Sal Jarvis

There are three signficant planning applications in the ward at the moment, so this is a quick update on all of them.

• The proposal by Croudace to build 360 on the Roundwood site (sometimes called NES3) just north of Great Ashby does not now seem likely to go to the North Herts Planning Committee until the end of the year. Since the Coalition Government scrapped the Regional Spatial Strategy targets these plans are now contrary to green belt policy, and should (in my opinion) be refused for that reason. However, NHDC still have to come to a decision about where to build any new houses as part of the LDF (Local Development Framework) and they could decide to allow building on this site in the LDF.
• The request for planning permission to build a waste transfer and management site at Jacks Hill is expected to go to the County Council’s Development Committee on 21st September, but it might slip if all the papers aren’t in on time. Residents are fighting a strong campaign against this and have organised a coach to take people to the meeting. There are concerns about traffic, noise and pollution.
• The proposal to build a house, garage and tennis court on the haulage yard and paddock next to 1, High Street, Graveley will go to the North Herts planning committee in Letchworth on 16th September. The Parish Council oppose the plans as they are worried that it will let in more building at the edge of the village, but residents who have contacted me are in favour because they say it will improve the look of the village and limit disturbance.

There’s still time to comment on all these applications. I’ll keep you up to date with any changes.

Residents living alongside the bridleway  that runs past the Beacons and behind the School have been trying for some time to get the area maintained and the grass cut. Responsibility for this lies with the County Council and I have been in contact with council officers there about this, as well as talking to District Council officers about how they might help.

I have now been told by the County Council that a high priority request has gone out to contractors to cut the vegetation back, and that the County Council have also submitted a request to the District Council for them to add the area to the list of places that NHDC maintain on the Herts CC’s behalf. Hopefully the area will now be maintained regularly, although apparently even an urgent request can take two to three weeks! 

I have today spoken to the planning officer for this application - Alice Carrington. She says that she is still looking at comments on and objections to this application - including the 90 strong petition from residents - and had therefore not written her report. Objections focus on traffic concerns, proximity to the residential park, noise concerns and the fact that the application is in the green belt. The report is not likely to be written until the end of August, so if you have anything to say, do write to Alice Carrington at the County Council (there is a hyperlink to the details in my last post on this subject.)

The application is likely to come to the Development Control Committee at HCC on 21st September.

The coalition government has today announced that it will not be funding the Building Schools for the Future programme in Stevenage that would have funded the move of Thomas Alleyne’s School to Great Ashby. Although the County Council has planning permission for this move, now that the funding has been withdrawn it seems unlikely that it will go ahead - for the time being at least.

This is very good news for residents who have been campaigning against this green belt location, on the grounds that the site picked is unsuitable and would have too much impact on people living nearby, (loss of woodland and play facilities, excess traffic, noise and light pollution).

What is needed now is to find a solution which delivers excellent schooling for children in Great Ashby (and indeed across Stevenage) in a way that does not ruin the quality of life for residents.

The application for a waste processing building at Jacks Hill on the Brycelands Removals site, (which was withdrawn earlier this year), has been re-submitted. This application will be decided by the County Council, not the District Council, since County is responsible for waste management. The Planning Officer is Miss Alice Carrington, and comments can be submitted online. Follow this link to the application.

In my opinion this is not the right place for a waste management building. It is very close to a residential area and will bring noise and pollution to residents in Jacks Hill. The traffic movements that it is suggested will be generated are unacceptably high and there will be no way to ensure that traffic does not come through Graveley village if the plan goes ahead.

It is expected that the application will be decided by the beginning of September.

Plans to spend more than three quarters of a million pounds on computers and software were voted through by Conservative North Herts Council at its meeting on Wednesday, despite forecasts that the Council’s already dire financial position will get even worse. The spending plans are part of the Council’s capital programme for 2010 – 2011. 

Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition Steve Jarvis said, “At a time when the council is talking of having to make savings of more than £1,500,000 it is crazy to spend so much on new computers and software. We are told that there is a “business case” for the spending, but nobody can tell me it will actually save the council any money. I’m sure that it would be nice to have the latest version of every piece of software and shiny new computers but the council could manage with older versions for a bit longer just like many local businesses will do. 

“To press on with these plans at the present time is madness.” 

The council’s plans include spending £213,000 on new servers and £250,000 on “upgrade of software licences”.

As a result of the Lib Dem-Conservative government’s announcement that regional housing targets are to be scrapped North Herts Council’s cabinet has decided to put all SNAP activity on hold. All further meetings to progress the proposals are postponed “indefinitely”.

This is not quite the same as scrapping SNAP, which probably cannot be justified until the government actually changes the planning laws, but the effect may well be similar.

The Council will consider whether there should be some development North of Stevenage to meet local needs as part of the Local Development Framework process. For those of us who have been campaigning against plans to build thousands of houses north and west of Stevenage, this is a huge step forward. We will now need to engage in discussion with the council to make sure that any local housing p.lans are sensible

The government has written to North Herts Council (and all other councils) telling them that the Regional Spatial Strategy is to be abandoned and that councils can take this into account immediately when deciding planning applications and when setting their planning policies.

This means that North Herts no longer has to take account of the housing targets in the Regional Spatial Strategy. There will probably still be some development since there is a need to provide some extra houses for local people, but it shouldn’t be on anything like the scale previously envisaged.

We are waiting to see how the North Herts planning officers and cabinet react to this news. I’ll update you as soon as we hear anything.

The new government’s Coalition Programme, published last week, has announced:“We will rapidly abolish Regional Spatial Strategies and return decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils.”

It is not a great surprise that Regional Spatial Strategies are to go, since it was in both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative manifestos, but the inclusion of the word rapidly is less expected. Since it is the Regional Spatial Strategy that requires SNAP this should be good news.

However there are two potential problems which mean that people should not give up campaigning against SNAP just yet:

1.      What the government means by “rapidly” might not be what any of us would call rapid and might still be too late.

2.      The council (whether it’s North Herts or Herts County Council who will get to decide is not yet clear) might still decide to go ahead. This makes it even more important that people campaign effectively.

I hope that this change in legislation will enable us to limit any development to what

North Hertfordshire actually needs to house its own residents, rather than building for a huge population expansion.

Well, things are getting back to normal after the unusual events of the last week. The new coalition government has a strong focus on civil liberties and on the environment, which is great, and it is also going to take steps to sort out the banks, separating personal banking from more risky speculation and to raise the personal tax allowances. For full details of Lib Dem manifesto pledges which form part of the new programme, click here.

One of the pledges of both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative manifestos was to scrap the regional housing numbers and allow targets to be set more locally. We will be pressing the government to take early action on this, as it has the potential to save some green belt.

Election results here in North Herts were pretty good for the Lib Dems. Nigel Quinton held second place in Hitchin and Harpenden and in NE Herts Hugh Annand moved into second place, beating Labour into third. On the  district council we held Hitchin Highbury and one seat in Royston Palace, lost one seat in Royston Palace and gained Hitchin Bearton, beating the Labour leader.

Thank you to everyone who supported the Liberal Democrats.