As featured in the 20th June 2023 Planning Update
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Local Residents’ Associations, both individually and through the Three Rivers Joint Residents Association, have been lobbying all levels of government for over three years to reduce the number of new houses proposed to be built in Three Rivers in the future. The aim of this lobbying was to reduce the level of damage proposed to our irreplaceable Green Belt whilst ensuring sufficient housing for both projected population growth and to re-establish the home ownership rates last seen at the turn of the century.
We are delighted to say that this lobbying has now had the desired effect. At the end of last year, the government issued draft guidance for consultation that provided additional protections for Green Belt and, last week, Three Rivers District Council adopted a new approach to the selection of sites for its new Local Plan that will protect far more Green Belt from unnecessary development . As a result of this change in approach, it is now expected that between 4,500 and 7,500 new homes will be built in Three Rivers over the next 18 years (rather than the previous target of 12,000) and the best quality Green Belt around the district will be protected from development.
There is still a long way to go before the district has a new Local Plan agreed but this new approach is a major step forward towards there being a Local Plan that both protects the fantastic character of the area and provides the homes we badly need.
You can be assured that we will continue to work to ensure there is no back sliding on the progress made and further improvements in the proposed Local Plan are achieved.
As far as Chorleywood is concerned, the new approach will mean that some sites previously included in the consultation on proposed sites should be excluded from the new Local Plan. These include two sites in Berry Lane and a large element of the proposed Hill Farm site.
This does not mean that other sites in the previous consultations will all end up being included in the new Local Plan once sustainability factors are considered. The council will now review the previously published sites, along with the 2020 consultation responses, before finalising the list of sites proposed for development. This is expected to be issued for further consultation this autumn.
We will continue to keep residents up to date as events unfold.
