Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I am sure this is all a done deal, a relentless juggernaut of house building that cannot be stopped whatever the views of the people living in the area may be, but I wanted to put my four penny worth into the mix as a lifetime resident of Hertfordshire, however futile it may prove.

As I commute to work or go about my business on Fridays or over the weekend, I am always amazed and dismayed by the fact that wherever I wish to travel to, the roads are always clogged with cars, the towns always crowded out with people and parking places hard to find - the temptation is often to give up, go home and pull up the drawbridge.

The proposal to add 25% to the housing stock in Royston, where I live can only add to the problems that are already existing in the town, some of which can be enumerated as follows:

Traffic gridlock - try driving through Royston at 5pm any day of the week - just don't make any appointments to keep.

Infrastructure inadequacy - try finding doctor, dentist, schools etc with any available space in Royston .

Development causing damage to the historic market town we once had - thanks for the tasteful Tesco Express in the market square, by the way!

In the time I have lived in Royston I have witnessed the increase of traffic and the overcrowding of all the above mentioned infrastructure, together with a gradual migration of the retail offer in the town towards coffee and charity shops - the Market is almost dead also.

Where are we going with all this, what is the ultimate Utopia all the development is leading to - I must admit it is hard for me to visualise - are we just peasants whose "local democracy" seems to have no say in how our towns are modified at the whim of unelected bureaucrats?

If we do need to keep building more and more housing, surely we should build new towns as was done in the past, complete with all the support systems needed to accommodate people in their thousands?

As I said earlier, I wanted to say my piece and I have done - I am not looking forward to living in this area as I get older - who knows what our local environment will have changed into by then?