Hertfordshire & North Middlesex Area of the Ramblers' Association
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Countryside Issues Update:
March - April 2009
Summary of Issues
- Lilley Bottom. Proposed House Building
- Local Development. Proposed House Building affecting Footpaths
- Airport Expansion
- Harlow North. Proposed House Building
The Ramblers objectives from which this Countryside Protection work emanates is that of preserving the beauty and tranquillity of the countryside.
Lilley Bottom proposed House Building
Proposals to build 5500 houses in this beautiful area continue with a consortium of builders applying to build on an even wider area of countryside than before. An easterly By-Pass from near Luton Airport north east to the A505 at Lilley is also proposed. There is still time to stop this which involves firstly local people in North Hertfordshire writing to their local parish, district, county councillors, MP and prospective MP. Others not in the area can also write to the MP, the Rt Hon Peter Lilley. Even a short letter covering a couple of points is better than none and a guide as to the issues is on the web site linked in to the local campaigning group at Keolg where there are model letters.
The final Draft Core Strategy Preferred Options document, is now expected in the first part of this year and a 12 week public consultation follows which is the crucial period for local residents to respond and to make representations to North Herts DC to remove the East of Luton proposal from the Core Strategy. Comments or objections to the proposals in writing or by email have to be submitted if they are to be taken into account. Keep an eye on the campaigning group web site where guidance on how to respond will be provided.
Local Development . Plans are now being drawn up by all ten Hertfordshire Councils which will determine the shape of development in the region over the coming years. The process is intended to engage with local communities and requires the production of a plan setting out how all aspects of a council's services should be developed in the future.
Our interests are the loss of green belt and countryside. Government sets out in their regional plan the number of houses each council will have to build, some 90,000 in Hertfordshire and now an additional 5500 possibly for Lilley Bottom.
It is now crunch time and comments must be received if they are to be incorporated in to the Plan. The new local plans or local development frameworks as they are now called must set out a framework for development over the coming years. At the Core Strategy consultation stage which is from now on this year, local people have the opportunity to comment on future development in their council area. If comments are not received, the opportunity will be missed.
At the time the Government checks the draft Plan for approval after the consultation, it is possible for comments submitted at Core Strategy stage, but not incorporated without satisfactory explanation, to be considered again by the inspector. But if they were not submitted at this Core Strategy consultation stage, they cannot be submitted later. If when the Plan is finally approved a policy is not written down, there will be nothing to refer to and planners will not be able to support any subsequent comments when the planning applications come in. So, any matters relating to the effect of development on footpaths and their enhancement and preservation could not be enforced through this route however desirable they might be.
Airport Expansion. The timetable for the public inquiry in to the application from BAA for a second runway at Stansted has still to be confirmed. Packed pre inquiry meetings have persuaded the Inspector that to fast track the inquiry with parallel sessions on different complex topics is impractical, to which all parties agree.
A High Court Judge has ruled that the Government's decision to approve permission for an extra ten million passengers a year from the existing runway at Stansted Airport was legal.
The wording of the judgment fails to clarify the points Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) was looking for when it brought the case and SSE is seeking leave to appeal. Their concern is the original wording would compromise its case at any future Public Inquiry to consider a second runway at Stansted. The issues on which SSE sought clarification were noise, adverse economic impact and increased carbon emissions.
The Judge's ruling makes it even more confusing than before in that the impact of the additional aircraft noise from the expansion of Stansted is a legitimate consideration, yet that the noise impacts were not properly taken into account by the Government when reaching its decision to approve the extra 10 million passengers a year at Stansted. For more information on this and the other issues such as carbon emissions, go to Stop Stansted Expansion website.
The start date of 15 April for the Inquiry has now been postponed until these issues are clarified and until BAA have had time to consider the implications of the Competition Commission's final report on its market investigation into BAA. The Inquiry is now unlikely to be completed before the end of 2010
Our concern as the Ramblers, apart from the destruction of communities, villages and way of life, footpaths, historic buildings, ancient woodlands, countryside and environment, is that of noise.
For your interest, if expansion goes ahead as planned, the cap set on the number of planes flying in to airports, Heathrow, including third runway, Luton and Stansted including second runway, these being the main airports planes flying over Hertfordshire and North Middlesex go to, could total 1,302,000 a year. At Stantsed in 2008 there were 155,000 planes and the cap after the second runway if it went ahead is 480,000 planes. At Luton which is not planning for another runway, existing numbers could rise further within the permitted limits.
Aircraft Route Map Following the consultation to redraw the route map for aircraft in south-east England, National Air Traffic Control after detailed consideration of feedback from local authorities, representatives of AONBs and 14,650 responses from members of the public, a second consultation is to start later in the year.
National Air Traffic Control inform us that this consultation does not allow for the possible expansion from a second runway at Stansted or the third runway at Heathrow after which a further consultation will be needed. NATs admit the number of options available is extremely limited in this airspace, which is some of the most complex in the world.
The initial consultation designed to move flight paths away from towns over the countryside would be offset by airport expansion plans and planes will inevitably fly over both towns and countryside.
Harlow North Proposed House Building
The fight goes on against this massive development as proposed under the East of England Plan to build some 15,000 houses in the countryside. A truly massive area of beautiful Greenfield countryside will disappear under concrete. See Stop Harlow North website.
Writing Letters. If you are against the proposals outlined in this update, the way to inform your MPs and councillors is by writing to them. Even a short letter covering a couple of points is better than none. Thank you.
This Campaign Update and much of the Countryside pages were prepared by:
Philip Greswell
Countryside Secretary
Hertfordshire and North Middlesex Area,
The Ramblers Association
Email: philipgreswell@aol.com
Ridgeway near Wendover
English Trail
