Hitchin & Harpenden Green Belt Under Threat From All Sides

5.23.57pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 12th May 2008

Nigel Quinton, LibDem parliamentary candidate, has today blasted the government for its failure to listen to local people and expert opinion - yet again. Today's much delayed publication of the East of England Plan - or Regional Spacial Strategy to give its full title - offers little for Hitchin and Harpenden residents other than years of painful protest.

They are now under threat of development in almost every direction - all of it based on "selective green belt reviews". To the west, there is the small matter of 12,000 homes for Hemel Hempstead - threatening the land towards Redbourn. In the north, aside from 6,200 new homes required within North Herts District, there is the spectre of Luton's 26,300 home expansion to the west, and Stevenage's 16,000 home expansion to the east, while in the south east of the area, Welwyn Hatfield's 10,000 new homes are likely to be westwards towards Wheathampstead and St Albans. And St Albans itself is being forced to add 7,200 extra homes, many of which may have to be located within the constituency.

Nigel says "That adds up to 77,700 new homes being built between 2001 and 2021, within and immediately adjacent to the constituency. Currently the constituency includes around 40,000 homes and it should be obvious to anyone familiar with the (lack off) infrastructure and the geography of the area that this is simply not achievable, let alone sustainable.

"The plan has been roundly condemned by each and every local authority, and by the regional assembly - you simply cannot build another Hatfield next to Welwyn, another Hitchin next to Stevenage, and another Harpenden in St Albans. So much for the government listening to the views of local people or their elected representatives.

"And they are impervious to expert opinion too. in a report assessing the sustainability appraisal of the draft Plan, respected consultants Land Use Consultants and Levett-Therivel Sustainability Consultants were left dumbfounded by the government's view that the "plan was in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and that the additional growth and changes to distribution do not give rise to adverse environment impacts".

"Labour are a bankrupt force in British politics. They have no vision as to how this country could or should develop, or how their misguided policies will affect local people. They sit in their Whitehall bunker and regard Hertfordshire as just part of a "London Arc" beholden to the capital's needs. This plan is an insult to all of us."