.

The current plan will increase the size of the village by 31%: to grow any area by one third seems excessive. There is a plan to build 3,100 homes in Stevenage West and 150 homes in Woolmer Green which do not seem to have been taken into account during the formulation of this plan. What is the justification for such a large increase in dwellings in a small area: is this sustainable and actually needed? Are there any figures that show that these houses are actually needed in Knebworth?

Infrastructure
It appears that Knebworth does not have a Strategic Policy in place: the reason being that one is only required if a development exceeds 500 houses. In essence, although there is not a proposal for one development of 500 houses, the total amount across the village is 663 which will have just the same impact as one major development. By not developing a Strategic Policy it is impossible to assess the impact on the village for transport , education and commerce: this seems to have been side stepped in the desire to build houses.

There is a major issue in the village: Drainage. I live in Orchard Way and the cul-de-sac regularly floods during periods of heavy rain. We have been told that this is because the land at KB2 gets saturated and fills the drains, the overflow then finds its way to lower ground and floods outside my house. If this field is to be built upon there will be nowhere for the water to go except to flood the lower areas more regularly: what provisions have been put in place for adequate drainage in the village. Will the provisions be implemented for the whole village or just for the development sites? If the problem is only fixed for the development sites it will impact on the rest of the village.

This leads onto a concern that more homes mean more water usage & sewage disposal and the capacity of the Rye Meads Sewage Treatment Works needs to be .carefully evaluated to ensure that it can process the increased effulense.

There are plans for a school in the village but it is not made clear if this is an additional school or if the current schools will be closed when it opens. This leads to further concerns: if the old school is closed are there plans for yet further development of homes on that site? Any future plans have not been disclosed in the proposed building figures. The traffic generated by a new school will impact on the morning & afternoon rush-hour. There are already queues out of Knebworth towards Stevenage of a morning and more cars will be added to this as parents try to drop children off and head off to work. The village is also gridlocked at school pick-up time: it has taken me 20 minutes to drive from Orchard Way the High Street in the past. There was a comment that parents would walk their children to school but a lot of parent use their cars as necessity. There is also a question of noise from a school: it will be in a residential area and children shouting & playing in a playground can be very disturbing, especially for these working at home. There doesn't seem to be any consideration for the increased traffic and the noise & pollution that will come with it.

Services
There is no provision in the plan for growth of the medical centre in Knebworth. At present there is a lead time of approx. 4 week for an appointment. 663 houses is at least 663 new patients to be treated at the surgery and there is not the capacity.

Having spoken to one of the doctors, it appears that house prices are a deterrent for recruiting GPs to the practice, plus doctors would prefer to work in London. It was admitted to me that they do not know how they will cope with the influx, especially as their budgets are being cut. As an example, I had a bad shoulder earlier this year but they were not able to refer me for an MRI: what will be cut next due to the demand from the extra patients.

The high street is a busy & has a good range of shops but it is very crowded. There is not enough parking for the current users and the road can be dangerous with cars trying to park and pass through the high street.

Greenbelt & Conservation
Knebworth is a village set in the Hertfordshire countryside: this countryside is being slowly eroded with various building projects taking place, plus the proposed developments. Knebworth is in danger of losing its identity as a village in its own right, instead blending into a suburb of Stevenage. The idea of the Greenbelt was to guarantee open spaces and to allow space between towns & villages. It could be claimed that the KB4 development is in breach of the National Planning Policy Framework that exists to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; stop towns merging into each other and safeguard against countryside encroachment.

There are several areas in the village that are designated as conservation areas. The extra traffic and the pollution it brings will have an impact on these areas. The pollution and extra people in the village will also impact on the natural wild life in the area: we often see roadkill and this will only get worse with extra cars. I also believe that the extra pollution will have an impact on the natural woods and greenery around the village.

Transport
Knebworth is a commuter village and it can be assumed that many people moving into the new developments will be commuters: the system cannot cope with an influx of train users. I have been commuting for 16 years and the trains have got worse year on year. They are always late, are over-crowded and now face the threat of cuts from the Govia Thameslink 2018 review.

Knebworth is limited in its train capacity due to the viaduct at Welwyn North: only one train each way at a time can pass through which causes a bottle neck and sets a finite number of trains that can cross it each day. There is no room for growth on the trains which means that more users (from other stations as well as Knebworth) will overload the system.

