Northchurch under attack

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. We are working on our response to Dacorum Borough's (DBC) Local Plan and, in particular, its proposals to build two new housing estates in Northchurch. 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. We will publish a full and detailed response after our next full council meeting (7p.m. on Monday 15 February 2021).

The Campaign for the protection of Rural England have produced an excellent document that reviews DBC's Local Plan and sets out their key concerns regarding the massive scale of proposed development:

• Impact on Green Belt, the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Chilterns Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation
• Over provision of housing
• Failure to address climate emergency issues
• Impact on infrastructure
• Water and water waste disposal and damage to chalk streams
• Underestimating potential brownfield regeneration opportunities.
• Over-reliance on aspirational growth strategies and partnerships which have not been subject to public consultation and scrutiny.
• Implications of withdrawal of St Albans Submission Local Plan

We recommend that anyone wishing to respond to the Local Plan should read this document first: the CPRE Herts review of DBC Local Plan