Open letter to Gagan Mohindra MP from Three Rivers Joint Residents’ Association (JRA)

JRA is a politically independent umbrella organisation for all Residents’ Associations across Three Rivers including RDRA, which allows us to work together on matters of common concern.

If you are not already aware, our MP Gagan Mohindra decided to come out publicly to support the Matthew Pennycookpost Housing Minister’s decision to place a hold on the new Local Plan. Below is an extract from Hansard of the debate on New Social and Affordable Housing:

“As the House will know, local plans are the method by which we can identify affordable homes and make sure that they are built in the right place at the right time. Since I was elected back in December 2019, I have consistently asked the Liberal Democrat Three Rivers district council to get on with the local plan. However, as the Housing Minister will know, the latest version of that plan did not have sufficient evidence. He has therefore rightly called it in. Does he agree that the Lib Dems need to get on with delivering the local plan and that they should not continue to fail my residents in South West Hertfordshire?”

This is despite knowing that the JRA and local Parish Councils all objected to the delay in getting a new Local Plan in place. One could suspect that this intervention was done for narrow party-political considerations with the May Local Council Elections in mind, without any consideration of the consequences for residents of his constituency, particularly as, within hours, his intervention had appeared on his Facebook feed.

In response to this, we have prepared the attached open letter to be sent to Gagan and local media in the name of the Joint Residents Association.

Dear Gagan,

Your question in the House of Commons on 23rd February, in which you expressed support for the Housing Minister’s decision to prevent the final public consultation on the draft new Local Plan for Three Rivers, will cause direct harm to your constituents. Without a new Local Plan, the District remains exposed to the current flood of speculative planning applications on some of the District’s most valuable Green Belt land, for example the application to build 333 new houses on Catlips Farm in Chorleywood published just this week. Every week of delay increases the risk to our Green Belt.

The Minister’s intervention is undemocratic. It prevents residents from having their say on a plan that will shape their communities for decades. You took this position despite being fully aware that Residents’ Associations and Parish Councils across the District had written to the Minister opposing his action.

In your comments, you cited a supposed lack of evidence supporting the plan. This does not withstand scrutiny. In early 2025, Three Rivers Council paused the plan following the publication of the new National Planning Policy Framework to gather additional evidence, which has now been delivered. Conservative Councillors opposed that pause at the time, arguing the Council should press ahead without the extra evidence. As recently as January this year, Conservative Councillors were arguing that housing numbers could be reduced further, again without providing any evidence to support this. You cannot credibly claim there is insufficient evidence when your own party’s councillors have repeatedly argued that no more was needed.

We call on you to withdraw your support of the Minister’s action without delay and to throw your full support behind the current draft plan proceeding to consultation and examination, giving Three Rivers residents their democratic opportunity to support or oppose the draft plan. The Three Rivers Joint Residents’ Association represents thousands of residents across every part of the District. They will remember.

We are happy to meet with you at your earliest convenience to brief you fully on the Plan and why Residents’ Associations across the District are united in their support for moving the draft plan forward without further delay.

Yours sincerely,
Barry Grant
Chair – Three Rivers Joint Residents’ Association

Read more

Full letter from Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook here: IMPORTANT: Local Plan Reg 19 Suspended

Response to Housing Minister letter from Independent District Councillor Rue Grewal here: https://rickmansworthresidents.org/2026/02/why-ive-written-to-the-minister-and-why-im-not-giving-up/