Local Plan

Local Plan

Due to the vast number of responses to the second Regulation 18 consultation, the District Council have four members of staff working on a third revision which will be published in the Autumn.

It is not clear if this will be a third Regulation 18 consultation or a Regulation 19 – this is the last list which is produced before a Public Enquiry.

This will put off the finalisation of the Local Plan for a few years with two possible adverse implications for the residents of the District.

The first of these is that the Government may impose a Local Plan on the area, the second is that, without a Local Plan to refer to, developers could develop sites without District Council Planning approval.
The next document could well call back in sites which were taken out of the first list in 2018 many of which we objected to due to them being on Green Belt land or on a flood plain (in some cases both!).

By Michael Stimpson, ago

TRDC Local Plan documents

We have had some members contact us about some of the sites where we have not objected.

We have said that there are a number of points we wish to see covered and these will be considered as the plans are published – at that time we may object!

The sites we have not objected to are based on the idea of “can this site be developed?” and our response is “Yes”, subject to a number of safeguards as detailed in our document.

The start date of the six-week consultation was from the 11th of June – you can visit the document here:

https://www.threerivers.gov.uk/egcl-page/new-local-plan?fbclid=IwAR0F6AwViP4J5ZV_EfqZsSm2rPyjRbcw5iEFND84xR9PPW5CF1d8-nKcUJI

By Michael Stimpson, ago

Batchworth Local Plan survey

Batchworth Community Council is preparing a Neighbourhood Plan for the area covered by the two wards within the boundary of Moor Park & Eastbury and Rickmansworth Town Ward.  It is important that this Neighbourhood Plan reflects your ambitions and views. Last year and early this year, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group asked for your ideas on important matters to be addressed in the Plan. They have now used these to prepare a draft vision for the area, a set of five objectives and three ideas on how to deliver each of these five objectives.

They would like you to indicate how you feel about these ideas by completing the online survey at www.batchworthplan.org.uk/questionnaire by 18th July.  There is also an opportunity to tell them whether you have any suggestions for the Neighbourhood Plan. The questionnaire can be completed online (from link above). If people wish, they can download it, print, complete and return to the BCC offices at Basing House, 46 High Street, Rickmansworth.

By Michael Stimpson, ago

TRDC Local Plan – further info and maps

We have been asked by members how to see details of the plan.

It is on the bottom of the menu list on the planning page but here is a link:
https://www.threerivers.gov.uk/news/residents-invited-to-have-their-say-on-new-draft-local-plan

The start date of the six-week consultation is the 11th of June.

Click here to download the list of sites

Download the two maps: Rickmansworth & Batchworth and Mill End

Local Plan site maps
By Michael Stimpson, ago

TRDC Local Plan consultation

Three Rivers District Council have issued the Local Plan for the District where they are being required by Government to provide thousands of new dwellings in the District over the next ten years.

Every Council in England is facing the same problem so it is not Three Rivers who are being “picked on” but Residents’ Associations across the country are, of course, up in arms regarding some of the plans.

Your Committee have looked at the proposals and are happy to see that, since the initial list issued in 2018, many of the sites we objected to at the time have been removed from the list.

There are some sites we still object to and some where we are suggesting alternative plans.

We have to accept that the District Council are being forced into the position to provide additional housing but there is one point where, whilst accepting the numbers, we want to insist on: most, if not all, of these new dwellings should be low-cost one and two-bedroom properties as we need somewhere for our children to live and, in most cases, they have to move away when they fly the nest as the homes in Batchworth, Rickmansworth and Mill End are too expensive to stay close to Mum and Dad.

We also need to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to support the large number of new dwellings.

We have to accept, I am afraid, that we will lose some of our Green Belt but, happily, the loss will not be as great as feared under the 2018 list. The Association will try to keep this to a minimum.

We will await the planning proposals for each individual site and respond in each case. We will put our initial comments on our website and we will review each proposal as it is published.

In the meantime, you will find full details on the TRDC website and have two chances to comment: TRDC will be sending out details of the overall plan to each household in the near future and there will be a public consultation following that.

Please make sure you read the information sent to you and respond to the consultation.

By Michael Stimpson, ago

Planning

We await the details of the revised Local Plan where the District Council are reacting to the call for large numbers of new dwellings to be built. All Residents’ Associations in the District were holding an emergency meeting to discuss the strategy to be used in combatting any loss of Green Built land. In Rickmansworth we have the added problem of proposed buildings being put on flood plain sites.

The other problem we have is the type of housing. What we need in Rickmansworth and the surrounding area is one and two-bedroom houses so that our children can set up home in the area. The District Council seem to think that we need three and four-bedroom homes. This will produce more income to the Council in the form of SIL money and Council Tax and will provide the developers with more income but such properties will be sold as buy-to-rent housing and do nothing for our upcoming generation who either have to stay living with their parents or move away from the area.

It has been rumoured that the shop just left empty by Halfords may become a Starbucks.

One resident backing onto the M&S car park has complained about the noise from lorries delivering at 4am. The resident has been advised to keep a log. There may be controls in the original planning permission which need to be looked at.

By Michael Stimpson, ago