Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

Knebworth residents have always been very opposed to any plans to close the gap between Stevenage and Knebworth. We note that part of the plans for Knebworth include reducing that gap on the NE side of Knebworth.

Knebworth has the East Coast Mainline running North-south through the village, splitting the village, with the bulk of housing to the west and the services, ships, school, doctor all on the east side. The two bridges in the village are both narrow, with narrow pavement on one side only. it is common for pedestrians to need to step out into the road to pass each other. the bridge near the station is already dangerous, badly lit and of inadequate width. The pavement is not wide enough for a double-buggy for instance. And this is before plans to increase the population of the village.

HCC Highways are not proposing any measures to alleviate present traffic congestion on the B197 through Knebworth, or the unsafe conditions under the two railway bridges in the village. The B197 is frequently queueing at peak times and is the relief road when the A1M is closed between Welwyn and Stevenage.
The various developments around Knebworth should be treated as one, rather than allowing the size of each individual development to remain small enough to get round the need for a proper transport assessment.

There is already insufficient parking in the village around the services in the High Street before plans to further increase the size of the village. Much of the new housing will be at quite a distance from the centre so there wil be more car journeys around the village.
Parking for rail commuters already blocks up all the side roads

There are at present stalled plans for the doctors surgery in Knebworth, just at the time that the population is proposed to increase by 31%. The village will eventually be big enough to consider a secondary school of its own.

Transport. The Deards Lane bridge is mentioned but not the main access on and off the site which is likely to be Park lane and down past the station under the, already unsatisfactory, rail bridge.
Deards End Lane is narrow, with no pavements and cannot be allowed to bear extra cut-through traffic to the North

The northern part of this plot uses land that will narrow the gap between Knebworth and Stevenage.
Transport. The Knebworth-Watton road is already congested with parking and speed humps and chicanes.
Oakfields Road at the NorthWest corner of the plot is already congested with commuter parking with traffic over all the grass verges. This road has a narrow egress out onto the B197. There was a serious accident there last December.
This road also carries heavy pedestrian traffic, often children, into the Recreation Ground as well as to and from Stevenage