If 663 homes are built in the village then it is likely to lead to 663 cars: the roads cannot cope with this number of extra vehicles. They are not wide enough: many of the country lanes already struggle with the number & size of cars. Will the new homes have driveways or garages, and if so, how many? Will the development cater for all the extra cars or will they park where they can? The roads are already treated as a car park and the roads are clogged. Buses cannot always pass through the high street as there is not enough room with the parked cars which leads to delayed services and scratched cars.

There have been occasions when the emergency services have been unable to reach their destination due to the roads being blocked by parked cars.

The situation is made worse when there is a problem on the A1 as Knebworth is an overflow and alternate route for the motorway traffic. This includes all lorries and trucks that can hardly pass through with the parked cars.

Commerce
The plan, especially KB2 & KB4, will be building on agricultural land which will have an impact on farming jobs in the area. Not only will it reduce these jobs, there are no provisions in the plan to create any jobs of any type. The development of KB3 is again reducing employment opportunities in the village. This means that the village will be increasing residential with no commercial opportunities and people will need to commute to work.

I hope that my concerns will be taken into consideration during the consultation period: the village plan will have a huge impact on the people living in Knebworth and the future of the village.

I am writing regarding the proposed Village Plan for Knebworth.

My understanding is that the any proposed development must be compliant under four main headings:
*Is the Positive
*Is the Plan Justified
*Is the Plan Consistent With National Planning Policy
*Is the Plan Effective

There are currently four development sites proposed for Knebworth and it is my assertion that each fail to meet the requirements of the inspection process.

Knebworth is a small area and any issue that affects one area of proposed development will have the same impact across all sites. Also many objections can be lodged under one or more of the inspection process criteria: for this reason I am grouping my responses as a whole.

Consultation
For a plan to be adopted it is required to be developed with the interests of the village at its centre and with full consultation with the residents. The KB3 site is a relatively new addition to the development and there has been no formal discussion regarding it. This is the same as KB4 which has not been, as far as I am aware, discussed at any level with residents. This is a large area to be developed without full discussion and local input, especially as it is agricultural land that has never been developed.

Housing Targets
It is my understanding that the housing targets have increased during this process: there is a concern that the numbers of houses required by the plan are not actually required by the village. There is a view in the village that new houses will be for those moving from London who cannot afford London prices rather than for local people. Recent developments in the village have sold for £400k+, this is not affordable housing. I have neighbours that rent and who are desperate to buy but there is no affordable housing stock. What assurances are there that the plan is for local people to help build a community rather than create a larger commuter belt.

The current plan will increase the size of the village by 31%: to grow any area by one third seems excessive. There is a plan to build 3,100 homes in Stevenage West and 150 homes in Woolmer Green which do not seem to have been taken into account during the formulation of this plan. What is the justification for such a large increase in dwellings in a small area: is this sustainable and actually needed? Are there any figures that show that these houses are actually needed in Knebworth?

Infrastructure
It appears that Knebworth does not have a Strategic Policy in place: the reason being that one is only required if a development exceeds 500 houses. In essence, although there is not a proposal for one development of 500 houses, the total amount across the village is 663 which will have just the same impact as one major development. By not developing a Strategic Policy it is impossible to assess the impact on the village for transport , education and commerce: this seems to have been side stepped in the desire to build houses.

There is a major issue in the village: Drainage. I live in Orchard Way and the cul-de-sac regularly floods during periods of heavy rain. We have been told that this is because the land at KB2 gets saturated and fills the drains, the overflow then finds its way to lower ground and floods outside my house. If this field is to be built upon there will be nowhere for the water to go except to flood the lower areas more regularly: what provisions have been put in place for adequate drainage in the village. Will the provisions be implemented for the whole village or just for the development sites? If the problem is only fixed for the development sites it will impact on the rest of the village.

This leads onto a concern that more homes mean more water usage & sewage disposal and the capacity of the Rye Meads Sewage Treatment Works needs to be .carefully evaluated to ensure that it can process the increased effulense.

