Northchurch under attack 

Dacorum Borough Council has unveiled its Local Plan for houses over the next ten years. Responding to new government house building targets, it has ditched the plans painstakingly put together, over several years, for a new, hastily thrown together plan that decimates the Green Belt and destroys the character of Northchurch.

Northchurch Parish Council considers the proposed Local Plan to be an unwarranted and unjustified attack on our Green Belt that will cause irreversible harm to the character of Northchurch and to its residents.

A secondary school and 200 houses between Durrants Lane and Darrs lane, and 60 houses beside the canal in New Road represent a huge intrusion on the Green Belt. National Planning Policy and Dacorum's own policy place the highest priority on preserving the Green belt. Dacorum's own review of the Green Belt in Northchurch recommended no more development beyond Durrant's Lane. Dacorum's new Local Plan reveals that these policies are not worth the paper they are written on. It's Christmas time for developers.