planning

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

Local Plan

Regulation 18 finished last Autumn but the District Council received over 2,000 responses which are taking time to be processed by Council Staff and thus Regulation 19, the final Local Plan Draft before a Public Enquiry which should have been this Spring but the whole procedure will now take much longer.

In the meantime the Council for the Protection of Rural England have waded in to help protect the green belt areas suggested for development in Regulation 18.

The sites are not suggested by the Council but by developers who want to build on and develop the sites for housing.

We will keep you informed of developments.

By Michael Stimpson, ago

TRDC Local Plan

You may be aware that Three Rivers District Council has developed a Local Plan which is now out for public consultation.

The time has been extended to the 20th of August for residents to respond to the Local Plan due to a delay in the information being distributed to everyone.

You can find details of the new Local Plan at
www.threerivers.gov.uk/egcl-page/new-local-plan

We are pleased to see that many sites we objected to in 2018 have been removed from the list and there is now only one site we are totally against and will be opposing, and three others where we have advised Matthew Bedford, lead on planning at TRDC, of our concerns.

Other sites we are not objecting to but, in all cases, subject to privacy of surrounding residents and other points such as disposal of sewage, access both during construction and when in use, parking etc.

We will look at each planning application as it comes up and do our best to ensure that these points are considered.

We understand that the 600+ dwellings and new school planned for Batchworth Golf Course will not be able to go ahead as the Golf Club have a long lease on the premises and land. It could, of course, be that a compulsory purchase order is used to turn this round but Moor Park Residents’ Association are set against the plan. RDRA have put in a request for the site to be reduced if dwellings are proposed on this site.

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