We have recently responded to a planning application to build a 4-bedroom house on green belt land at the end of Molewood Road next to the former mill stream.
The proposed development site falls within the boundary of the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan and we have submitted an objection to these proposals as we consider them to conflict with the Neighbourhood Plan’s commitment to protecting natural habitats. This is demonstrated in the
Plan, as follows: –
- •Vision Statement: ‘natural areas and biodiversity will be enhanced and protected’
- Objective B: `maintain protect and increase natural habitats, wildlife, and local biodiversity’
- Policy HBH4: which supports development on brownfield sites.
It’s recognised that the Planning Inspectorate determined (on appeal for application 3/24/0239/FUL) that the proposed development site met the NPPF criterion for grey belt. We consider, nonetheless, that development on this site would represent further encroachment on the natural areas alongside Footpath 93, with the attendant risk that nearby Green Belt areas
could, subsequently, be classified as grey belt, with the consequent negative impact on natural habitats. North Road Meadow (designated as a Local Green Space in the Neighbourhood Plan), and less than 100 metres away, is also adjacent to Footpath 93 (part of the Hertfordshire Way). In the Neighbourhood Plan, the area is described as ‘a wildlife haven’.
We note that one of the reasons given by the Planning Inspector for dismissing the applicant’s appeal on application 3/24/0239/FUL was that the scheme conflicted with District Plan policies seeking to achieve ‘no net loss of existing landscape features of amenity or biodiversity value’, and ‘a net gain in biodiversity’. Having seen the site, in its natural setting, we consider that mitigation measures, during and post development, are unlikely to adequately compensate for disturbances and damage to natural habitats during the process of constructing site access, parking spaces, and a dwelling.