Citizens Association stil sits on fence

By N Cutting | Sunday, July 03, 2011, 10:16

Local residents have/are recieving a missive from the BCA regarding the possible building of a new village to the south of the towm.

Amongst the points to consider are:

Against building on Green Belt - in principle.
Circular bus route to reduce traffic impact
Retention and enhancement of the natural environment.
State of the art energy efficient buildings.
Low carbon initatives
Large development much more benefit to the town than 'piecemeal develipment as at present.
Lots of 'may provide' and Utimately'

Answers to questions which I do not expect you to agree with:

'In principle' is not good enough, we do not have enough open space within the town according to government standards.
Who will fund this mythical bus route and for how long?
Contradiction in terms, you cannot build on land and yet still retain it as 'open space/agricultural/leisure' in my book.
Required by proposed new building standards, so no surprise there.
Interesting get out phrase.
To change the charticar of our town into another Hemel/Aylesbury/Luton/high Wycombe/Watford maybe but is that what we want?
As with most of these proposals, the devil is in the detail and once the outline principle is agreed, you have lost the argument without bottomless pockets and money speaks louder than a few grumpy residents.

I suppose someone in the town must think the proposal is a good idea, so if you do not/will not have a financial interest in the project it would be interesting to hear the other side of the argument.

I will add the rider to the above inasmuch as I actually live near the top of Swing Gate Lane, the new double yellow lines are totally ingnored by parents of the 'disabled' children who go to the current nearby schools and actually like living near the edge of the town within spitting distance of 32 Beech Drive where I started out a couple of years ago. Even my neighbours started life just 200 yards down the hill, so I suppose I do have an interest!

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Comments

Hi Berk073 - a few responses to your points:

1. Even though you may not consider the land "high quality" you must be able to see that it is used by many people throughout the year for many outdoor activities. I reguarly walk up there with my little boy and love the fact we have a little piece of countryside a short walk from town. The views from the top of Swing Gate Lane are beautiful and the feeling of space you get up there is lovely and literally on our doorstep - I believe that if this land was developed it would be a real loss to residents and a lot of us would need to get in our cars to find open space as opposed to taking a short walk up the hill!

2. Agreed more residents should equate to more demand for the local shops however reguarly throughout the day the high street becomes a no go area. it takes a long time to drive down the high street and parking is a huge challenge. So whilst the extra people may benefit local shops I think the overall shopping experience in Berko will be compromised by the additional traffic.

3. Fair point!

4. I don't believe that traffic problems are overstated at all. Yes some drivers will use the A41 but many wont and will use Chesham Road (which runs one way off the high street) and Swing Gate Lane and Kings Road to access the high street and beyond. Very few people will cycle primarly due to the steep nature of all roads back up to the development. The bus route may be off some benefit but I still can't see this being used by the majority, the website states that "The bus service would be supported financially by the new development until it became economically viable under a private operator." So there are no long term guarentees for the bus route.

5. Ok maybe our town isnt unique but there isn't anything wrong with being proud of what we have. Dacorum already have development plans in place for the borough running to 2031 and they do foresee grown in berko but focus the most growth in Hemel as they believe this has the infrastructure to cope. If we assume 2.5 persons per proposed home then if this development goes ahead we are looking at an additional 2,500 persons in berko within a couple of years - that is a 15% growth in population - whatever promises they make with regards to a new school and bus route - I dont believe that Berko can cope with that increase.

By JScott77 at 19:36 on 10/07/11
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Well they cetainly put a lot of research into the local area!! The flagship bus route goes down Shootersway Lane (narrow private road with 90 deg bends; and vicious sleeping policeman) which now has 2 bus stops and continues down Greenway passed Thos More school - ever tried driving down Greenway at School time!

By D1zzy at 17:06 on 07/07/11
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Crozzie - thanks for the advise! Yes I do support both organisations and am a member of both. And as for being in contact with SYB - yes I have done that.

By JScott77 at 17:19 on 06/07/11
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A few contrarian points:

1. The land may be 'green belt' but it is not what I would consider 'high quality' green belt given it is sandwiched between the town and the A41, and largely hidden from view from most of the town (although not hidden from my own windows incidentally);
2. The new residents will add incremental demand to support the myriad of local businesses, not least the great independent shops that many in town are rightly proud of;
3. Berkhamsted will never become a 'new Hemel' given sprawl is impossible with AONB on three sides of town;
4. Traffic concerns are likely overstated - the majority of drivers will surely just head straight onto the A41 unless heading into the town itself (in which case many will presumably walk/cycle). Indeed the existence of the A41 renders much concern about traffic moot (compare to the horrors of St Albans for example);
5. Our town is special but hardly 'unique' - a well-planned environmentally-aware development (with local input) is surely a preferable way to accept the inevitability of new housing supply - we can't just put our heads in the sand and think that Aylesbury and Hemel will just lap it all up.

By berko1973 at 17:11 on 06/07/11
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@JScott: "Maybe after this weekend there will be more of a surge in opinion and the Citizens Association and Save Your Berkhamsted might coordinate something". In that case, I hope you support BCA and/or SYB with your membership !! As has been said before, these organisations are run by unelected representatives, some of whom, no doubt,have their own agenda. So, if you want them to "coordinate something", I suggest you write to the Chairmen (?) and give them your views on what action should be taken.

By crozzie at 10:43 on 06/07/11
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