There are plans for a school in the village but it is not made clear if this is an additional school or if the current schools will be closed when it opens. This leads to further concerns: if the old school is closed are there plans for yet further development of homes on that site? Any future plans have not been disclosed in the proposed building figures. The traffic generated by a new school will impact on the morning & afternoon rush-hour. There are already queues out of Knebworth towards Stevenage of a morning and more cars will be added to this as parents try to drop children off and head off to work. The village is also gridlocked at school pick-up time: it has taken me 20 minutes to drive from Orchard Way the High Street in the past. There was a comment that parents would walk their children to school but a lot of parent use their cars as necessity. There is also a question of noise from a school: it will be in a residential area and children shouting & playing in a playground can be very disturbing, especially for these working at home. There doesn't seem to be any consideration for the increased traffic and the noise & pollution that will come with it.

Services
There is no provision in the plan for growth of the medical centre in Knebworth. At present there is a lead time of approx. 4 week for an appointment. 663 houses is at least 663 new patients to be treated at the surgery and there is not the capacity.

Having spoken to one of the doctors, it appears that house prices are a deterrent for recruiting GPs to the practice, plus doctors would prefer to work in London. It was admitted to me that they do not know how they will cope with the influx, especially as their budgets are being cut. As an example, I had a bad shoulder earlier this year but they were not able to refer me for an MRI: what will be cut next due to the demand from the extra patients.

The high street is a busy & has a good range of shops but it is very crowded. There is not enough parking for the current users and the road can be dangerous with cars trying to park and pass through the high street.

Greenbelt & Conservation
Knebworth is a village set in the Hertfordshire countryside: this countryside is being slowly eroded with various building projects taking place, plus the proposed developments. Knebworth is in danger of losing its identity as a village in its own right, instead blending into a suburb of Stevenage. The idea of the Greenbelt was to guarantee open spaces and to allow space between towns & villages. It could be claimed that the KB4 development is in breach of the National Planning Policy Framework that exists to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; stop towns merging into each other and safeguard against countryside encroachment.

There are several areas in the village that are designated as conservation areas. The extra traffic and the pollution it brings will have an impact on these areas. The pollution and extra people in the village will also impact on the natural wild life in the area: we often see roadkill and this will only get worse with extra cars. I also believe that the extra pollution will have an impact on the natural woods and greenery around the village.

Transport
Knebworth is a commuter village and it can be assumed that many people moving into the new developments will be commuters: the system cannot cope with an influx of train users. I have been commuting for 16 years and the trains have got worse year on year. They are always late, are over-crowded and now face the threat of cuts from the Govia Thameslink 2018 review.

Knebworth is limited in its train capacity due to the viaduct at Welwyn North: only one train each way at a time can pass through which causes a bottle neck and sets a finite number of trains that can cross it each day. There is no room for growth on the trains which means that more users (from other stations as well as Knebworth) will overload the system.

If 663 homes are built in the village then it is likely to lead to 663 cars: the roads cannot cope with this number of extra vehicles. They are not wide enough: many of the country lanes already struggle with the number & size of cars. Will the new homes have driveways or garages, and if so, how many? Will the development cater for all the extra cars or will they park where they can? The roads are already treated as a car park and the roads are clogged. Buses cannot always pass through the high street as there is not enough room with the parked cars which leads to delayed services and scratched cars.

There have been occasions when the emergency services have been unable to reach their destination due to the roads being blocked by parked cars.

The situation is made worse when there is a problem on the A1 as Knebworth is an overflow and alternate route for the motorway traffic. This includes all lorries and trucks that can hardly pass through with the parked cars.

Commerce
The plan, especially KB2 & KB4, will be building on agricultural land which will have an impact on farming jobs in the area. Not only will it reduce these jobs, there are no provisions in the plan to create any jobs of any type. The development of KB3 is again reducing employment opportunities in the village. This means that the village will be increasing residential with no commercial opportunities and people will need to commute to work.

I hope that my concerns will be taken into consideration during the consultation period: the village plan will have a huge impact on the people living in Knebworth and the future of the village.

I am writing regarding the proposed Village Plan for Knebworth.

My understanding is that the any proposed development must be compliant under four main headings:
*Is the Positive
*Is the Plan Justified
*Is the Plan Consistent With National Planning Policy
*Is the Plan Effective

There are currently four development sites proposed for Knebworth and it is my assertion that each fail to meet the requirements of the inspection process.

Knebworth is a small area and any issue that affects one area of proposed development will have the same impact across all sites. Also many objections can be lodged under one or more of the inspection process criteria: for this reason I am grouping my responses as a whole.

