Land at Carmelite Monastery

Photo of land at Carmelite Monastery

A planning application has been submitted for the construction of a new three-bedroomed  home in Ware Park Road, on land owned by the Ware Carmelite Monastery.

We have submitted the comments below on this proposal.

It’s noted that the site is within the Metropolitan Green Belt and that the proposed dwelling would be on undeveloped Green Belt land, in a different location to the existing agricultural building. Paragraph 4.79 of the Neighbourhood Plan says: “Rather than encroach on the Green Belt, or reduce the volume of green spaces, it’s preferable to re-use industrial land or disused buildings for housing, leisure, employment or enterprise”. Although the proposed dwelling would be single storey, and marginally smaller in volume and floor area than the existing agricultural building, it’s considered that its proposed location could have an unwelcome impact on the openness of the Green Belt.

The site is within an area identified in the HERC Ecological Network Mapping as “high priority for habitat creation”. Neighbourhood Plan Policy HBN3: Nature Conservation says: ‘Proposals to create new natural areas and wildlife habitats, or to enhance or expand existing provision, will be supported’. Should planning permission be granted, we would endorse the recommendations of the Preliminary Ecological Appraisal for the replanting of young native fruit trees in the adjoining orchard, supplementary planting of existing boundary hedgerows with native woody species, wildlife friendly soft landscaping, and the integration of bird and bat boxes. As a fruit tree would be removed during the proposed development of the site, we would recommend replacement as per Neighbourhood Plan Policy HBN3 which says: “Replacement of trees with native species, in suitable locations, will be encouraged where the development results in the unavoidable loss of trees on the site”.