On January 27th January the Council held a special meeting with Councillors to review and vote on revisions to the Local Plan housing number. The meeting was held in Roller City with only a limited number of the public allowed in to view proceedings.
It was a contentious meeting, with many Councillors making a plea against the leadership’s plan to go forward with a lower housing figure than the government appointed planning inspector has recommend. Going against the inspector’s recommendation could leave the Local Plan being found unsound and the Borough without any plan all. Having no plan in place leaves our town open to speculative development that the Council would find difficult to refuse on planning grounds. Developers could simply appeal any planning refusals and in the light of no Local Plan they would have strong case.
In the final vote the majority voted to go against the inspectors recommendation; 25 votes to 13. Instead they choose a lower figure, which removes some of housing around Brookmans Park, Cuffley and other outlying areas, developments the inspector had previously indicated would be found sound.
They have now written to him, that letter can be read here:
A full video of the Council meeting can be viewed here:
https://welhat.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/634314
There is a shorter video on YouTube, only showing the speeches from the Councillors who opposed the plan to go against the inspector’s recommendation. You can watch it below.
The Society will monitor the situation and any response from the planning inspector.
