North Hertfordshire District Council is currently consulting on their local plan which will cover up until 2031 (details here). NHDC, like Central Bedfordshire, borders Luton Borough and has a duty to co-operate in attempting to mitigate Luton's unmet housing need. In recognition of that, the draft plan includes allocation of a potential 2100 homes on the eastern border of Luton but within the NHDC area.
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| Herald & Post 15-Jan-2015 |
It is a little surprising therefore that an NHDC Councillor is actively encouraging people to lodge objections against his own authority's draft plan, as evidenced by his recent e-mails sent and a piece in last week's Herald & Post. A plan that he has already voted in favour of in Council!
I sympathise with local opposition but the further argument that North Herts should be relieved of any obligation to provide homes whilst demanding that West of Luton be developed is self-serving nonsense that does not stand up to scrutiny. Crawley Green Road and Eaton Green Road may be congested (although "gridlocked" is fanciful hyperbole) but Farley Hill, which would bear the brunt of extra traffic from Bushwood style proposals (and is already being loaded more if the Newlands Road development goes ahead) is no better and similarly constrained in terms of no room for expansion. It should also be noted that Central Bedfordshire's own emerging local plan provides several thousand homes for Luton without allocating land to the west; North Herts can not expect to provide nothing.
I sympathise with local opposition but the further argument that North Herts should be relieved of any obligation to provide homes whilst demanding that West of Luton be developed is self-serving nonsense that does not stand up to scrutiny. Crawley Green Road and Eaton Green Road may be congested (although "gridlocked" is fanciful hyperbole) but Farley Hill, which would bear the brunt of extra traffic from Bushwood style proposals (and is already being loaded more if the Newlands Road development goes ahead) is no better and similarly constrained in terms of no room for expansion. It should also be noted that Central Bedfordshire's own emerging local plan provides several thousand homes for Luton without allocating land to the west; North Herts can not expect to provide nothing.
Cllr Barnard encourages people to object to the North Herts plan in writing and promote west of Luton instead. Readers are, of course, also entitled to comment on the North Herts plan in writing in support of it if they feel that removing North Herts contribution in favour of resurrecting Bushwood is not a fair alternative.
Given that Cllr Barnard also chairs the planning control committee, I will be interested if and when planning applications relating to this proposed land allocation go before that committee. I presume that he will be declaring a prejudicial interest based upon his public campaigning and take no part in the debate?
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