Green Belt fears as St Albans housing targets soar (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)
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Green Belt fears as St Albans housing targets soar
11:43am Tuesday 17th November 2009 in News
YET more thousands of homes are planned in and around St Albans despite a succesful legal challenge by the district council.
In May, the authority, worried at the impact on local countryside, went to the High Court to force the East of England Regional Assembly to withdraw tough housing targets for 2011 – 2021, but now it is faced with even higher figures , albeit on a longer time- frame to 2031.
Councillor Chris Brazier, cabinet member for planning, said: “The regional assembly is proposing even higher long-term housing targets which are simply unrealistic and impractical.
“This would undermine the local support networks of roads, schools and hospitals.”
The draft planning guidance sets out four options , with a maximum housing target for the St Albans district of 11,000, and 10,000 and 13,000 respectively for neighbouring Dacorum and Welwyn Hatfield.
The council fears that the targets for neighbouring districts will inevitably lead to destruction of large parts of Green Belt on the edge of St Albans, particularly in the Redbourn and Smallford areas.
Depending on the results of a consultation ending on Tuesday, one of the four options will be chosen for the East of England Plan , which will be published in March, doubtless followed by a contentious public inquiry.
But Labour parliamentary candidate Roma Mills accused the district council of exaggerating the danger to the Green Belt and ignoring the housing needs of local people.
She said: “Without more housing available a lot of people have little hope of setting up home in this district. The Liberal Democrats keep banging on about protecting the Green Belt.
"It is highly misleading to suggest that the additional figures proposed for Hertfordshire will have a serious impact - the real danger is that we will lose lots of essential workers locally as they move out of the area in search of an affordable family home.”