Consultation
For a plan to be adopted it is required to be developed with the interests of the village at its centre and with full consultation with the residents. The KB3 site is a relatively new addition to the development and there has been no formal discussion regarding it. This is the same as KB4 which has not been, as far as I am aware, discussed at any level with residents. This is a large area to be developed without full discussion and local input, especially as it is agricultural land that has never been developed.

Housing Targets
It is my understanding that the housing targets have increased during this process: there is a concern that the numbers of houses required by the plan are not actually required by the village. There is a view in the village that new houses will be for those moving from London who cannot afford London prices rather than for local people. Recent developments in the village have sold for £400k+, this is not affordable housing. I have neighbours that rent and who are desperate to buy but there is no affordable housing stock. What assurances are there that the plan is for local people to help build a community rather than create a larger commuter belt.

The current plan will increase the size of the village by 31%: to grow any area by one third seems excessive. There is a plan to build 3,100 homes in Stevenage West and 150 homes in Woolmer Green which do not seem to have been taken into account during the formulation of this plan. What is the justification for such a large increase in dwellings in a small area: is this sustainable and actually needed? Are there any figures that show that these houses are actually needed in Knebworth?

Infrastructure
It appears that Knebworth does not have a Strategic Policy in place: the reason being that one is only required if a development exceeds 500 houses. In essence, although there is not a proposal for one development of 500 houses, the total amount across the village is 663 which will have just the same impact as one major development. By not developing a Strategic Policy it is impossible to assess the impact on the village for transport , education and commerce: this seems to have been side stepped in the desire to build houses.

There is a major issue in the village: Drainage. I live in Orchard Way and the cul-de-sac regularly floods during periods of heavy rain. We have been told that this is because the land at KB2 gets saturated and fills the drains, the overflow then finds its way to lower ground and floods outside my house. If this field is to be built upon there will be nowhere for the water to go except to flood the lower areas more regularly: what provisions have been put in place for adequate drainage in the village. Will the provisions be implemented for the whole village or just for the development sites? If the problem is only fixed for the development sites it will impact on the rest of the village.

This leads onto a concern that more homes mean more water usage & sewage disposal and the capacity of the Rye Meads Sewage Treatment Works needs to be .carefully evaluated to ensure that it can process the increased effulense.

There are plans for a school in the village but it is not made clear if this is an additional school or if the current schools will be closed when it opens. This leads to further concerns: if the old school is closed are there plans for yet further development of homes on that site? Any future plans have not been disclosed in the proposed building figures. The traffic generated by a new school will impact on the morning & afternoon rush-hour. There are already queues out of Knebworth towards Stevenage of a morning and more cars will be added to this as parents try to drop children off and head off to work. The village is also gridlocked at school pick-up time: it has taken me 20 minutes to drive from Orchard Way the High Street in the past. There was a comment that parents would walk their children to school but a lot of parent use their cars as necessity. There is also a question of noise from a school: it will be in a residential area and children shouting & playing in a playground can be very disturbing, especially for these working at home. There doesn't seem to be any consideration for the increased traffic and the noise & pollution that will come with it.

Services
There is no provision in the plan for growth of the medical centre in Knebworth. At present there is a lead time of approx. 4 week for an appointment. 663 houses is at least 663 new patients to be treated at the surgery and there is not the capacity.

Having spoken to one of the doctors, it appears that house prices are a deterrent for recruiting GPs to the practice, plus doctors would prefer to work in London. It was admitted to me that they do not know how they will cope with the influx, especially as their budgets are being cut. As an example, I had a bad shoulder earlier this year but they were not able to refer me for an MRI: what will be cut next due to the demand from the extra patients.

The high street is a busy & has a good range of shops but it is very crowded. There is not enough parking for the current users and the road can be dangerous with cars trying to park and pass through the high street.

Greenbelt & Conservation
Knebworth is a village set in the Hertfordshire countryside: this countryside is being slowly eroded with various building projects taking place, plus the proposed developments. Knebworth is in danger of losing its identity as a village in its own right, instead blending into a suburb of Stevenage. The idea of the Greenbelt was to guarantee open spaces and to allow space between towns & villages. It could be claimed that the KB4 development is in breach of the National Planning Policy Framework that exists to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; stop towns merging into each other and safeguard against countryside encroachment.

There are several areas in the village that are designated as conservation areas. The extra traffic and the pollution it brings will have an impact on these areas. The pollution and extra people in the village will also impact on the natural wild life in the area: we often see roadkill and this will only get worse with extra cars. I also believe that the extra pollution will have an impact on the natural woods and greenery around the village.

