Interest from community groups and individuals has seen Three Rivers District Council extend the deadline on the latest Local Plan consultation.

The non-statutory Potential Sites document was due to be open for comments until December 7, 2018 but has been extended until December 21.

Changes to Government policy meant Three Rivers had to prepare a new Plan with more than three times the number of new homes being required - an increase from 180 to a minimum of 610 new builds each year for the next 15 years.

Sites for new homes have been submitted by landowners or others with a legal interest in the land in question. 

No decisions have been made by councillors as to which sites will be allocated for development, it is merely a list put forward to the council for consideration.

Leader of the council, Cllr Sara Bedford said: “I am encouraging residents to have their say on the sites that have been put forward by landowners for possible development in the next two decades. It is important that residents help to shape what their communities will look like in the future.

“Many of the sites in this document will be unpalatable and unwelcome to residents. Councillors are under no illusions that building the large number of houses required by the Government will be easy.

“However, the council does not have the ability to just say ‘no’. If we do not comply with finding the sites required by the Government, our right to set a Local Plan and have any form of local control will be taken away from Three Rivers District Council and the power given to civil servants in Whitehall.”

Cllr Bedford added all responses help to inform the next stage of the Local Plan.

Once the consultation is finished and decisions made the next stage is preparation of the draft Local Plan in Autumn this year.

The timetable for the new Local Plan thereafter would include submitting the proposals to the Government in early 2020, a public inquiry in the Spring and Summer of the same year and adoption of the Plan in late 2020, according to Cllr Bedford.

The Plan can be viewed here: https://www.threerivers.gov.uk/egcl-page/new-local-plan