Hertfordshire & North Middlesex Area of the Ramblers' Association
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Core Strategy Consultation: 17 th April – 12 th June on proposals to build 5500 houses & two by-passes in the chalk valley of Lilley Bottom and through countryside east of Luton
Your countryside is under threat
Latest update April 2009
Lilley Bottom is a beautiful area of countryside in North Hertfordshire bordering the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, enjoyed by walkers for generations where the deer still roam. House builders Bloor Homes earlier last year launched a consultation on an unsuspecting public, of plans to build 5500 houses in Lilley Bottom which would cover the countryside all the way from Mangrove Green to the woods on the Offley side! The village of Lilley across the A505 is situated in the AONB. The Chilterns Conservation Board are responsible for the AONB.
The very strong and clear advice of those with experience in fighting planning battles is that our only hope of winning this fight is NUMBERS !! If the Joint Technical Unit and other relevant authorities are bombarded with a flood of personal protests, we can win the battle. Personalised letters or emails carry the most weight. PLEASE WRITE TO PROTEST. Every member of your household who is able to write may do so - including children! Separate letters! A standardised letter has significantly less influence but still counts. There are standard letters and bullet points for your own letters along with lots of information of the main issues on the KEEP EAST OF LUTON GREEN: KEOLG campaign group website. See especially the sections on Latest News, Shape your Future, Call to Action and the Objection. |
KEOLG's leaflet is available as a PDF file to download.
Last year the Government approved a Regional Spatial Strategy or Plan for the East of England drawn up by Go East, the Governments Office for the East of England in which 90,000 houses are proposed for Hertfordshire. This is currently being challenged under judicial review and there is much concern that estimates of housing need are too high. Yet it has been possible for Luton and South Bedfordshire which are not in Hertfordshire to propose an additional 5500 more houses for Hertfordshire's Green Belt and Countryside than originally set out in the East of England Plan.
Bloor Homes never got as far as submitting a planning application, but if you think that the risk of this development of Green Belt land has gone away, you simply couldn't be more wrong!
So what's going on?
Well, it's complicated but we will try to explain. It starts back in 2003, when central government identified four areas in the wider South East of England for growth. One of these, the Milton Keynes and South Midlands sub-region includes Luton and South Bedfordshire. A joint planning committee was formed between Luton and South Bedfordshire District Council to produce what is called the Core Strategy for their area.
This first stage was public consultation between July and September 2007. The result was that the original Core Strategy became a document called the Emerging Core Strategy Preferred Options, presented to the joint planning committee in June 2008. (Don't get confused, because the area of Green Belt is actually in North Hertfordshire, outside the areas of both Luton and South Bedfordshire.)
Proposed timetable
Dec 2008: Developers ask for pre-planning scoping report from councils
2009
Jan: Luton northern bypass exhibitions
Feb: 3 Final technical reports due to Joint Planning Committee (Luton and South Bedfordshire)
Mar: Approval of Draft Core Strategy – 20th March 2009
Apr-May: Core Strategy public consultation (17th April - 12th June)
Mid-summer: Possible first planning application to North Herts.
Autumn: Pre submission Core Strategy document.(Core Strategy is now complete and may not be modified)
Nov-Dec: Second 6 week public consultation exercise. (Pre-submission consultation) Report on comments received during pre submission consultations and the councils responses.2010
April: Formal submission of Core Strategy to the Secretary of State, with consultations report.
July: Examination in public (consultation) by an Independent planning inspector.
Dec: Receipt of planning inspectors binding report.2011
Feb: Adoption of Core Strategy.
Up to 7 years allowed for individual detailed planning applications: 2018
Once the Final Core Strategy has been approved by the Secretary of State there can be planning applications at any time for the next seven years: in fact a consortium of developers/landowners are already hovering to carry on where Bloor Homes individually left off including the Crown Estates!
KEEP EAST OF LUTON GREEN is a campaign group that has been formed to fight the development. To go to their web site which is very good and shows you how to write and to whom to start fighting the proposals.
Where is it & what's being planned there?
This is Green Belt land in North Hertfordshire, immediately East of Luton. The land, which forms a natural barrier to urban sprawl, borders the Luton areas of Stopsley and Wigmore and fully engulfs villages like Cockernhoe, Tea Green and Mangrove whilst adversely affecting other villages like Breachwood Green. A bypass is also proposed.
The proposal is to build 5,500 houses on the Green Belt, despite central government commitments to preserve Green Belt land. The area concerned is home to a huge range of wildlife, including among other species fallow deer, foxes, badgers, red kites, bats & butterflies. It's not just another case of NIMBY (not in my back yard!). We are determined to preserve this piece of the British countryside.
KEOLG needs to raise money and needs our and your support to be able to fight this terrible proposal all the way! See their website for contact details.
Lilley Bottom
