Dacorum greenbelt will be defended despite delay to 16,000 home blueprint for the area says council

Dacorum Borough Council is in the early stages of creating a new local plan
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A Hertfordshire council says it is confident any delay to its 16,000 home blueprint for the area will not lead to developers having free rein on the green belt.

Dacorum Borough Council is in the early stages of creating a new local plan which will earmark land for 16,000 homes in the area, after thousands of residents opposed an initial draft published in 2020.

The authority had hoped to adopt a local plan in November 2022, but now an initial public consultation isn’t expected until next spring – despite the Government saying authorities should have a plan in place by the end of 2023.

Dacorum Borough Council is drawing up a new local planDacorum Borough Council is drawing up a new local plan
Dacorum Borough Council is drawing up a new local plan

Officials admitted the borough council will miss the Government target.

Councils without an up to date plan in place are at risk of speculative planning applications from developers, but officers have said they are confident they can defend the green belt until a new plan for the borough is approved.

The borough council’s cabinet approved the new approach at a meeting on Tuesday, February 15.

Following the creation of the draft plan, a public consultation is scheduled for June 2023, before a formal publication in June 2024 and submission later that year.

If the council meets its schedule, the plan will then be adopted in October 2025 following an examination period.

Despite the delay, the council has defended undertaking its consultation last winter, saying it was necessary in fighting housing targets and ahead of challenges from developers.

Councillor Alan Anderson (Conservative, Kings Langley), portfolio holder for Planning and Infrastructure, said: “We went through the first draft of the local plan some time ago now, as we were required by legislation; it included meeting what was then our allocation of housing.

“It caused quite a lot of controversy, with a record number of comments from the public.

“Those comments are helpful in terms of facilitating the strategy we have with our green belt and are helpful in fighting our corner in terms of the impact on our local area.

“Had we done the consultation as some are arguing, the consequences would have been quite serious and our local plan would have become so old it would not be possible to defend a number of proposals.”

The councillor added the extra time is necessary for officers to complete necessary work, as well as assessing whether reform to the government’s planning system will be forthcoming, as well as assess the impact of the pandemic on the local area.

He added: “That plan will contain the kind of development levels we seriously think can be delivered in the borough, while negotiating those two limits – we need to find more housing locally, at the same time we have to protect the green belt as much as we can.”

Councillors asked where the new delay would leave the council’s five-year housing supply and whether it could leave the area vulnerable to developments on the green belt.

Officers said they had no doubts speculative applications would come forward, but they were confident the council could challenge any unwanted developments.

Alex Robinson, interim group manager for planning and development, said: “The sites are currently designated as green belt and therefore any application on land designated as green belt has to satisfy very special circumstances.

“Case law and planning precedent up to now has confirmed housing need alone does not justify very special circumstances.

“I’m reasonably confident we have the backing of national policy to defend applications. I have no doubt there will be applications and there will be developers trying to test that.

What I would say though is there are cases elsewhere in the county where local authorities with a considerably aged local plan – and I’m looking at authorities not too far away from us – where inspectors have taken a slightly different view on whether sites should come forward.

“But I would stress those considerations are on individual circumstances, and therefore any decision reached by an inspector on the green belt in a different authority doesn’t necessarily apply to our situation.”

The leader of the council Councillor Andrew Williams (Conservative, Adeyfield East) also sought assurances that if the borough’s housing target was affected at any stage of the process this could be amended, which was confirmed by officers.

Last year, the government said they expect all local authorities in England to have a new local plan in place by the end of 2023, with Dacorum now expecting to miss that deadline.

Hertsmere and St Albans district councils both also recently confirmed new approaches to their plan over disputes about building on the green belt, which means they are also likely to miss the deadline.