Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft
Search representations
Results for Ms Hayley-Jane Cone search
New searchObject
Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft
Knebworth
Representation ID: 71
Received: 19/10/2016
Respondent: Ms Hayley-Jane Cone
Legally compliant? No
Sound? No
Duty to co-operate? Yes
Object to development at Knebworth (general): Disproportionate, loss of Green Belt, changing role of settlement, Green Belt (coalescence), infrastructure (traffic, rail, school, doctor, dentist), local character, density, conflict with Government guidance
Additional housing for Knebworth amounts to 1/3 of the current housing population compared with <1/10 for other areas in North Herts. It seems the aim is to turn Knebworth into a large town and not preserve its village status. This takes up more than 1/4 of all green belt surrounding the village - seriously detracting from the vista, rural nature and going against the government's own planning practice guidance of maintaining green belt. There is a significant risk of Knebworth merging into Stevenage to the north-east of the village, which is something the green belt was designed to protect.
There is no clarity on how local services will be expanded to cope with additional housing demand. It already takes over 15 minutes to drive through the village B197 at rush hour and it is not possible to get a seat on any fast trains into London. There is a waiting list for the school, doctors and dentist. Again, this vast expansion does not consider the government's own planning practice guidance about improving people's areas and driving infrastructure improvements.
The dwelling estimates compared to the land areas are vastly disproportionate to the current housing density in the village. It is not clear how the character of such new homes will fit with the areas adjoining the proposed developments, especially to the north and east of the village, which as mostly 1900's detached properties on large plots. This again is in conflict with the government's own planning practice guidance of taking account of the local area and design
New developments are required to cope with increased population demands, but the proposals for Knebworth seem disproportionate to the rest of North Herts and do not seem to have been as well-considered. I would recommend proposed expansion to the west (to the A1M boundary) but removal of expansion to the east. New developments on the west would have more limited impact (e.g. the green belt does little when there is a natural road boundary, housing density and style is already more modern).