Transport
Knebworth is a commuter village and it can be assumed that many people moving into the new developments will be commuters: the system cannot cope with an influx of train users. I have been commuting for 16 years and the trains have got worse year on year. They are always late, are over-crowded and now face the threat of cuts from the Govia Thameslink 2018 review.

Knebworth is limited in its train capacity due to the viaduct at Welwyn North: only one train each way at a time can pass through which causes a bottle neck and sets a finite number of trains that can cross it each day. There is no room for growth on the trains which means that more users (from other stations as well as Knebworth) will overload the system.

If 663 homes are built in the village then it is likely to lead to 663 cars: the roads cannot cope with this number of extra vehicles. They are not wide enough: many of the country lanes already struggle with the number & size of cars. Will the new homes have driveways or garages, and if so, how many? Will the development cater for all the extra cars or will they park where they can? The roads are already treated as a car park and the roads are clogged. Buses cannot always pass through the high street as there is not enough room with the parked cars which leads to delayed services and scratched cars.

There have been occasions when the emergency services have been unable to reach their destination due to the roads being blocked by parked cars.

The situation is made worse when there is a problem on the A1 as Knebworth is an overflow and alternate route for the motorway traffic. This includes all lorries and trucks that can hardly pass through with the parked cars.

Commerce
The plan, especially KB2 & KB4, will be building on agricultural land which will have an impact on farming jobs in the area. Not only will it reduce these jobs, there are no provisions in the plan to create any jobs of any type. The development of KB3 is again reducing employment opportunities in the village. This means that the village will be increasing residential with no commercial opportunities and people will need to commute to work.

I hope that my concerns will be taken into consideration during the consultation period: the village plan will have a huge impact on the people living in Knebworth and the future of the village.

I am writing regarding the proposed Village Plan for Knebworth.

My understanding is that the any proposed development must be compliant under four main headings:
*Is the Positive
*Is the Plan Justified
*Is the Plan Consistent With National Planning Policy
*Is the Plan Effective

There are currently four development sites proposed for Knebworth and it is my assertion that each fail to meet the requirements of the inspection process.

Knebworth is a small area and any issue that affects one area of proposed development will have the same impact across all sites. Also many objections can be lodged under one or more of the inspection process criteria: for this reason I am grouping my responses as a whole.

Consultation
For a plan to be adopted it is required to be developed with the interests of the village at its centre and with full consultation with the residents. The KB3 site is a relatively new addition to the development and there has been no formal discussion regarding it. This is the same as KB4 which has not been, as far as I am aware, discussed at any level with residents. This is a large area to be developed without full discussion and local input, especially as it is agricultural land that has never been developed.

Housing Targets
It is my understanding that the housing targets have increased during this process: there is a concern that the numbers of houses required by the plan are not actually required by the village. There is a view in the village that new houses will be for those moving from London who cannot afford London prices rather than for local people. Recent developments in the village have sold for £400k+, this is not affordable housing. I have neighbours that rent and who are desperate to buy but there is no affordable housing stock. What assurances are there that the plan is for local people to help build a community rather than create a larger commuter belt.

The current plan will increase the size of the village by 31%: to grow any area by one third seems excessive. There is a plan to build 3,100 homes in Stevenage West and 150 homes in Woolmer Green which do not seem to have been taken into account during the formulation of this plan. What is the justification for such a large increase in dwellings in a small area: is this sustainable and actually needed? Are there any figures that show that these houses are actually needed in Knebworth?

Infrastructure
It appears that Knebworth does not have a Strategic Policy in place: the reason being that one is only required if a development exceeds 500 houses. In essence, although there is not a proposal for one development of 500 houses, the total amount across the village is 663 which will have just the same impact as one major development. By not developing a Strategic Policy it is impossible to assess the impact on the village for transport , education and commerce: this seems to have been side stepped in the desire to build houses.

There is a major issue in the village: Drainage. I live in Orchard Way and the cul-de-sac regularly floods during periods of heavy rain. We have been told that this is because the land at KB2 gets saturated and fills the drains, the overflow then finds its way to lower ground and floods outside my house. If this field is to be built upon there will be nowhere for the water to go except to flood the lower areas more regularly: what provisions have been put in place for adequate drainage in the village. Will the provisions be implemented for the whole village or just for the development sites? If the problem is only fixed for the development sites it will impact on the rest of the village.

