Conservatives claim a merger of Rickmansworth and Chorleywood may be possible, as green belt reforms mean over 1,000 new homes could be built.
On Thursday, February 27, the government passed new rules that define which areas must be removed from the green belt.
According to the Conservatives, the rules state that structures such as the M25 represent a sufficient barrier between settlements, so no green belt is required to stop communities on either side of a motorway merging together.
Abbots Langley & Bedmond Conservative councillor Vicky Edwards said: “This would be the death knell for the green belt. We need to fight it and do everything we can do to fix the council’s terrible mistake.”
However, Lib Dem councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Leader of Three Rivers District Council (TRDC), pushed back.
He said: “The suggestion that the M25 is a sufficient barrier between settlements is incorrect and not borne out either by government policy or expert planning professionals.”
Three Rivers Conservatives say that TRDC has agreed to comply with these rules as a condition of receiving £70,000 funding from the government.
Cllr Giles-Medhurst added: “Receiving money from the government towards the green belt review does not require any such compliance, only that we use the funds on a review of the green belt, which we will.
“This review will enable us to prove that the release of too much of [the green belt] would undermine its purpose. Cllr Edwards seems to have forgotten she voted against undertaking any such review or spending money on it.”
TRDC has since secured a further £227,962 from central government to enable additional work on finalising its Local Plan and undertaking a green belt review.
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