An outline planning application for up to 310 houses with land reserved for a primary school, community facilities and mobility hub has been submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council.

The application was validated the same day it arrived on Monday 20 June, yet it has yet to appear on an planning bulletin suggesting a great deal of stealth on the part of the Council.

As with outline applications all appearance, landscaping, layout and scale is reserved until a full planning application is submitted. However, as expected the entrance will be on Little Bushey Lane.

Deadline for objections is Wednesday 20 July, but as it is a major development we should expect a wide area of residents to be consulted by letter.

You may object here, but we will be giving you some guidance shortly.

Developers, Redrow, who own Harts Farm fields have made a bid to Hertsmere planners in an attempt to avoid an Environmental Impact Assessment of the site.

In a report lodged with the planning department last week, Redrow have attempted to downgrade the site as of little environmental importance in order to make it easier to develop for housing and a school.

Environmental consultants, Stantec, state that there are no scare resources in or around the site that would be impacted by a development of 310 houses and a school.

Nor, despite the fields being a Flood Zone risk 1 site with some areas 2 and 3, the report claims 'measures proposed to mitigate the flood risk on the site, including allowances for climate change and will ensure that flood risk to the site and surrounding area from surface water is not increased.'

In respect of biodiversity, where we know there is a colony of pipistrelle bats, Canada geese and muntjac deer, yet the report declines to mention this.

The impact of construction traffic will follow 'best preactice' and traffic that will be generated by the development will be dealt with by a plan submitted with the planning application.

In concluding the report, Stantec state 'this screening assessment has identified that significant effects on the environment are not considered likely either alone or in combination with other development. The proposals would be of a sufficiently limited scale that effects could be managed in accordance with standard methods and best practice measures. The development is therefore not considered to be EIA development as defined by the EIA Regulations.'

The full report can be downloaded here.

Objections to this should be sent to planning@hertsmere.gov.uk

Conservative plans to 'shelve' the Local Plan will be formally discussed at the Council's Executive on Wednesday.

There are three basic options on the table:

1. Continue the Local Plan process, examining responses and carrying out additional work before proceeding to the next stage.

2. Set aside the draft Local Plan, but continue to examine responses and conduct additional work whilst awaiting clarity from the Government.

3. Cease all work on the local plan process, and rely on the adopted Local Plan when considering planning applications.

Not having an up to date Local Plan puts the Borough in serious jeopardy with developers eyeing up Green Belt land, and the Council at the mercy of the Planning Inspectorate should applications be refused.

The Council continue to congratulate themselves on a successful public engagement with 18,000 responses from 45,000 households. But it is quite clear to residents that the collective efforts of campaign groups across the Borough were responsible, with just over 11,000 coming through template letters.

The full report can be downloaded from here.

A South West Herts Joint Strategic Plan has just been issued by the County Council to look at the the area's future to 2050.

Addressing strategic issues, including infrastructure which cross council boundaries, the JSP will need to take account of the Hertsmere Draft Local Plan which is currently out for consultation.

By working together, the local councils will theoretically be in a stronger position to deliver and fund the homes, essential local transport links, health services, educational facilities and employment that local people want to see.

A website has been set up for an initial opportunity to comment until Monday 14 December. There will be a further opportunity to influence the Plan when it is formally issued for comment in 2022.

A new flying showing residents how and where they can object to the proposal to develop Harts Farm and 18 hectares of Green Belt is being delivered to 5,000 homes around Little Bushey.

If you are out of our circulation area, or don't want to wait until the leaflet drops on your door mat, you can down load a copy here.