This leads onto a concern that more homes mean more water usage & sewage disposal and the capacity of the Rye Meads Sewage Treatment Works needs to be .carefully evaluated to ensure that it can process the increased effulense.

There are plans for a school in the village but it is not made clear if this is an additional school or if the current schools will be closed when it opens. This leads to further concerns: if the old school is closed are there plans for yet further development of homes on that site? Any future plans have not been disclosed in the proposed building figures. The traffic generated by a new school will impact on the morning & afternoon rush-hour. There are already queues out of Knebworth towards Stevenage of a morning and more cars will be added to this as parents try to drop children off and head off to work. The village is also gridlocked at school pick-up time: it has taken me 20 minutes to drive from Orchard Way the High Street in the past. There was a comment that parents would walk their children to school but a lot of parent use their cars as necessity. There is also a question of noise from a school: it will be in a residential area and children shouting & playing in a playground can be very disturbing, especially for these working at home. There doesn't seem to be any consideration for the increased traffic and the noise & pollution that will come with it.

Services
There is no provision in the plan for growth of the medical centre in Knebworth. At present there is a lead time of approx. 4 week for an appointment. 663 houses is at least 663 new patients to be treated at the surgery and there is not the capacity.

Having spoken to one of the doctors, it appears that house prices are a deterrent for recruiting GPs to the practice, plus doctors would prefer to work in London. It was admitted to me that they do not know how they will cope with the influx, especially as their budgets are being cut. As an example, I had a bad shoulder earlier this year but they were not able to refer me for an MRI: what will be cut next due to the demand from the extra patients.

The high street is a busy & has a good range of shops but it is very crowded. There is not enough parking for the current users and the road can be dangerous with cars trying to park and pass through the high street.

Greenbelt & Conservation
Knebworth is a village set in the Hertfordshire countryside: this countryside is being slowly eroded with various building projects taking place, plus the proposed developments. Knebworth is in danger of losing its identity as a village in its own right, instead blending into a suburb of Stevenage. The idea of the Greenbelt was to guarantee open spaces and to allow space between towns & villages. It could be claimed that the KB4 development is in breach of the National Planning Policy Framework that exists to check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; stop towns merging into each other and safeguard against countryside encroachment.

There are several areas in the village that are designated as conservation areas. The extra traffic and the pollution it brings will have an impact on these areas. The pollution and extra people in the village will also impact on the natural wild life in the area: we often see roadkill and this will only get worse with extra cars. I also believe that the extra pollution will have an impact on the natural woods and greenery around the village.

Transport
Knebworth is a commuter village and it can be assumed that many people moving into the new developments will be commuters: the system cannot cope with an influx of train users. I have been commuting for 16 years and the trains have got worse year on year. They are always late, are over-crowded and now face the threat of cuts from the Govia Thameslink 2018 review.

Knebworth is limited in its train capacity due to the viaduct at Welwyn North: only one train each way at a time can pass through which causes a bottle neck and sets a finite number of trains that can cross it each day. There is no room for growth on the trains which means that more users (from other stations as well as Knebworth) will overload the system.

If 663 homes are built in the village then it is likely to lead to 663 cars: the roads cannot cope with this number of extra vehicles. They are not wide enough: many of the country lanes already struggle with the number & size of cars. Will the new homes have driveways or garages, and if so, how many? Will the development cater for all the extra cars or will they park where they can? The roads are already treated as a car park and the roads are clogged. Buses cannot always pass through the high street as there is not enough room with the parked cars which leads to delayed services and scratched cars.

There have been occasions when the emergency services have been unable to reach their destination due to the roads being blocked by parked cars.

The situation is made worse when there is a problem on the A1 as Knebworth is an overflow and alternate route for the motorway traffic. This includes all lorries and trucks that can hardly pass through with the parked cars.

Commerce
The plan, especially KB2 & KB4, will be building on agricultural land which will have an impact on farming jobs in the area. Not only will it reduce these jobs, there are no provisions in the plan to create any jobs of any type. The development of KB3 is again reducing employment opportunities in the village. This means that the village will be increasing residential with no commercial opportunities and people will need to commute to work.

I hope that my concerns will be taken into consideration during the consultation period: the village plan will have a huge impact on the people living in Knebworth and the future of the village.