Hertfordshire news: 15,332 new homes to be built in Dacorum Borough
Dacorum has edged closer to getting a new Local Plan after councillors approved a blueprint for 15,332 homes to be built between 2026 and 2041. The plan, which sets out where homes will be built in the borough and which policies will be used to determine planning applications, was passed by 25 votes to 13 at a full meeting of Dacorum Borough Council on Tuesday (October 15).
It will now go to a Regulation 19 consultation to consider its legality and planning soundness before an expected submission for examination by the national planning inspectorate in the new year.
Controversy has surrounded recent changes to the plan, which went to an earlier consultation stage last year based on a figure of 14,345 homes across the period - below the target set by the then government.
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Changes made since that consultation include adding:
1,400 homes at Marshcroft in Tring
750 homes at Polehanger Lane in Hemel Hempstead
500 homes at Shendish Manor in Hemel Hempstead
400 homes at New Mill in Tring
100 homes at the British Film Institute in Berkhamsted
100 homes at Haslam Playing Fields in Berkhamsted
Sites still need to be identified for 3,353 homes that make up part of the full figure of 15,332. The figure meets the target set by the previous government, and it is hoped that the plan will be submitted before revised targets proposed by the current government are imposed - or the plan may have to be re-written to add a further 4,500 homes on top of the current number.
Council leader Cllr Adrian England (LD, Adeyfield West) said the plan would “protect” Dacorum from “uncontrolled development”. He added the previously mooted plan, with a lower number of homes, would “fail” and that to leave the area without a Local Plan would be “among the most irresponsible things that a council can do”.
The government has warned councils it will intervene with any authorities that it believes are not identifying sites for enough homes.
Cllr England said: “It does feel like we’ve got a gun to our heads and there’s no point denying that. If there’s a gun to your head, there’s a gun to your head and it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not.” He concluded that the council had a “moral obligation” to “prevent a free-for-all and the opening of the flood gates”.
Dacorum Borough Council officers warned that without a local plan there could be an “increase in predatory [development] applications” and “a worsening of the council’s very low supply of land”. The authority currently has a housing land supply of only 1.69 years - well below the required minimum of five years - which makes it far harder for planners to block proposed developments.
Cllr Simy Dhyani (LD, Boxmoor), portfolio holder for housing, said: “This plan is about giving us control over how we grow and ensure that growth benefits everyone. Without a Local Plan in place, development will continue anyway but without the necessary infrastructure.”
She added: “I never wanted to be in this position of proposing a far larger number of new homes. I didn’t vote for this government - I never voted for them. And it’s not my choice that we are all in this position.”
At this year’s general election, the Liberal Democrat manifesto said they would build 1.9 million homes over five years - a higher figure than Labour’s 1.5 million. Cllr Dhyani added councillors had a “responsibility” to “all residents”, including “young families who are soon going to be seeking their own homes” and to those on the social housing waiting list.
The plan was backed by Conservative opposition leader Cllr Andrew Williams (Adeyfield East), who said: "Sometimes as members you have to make difficult decisions.
"Ninety per cent of what we do is regulated by central government and if we're not realistic in delivering a plan that satisfies government requirements ... they will do it for us. The best opportunity we've got ... is to go out with a Reg 19 that satisfies national requirements." He warned that rejecting the plan would "sacrifice far more green belt" than passing it.
But elements of the plan met with opposition from a number of other councillors at a meeting that was packed with concerned members of the public. Cllr Carole Weston (Ind, Tring Central), said she had received “600 plus” emails from residents about the Local Plan. She suggested continuing with the lower number of homes proposed last year: “I believe we need to make a stand and show the new government we mean business.”
Concerns about Shendish Manor were raised by Cllr Alan Anderson (Con, Kings Langley) and Cllr Alan Johnson (Con, Kings Langley), while Cllr Fiona Guest (Con, Chaulden and Warners End) raised similar worries about Polehanger Lane in Gadebridge.
The British Film Institute site and Haslam Playing Fields were mentioned by Cllr Sally Symington (LD, Berkhamsted West), who described them as “ill-conceived additions” to the plan. She said residents had contacted her “to say their mental health has been affected and they cannot sleep at night”.
Cllr Michela Capozzi (Ind, Tring East) said councillors had a “responsibility to stand strong and fight against plans to allow development on the green belt” and “to fight for what is right for Dacorum”. Cllr Caroline Smith-Wright (LD, Tring West and Rural) said she had “spent countless hours fighting off planning applications” in her ward but the council would “remain under constant siege from speculative development” without a plan in place.
Several councillors who raised concerns about the plan felt they had to vote it through. Cllr Jan Maddern (Ind, Nash Mills), for example, said: “It’s a very bitter pill to swallow, but in my eyes it’s the least bad option.”
Cllr Colette Wyatt-Lowe (Con, Woodhall Farm) said: “I abhor the huge expansions being thrust upon us … however, we need to protect the wider community of Dacorum against the unbridled opportunism of developers and a government which is determined to do what it wants in our area despite our very best intentions.” She said she would be supporting the plan through “gritted teeth”.
Cllr Robin Bronham (LD, Leverstock Green) said submitting a plan that did not meet the required housing target would be “a futile protest”. Former leader Cllr Ron Tindall (Ind, Adeyfield West) said if the plan was not passed “I’m sure there will be a queue of developers … tomorrow morning all with their nice little plans in their hands, ready to make planning applications which we will not be able to fight off.”
Council officers estimate that the total cost to the authority of preparing the plan since 2017 is more than £3 million. The Regulation 19 consultation will run from midday on Monday, 4 November until midday on Tuesday, 17 December.