Councillors agree to proceed with lower housing figure in Local Plan

Members of Three Rivers District Council’s Local Plan Sub Committee agreed at their meeting on Tuesday evening (16 July) to support a lower growth Local Plan option. The lower housing option received more than 90% support in a recent public consultation.

The lower growth plan means that only brownfield sites, and sites in areas of moderate Green Belt harm or less are considered acceptable for residential development.

The new Local Plan - a document that will guide development in the district until 2041 - suggests the new housing figure for the district over the next 18 years should less than half the government’s original target of around 11,000 dwellings.

Cllr Stephen Giles Medhurst, the Leader of Three Rivers District Council, said: “This decision is another step towards not only providing the right type of housing and affordable homes needed for residents and future generations, but also to protecting a large portion of our valuable Green Belt. We have also moved to ensure that the village of Bedmond will continue to be considered part of the Green Belt, and therefore protected from inappropriate development.”

The committee also agreed the village of Bedmond would be protected from further housing development owing to its position within the green belt. The village is currently classed as included in the green belt – unlike larger settlements such as Rickmansworth which is outside the green belt. The council will continue with this classification for Bedmond in the new Local Plan – meaning it would be protected from new housing development, subject to green belt housing policy.

Last week councillors agreed to complete the Local Plan process by February 2025, subject to any government announcements. Residents will get a final say before the plan is submitted to a government-appointed inspectorate to see if the council’s plan is ‘sound’.

Notes to Editors

For the full agenda of the Local Plan Sub Committee, follow this link: https://moderngov.threerivers.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=1143&MId=1882

Please see the committee’s recommendations:

That the Local Plan Sub Committee

1. Note the contents of this report and the required further work;
2. Agree the Lower Growth and Green Belt restraint option, that received over 90% public support,  where only sites in areas of moderate Green Belt harm or less, as set out in the Stage 2 Green Belt Review, are considered acceptable for residential development continues to  be council's  position.
3. Agree the non-housing allocations as set out in this report except for CFS 11(Carpenders Park Farm, Oxhey Lane)      where officers are to require Hertfordshire County Council, as the education authority, to substantiate their requirement for this site with evidence for a 10fe secondary Low Growth option of this authority and report back.
4. That officers work further with Hertfordshire County Council over the County's identified need for a secondary school, but not      yet a site, in the Abbots Langley/ Kings Langley area .
5. Agree to site CFS10 NOT being allocated in addition to the two Bedmond sites included in the Regulation 18 Part 4 Lower Housing Growth Option.