A record number of residents have responded to Hertsmere Borough Council’s (HBC) Local Plan proposal.
More than 12,000 comments and views were submitted during the eight-week public engagement, which closed on December 6.
The Local Plan lays out HBC’s goal of building nearly 1,000 homes in Radlett and Aldenham parish in the next 15 years, many of which would be on green belt land.
Plans for the village include 350 houses opposite Fairfield Junior School, 195 houses between Theobald Street and Shenley Hill, 40 houses at Porters Park Golf Club and 30 houses on Roundbush.
Many residents have opposed the plans, citing reasons such as loss of greenbelt, a threat to the natural environment and loss of farmland. A group of residents set up a website called ‘Save Radlett’ which generated more objections against building on green belt land in the village.
Stephen Balsam, Co-founder of Save-Radlett.co.uk said: “Residents and campaign groups in towns across the Borough have been shocked and angered by this Draft Plan Proposal.
“They have fought hard in a short space of time to object against this. We have managed to help people have their voices heard, so this is a very significant step. The collaborative nature of this campaign has been amazing.”
Resident Sharon Roberts told RadlettNews: “Myself and many others are objecting to the local draft plan due to the fact that it’s clearly not a well thought out plan for Radlett and surrounding villages.
“It’s a relatively small area all told that already lacks infrastructure and has done from the time I brought my children up here. The pollution of our villages is horrendous on the main roads and on some of the country lanes.
“Now some of the plans to build houses are planned where some of the busiest roads are. The infrastructure is less than adequate already in Radlett and surrounding villages. Personally, I find it socialogically unacceptable to bring more people into an already bursting area.
“There are many more brownfield sites just waiting to be built on, where, in my opinion and many others in the area that would probably be more suited to a whole new village with all infrastructure included.”
Councillor Morris Bright MBE, Leader of the council and Portfolio Holder for Communications and Consultation said: “We want to thank everyone who took the time to make their views heard. We’re delighted at the number of responses we’ve received to this public engagement – one of the most successful ever undertaken by the council.
“We will now be working through all the comments submitted and taking them into consideration in the next step of the Local Plan process.”
Councillor Dr Harvey Cohen, Portfolio Holder for Planning added: “Now, we’ll begin the hard work of going through all your comments and preparing a revised plan for submission to the Secretary of State next year.
To view the local plan visit www.hertsmerelocalplan.com.
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