Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I am writing to outline my objections to the Proposed Submission Local Plan 2011-2013. I believe the Local Plan (LP) is unsound and has not been positively prepared, is not justified, is not effective and is no consistent with national policy for the following reasons:

Green Belt
Codicote village is surrounded by Green Belt. It is of great importance to the village (and the surrounding area) in protecting the historic, rural nature of the village, providing open land for informal recreation purposes and also prevents Codicote merging into Welwyn. It provides a much needed home and area for wildlife, for example Barn Owls can often be seen hunting over the area by Cowards Lane, CD1. I am also given to understand that this area has never been farmed and is "virgin meadow". The Green Belt surrounding the village has great historical and potential archaeological interest - the hedgerow that surrounded CD1 was over 700 years old (unfortunately it was recently dug up by the owners in preparation for the developments) and there are many other examples of this throughout the village.
The adjustment of the Green Belt surrounding the village of Codicote to meet the local plan's housing needs does not qualify as "an exceptional circumstance" in line with the National Planning Policy Framework. It is therefore not consistent with national policy.

Traffic and Parking
Codicote village is rural and has a long, narrow High street through which the B656 runs. This busy road carries traffic on the route from Welwyn to Hitchin and is used by cars, buses and lorries (many of the latter divert from the A1(M). The houses on the High Street are mostly old, with no designated parking. Cars (and other vehicles) often park on the pavement, causing obstructions to pedestrians and often block the sight of cars turning into the High Street from Cowards Lane, St Albans Road, Bury Lane or Heath Lane. There is clearly danger to both pedestrians and drivers.
Additionally, the road leading to the small primary school already suffers greatly (particularly in bad weather) with cars parking at school drop off and pick up. Many choose not to walk to school (eg. if a parent is dropping their child off before going to work) and the roads surrounding the school can become very clogged with parked cars. This is also exacerbated by the large trucks going to and from the Quarry along St Albans Road. As you can imagine this is a great safety concern for many parents and also a cause of consternation for residents of these roads.

Traffic itself on the High Street can easily become backed up due to there often being room only for single lane traffic because of the parking. In rush hour this can result in "snarl ups" along the High Street and out of the village.
This is exacerbated when there is an incident on the A1(M) or surrounding roads, when additional traffic joins the B656, or due to roadworks/parking in the village. There have been occasions when it has taken me 30minutes to travel from the roundabout outside Old Welwyn to my house on the High Street following an incident (a distance of approximately 1.6 miles).
I have great concerns about the levels of traffic that an additional 364 houses in Codicote would bring - at a minimum one would expect an additional 364 cars, but given that most houses have at least two cars these days I believe it is reasonable to extrapolate this to 728. Given that there is no rail station in Codicote, a poor public bus service (eg. one bus every 2hours to Welwyn Garden City) and there is little employment within the village itself I believe that the additional housing would have a detrimental effect on the local highways.
Combined with the additional housing proposed in other local villages (eg. Knebworth, Woolmer Green, this will have significant effect on the route through the village and also the surrounding area: the route towards the A1(M) and Welwyn Garden City is already a "pinch point" (as an example, it has taken me 45minutes to reach the A1(M) from Codicote during term time in the morning due to the volume of traffic converging from Codicote/Welwyn/Knebworth).
The parking situation in the village would also be exacerbated, particularly on the roads surrounding the school and also on the High Street close to the amenities, and road safety would be jeopordised.
The local plan does not provide detail on how the increase in the volume in traffic within Codicote and the surrounding villages will be mitigated. The majority of the roads are rural and it is hard to see how this can be handled effectively. Neither does it take into account any of the issues surrounding parking in the village. Therefore, it does not appear that the local plan for Codicote is justified on this basis, nor has it been positively prepared.

Sustainability
As mentioned in the "Traffic" section, there are poor public transport services within Codicote (no rail link and an intermittent bus service). There is little employment in the village, no secondary school, limited retail choices and no doctors or dentists surgeries. It is clear that people within the village will have little choice but to drive to work, to school (the school bus services are over-full), to doctors/dentists, to shop etc etc.
Given the rural nature of the village any increase in housing numbers and therefore people within the village will have a large impact on traffic volume (as outlined above). Sustainable transport use by the people of Codicote is not an option and therefore the proposed development is not sustainable. It is not in line with national policy that promotes development of sites where the need to travel is minimised and use of sustainable transport is maximised.

Education and Healthcare

Codicote has a small (outstanding) primary school that sits in the heart of the village and is land locked. The school is already over-subscribed and clearly an additional 364 houses will lead to an increased need for school places and an expanded school.
The expansion of the school is now mentioned in the proposed local plan (it was not included in the initial consultation document), however details on when this will occur and how are not provided, ie. will it occur before the new houses and residents are in situ or after? How will this affect children already in the village? Clearly expansion after development is not acceptable.
There is no secondary school in the village. The closest one is Monks Walk in Welwyn Garden City (schools in Hitchin are becoming oversubscribed and children from the villages are having difficulty getting in). Will Monks Walk and other local secondary schools be able to accommodate all children from the proposed developments within Codicote and also the surrounding areas? Additionally, there will be an effect on traffic due to the increase in numbers of children having to travel to secondary school from outside the locality, adding to the already burdened road network.
As stated previously, there is no doctor's surgery in Codicote. Codicote residents are served by Bridge Cottage Surgery in Welwyn. Access to the surgery therefore requires transport, generally by car. Parking within Welwyn is restricted and at busy times can be difficult. The surgery itself is already struggling to cope with the current levels of patient numbers. There is often no availability of GPs on the same day and the wait to see a GP of choice can be a couple of weeks, if they are available.
There is no evidence in the proposed local plan of how the needs of 364 new houses in Codicote, not to mention the surrounding areas and any additional proposals within Welwyn itself, will be managed. Where will these people go for their healthcare needs and how will the current population be served?
At this stage the local plan has not been positively prepared and is not effective with regard to education and healthcare.

Infrastructure
Residents of Codicote are well aware of the issues within the village currently surrounding waste water and drainage. There is often localised flooding in Valley Road and at the bottom of Cowards lane and the systems are extremely old and unable to cope with the current level of housing. Additionally, we experience regular power outages.
While there may be acknowledgement of these issues in the local plan they are not fully addressed nor are there concrete plans set out to resolve them ahead of, or alongside, the development. It would be irresponsible to continue to heavily develop on Green Belt land (I think the word "heavy" is justified in being used to describe an over 30% increase in the size of an ancient, rural village over the short space of 20 years) without clearly setting the bar for developers in meeting the needs of residents with regard to infrastructure. The plan cannot be said to be effective in this regard.

Overall I feel that the proposed local plan is unsound and other alternatives should be explored, in particular the use of brownfield sites as a priority. Considerate thought to the needs of the village should be given in giving permission to infill developments and local brownfield sites - for example many of the friends and families we know in the village have expressed dismay at recent developments of large 4/5 bedroom expensive homes on sites in the village. They (and I) feel that more affordable, smaller family and starter homes are needed by local residents. Considerations such as these should come first in granting planning on sites already developed.
Further to this, there has been much discussion on the development of a new settlement on a brownfield site. The development of an entirely new settlement (much like the Garden Cities of the fifties) would allow all the above concerns, that not only affect Codicote but most likely the other proposed development sites, to be met.
I sincerely hope that my concerns, and those of all the other local residents of the rural villages affected by these proposals, are taken seriously and that we can preserve the character of the rural villages and countryside.