Issue - meetings

Councillor Guest requested to address the Committee regarding this matter.

The Chair agreed.

Councillor Guest made the following address:

Leader, Cabinet, this document raises questions.

It states on P3-4 of the report that advice from key stakeholders such as the Local Education Authority and the Highway Authority should be sought where appropriate. Feedback on the Borough Council’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan has also been significant in developing a clear understanding of infrastructure needs. Will the road infrastructure in and accessing LA3 and the Site Allocations be able to cope with the traffic generated? Is there a commitment from the County Council that a new primary school at LA3 will happen?

The level and broad location of new development including the principle of releasing the six Local Allocations from the Green Belt has already been established through the Core Strategy. That is why I spoke and voted against the Core Strategy. It would mean the release of LA3, and I am opposed in principle to releasing this high quality Green Belt for building.  One of the most important aspects of the Site Allocations is the inclusion of policies to deliver the six Local Allocations, including 900 homes at LA3. I have been opposed to building on this land since 1996 and couldn’t support policies to deliver the development of it.

The Local Allocations will be managed as countryside until they are required for development. Can an assurance be given that they will remain countryside until all the brownfield sites have been exhausted?

The Green Belt has always been a constraint to be taken into account when deciding how far a council can go towards meeting its objectively assessed housing need. However the NPPF does allow for new Green Belt boundaries to be drawn when a council reviews its strategic plan. If the Green Belt is a constraint when meeting objectively assessed need, why propose the release of it? Could falling short of meeting housing need because of Green Belt constraints have been successfully defended to the Inspector at Examination? If it could, can the need to develop the Local Allocations be revisited in the Early Partial Review process?

Since the publication of the Pre-Submission Site Allocations Document there has been a re-run of the Hemel Hempstead Transport model. The Infrastructure Delivery Plan of June 2015 has an update to the 2014 report to ensure that infrastructure issues raised though the Pre-Submission consultation are discussed and addressed by service providers.

Updates of transport modelling and the addressing of infrastructure issues raised by consultation are welcome. However who commissioned these studies and who conducted them?

It is welcome that liaison with infrastructure providers has continued through the preparation of an update to the Council’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan, including meetings with the old PCT, West Herts. Hospitals Trust, Highways England, Thames Water and Children, Schools and Families at Herts. County Council.  Now that PCTs have gone, are the meetings continuing but with Herts. Valleys CCG and NHS England?

Infrastructure providers have confirmed that there are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18