1500 new homes for Ware

What do you think about the quality and pace of housing development in Ware?
jbond
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Location: Ware

Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by jbond »

The Inspector has issued "ED167 Inspector's post hearings note to Council on East Herts District Plan [52kb]"
https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/examinationdocuments
https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/media/3233 ... t_Plan.pdf

So this is the next part of the story according to the Inspector.
Draft Timetable
This may be subject to change depending on circumstances
* Draft Main Modifications - submitted to me by mid – December 2017
* Consultation on Main Modifications – February - March 2018
* Likely date of my report to the Council – end of April 2018
Word has it that EHDC will be submitting Main Modifications to her by 15 Dec.
Scottman
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Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by Scottman »

Any sight of those proposed modifications?
jbond
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Location: Ware

Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by jbond »

At the end of the hearings, it looked like EHDC would drip feed modifications to the Inspector.

Her announcement 29th Nov ED167 https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/media/3233 ... t_Plan.pdf suggested EHDC mods would get to her by Mid Dec. Then public consultation Feb-March. The public consultation is probably when we get to see them. It's possible that they'll be published as a briefing paper a few days before that.

The announcement of the joint hearings over East Welwyn for Jan 30 (https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/examinationdocuments ED168 onwards) meant the full set of mods would slip to maybe 2 weeks after that. So the whole process is now roughly a month behind schedule. So finished set of mods to the inspector mid Feb. Which means public consult in March-April. And then the Inspector's report to EHDC would be End May. Which means adoption of the plan in June at the earliest.

Always assuming this process just carries an rolling through all the hoops. My feeling is that she is recommending scaling back all the plans because the numbers are just too big and have too many other implications. But that even if it's 15,000 homes instead of 20,000 homes (or whatever), the broad bulk of the plan will stand. What that means for Ware, I don't know. Maybe the Green belt will get released but they'll only build on a small part of it by 2025 by which time the political landscape might have changed completely.
The Masked Woler
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Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by The Masked Woler »

These plans have been under discussion for years, I find it depressing that residents take so little interest in what happens around Ware that they have only now woken up.
Ian
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Joined: Thu 21 Nov 2013 10:39 am

Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by Ian »

There is now a consultation on the proposed modifications from the inspector, more detail at https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/districtplanexamination

It looks like there was a great deal of lobbying from developers who have offices in Westminster so clearly have much local knowledge and interest ("Modification in response to issue raised by Inspector at Part 1 Hearing Sessions, and in response to issue raised by Ptarmigan Planning (1051701)". The proposal is to change the wording to "at least 1,000 homes to the North and East of Ware, as set out in Policy WARE2" along with "with the intention to provide for a further minimum of 500 dwellings beyond this
plan period, should satisfactory mitigation to identified highway constraints" where before it was "approximately 1000 homes etc.

This now changes the planned maximum number we had before to a completely open ended expansion of Ware
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kevin phillips bong
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Joined: Tue 11 Jan 2005 12:00 am
Location: Ware - the centre of the Universe!

Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by kevin phillips bong »

How do we make our voices heard against this Ian - wait till the planning application goes in??
This has been such a disputable scheme which seems to have been decided without properly consulting the people of Ware - yes they had meetings which they ignored our pleas - and distributed a bewildering document which not everybody received. But it seems Westminster with backing from certain parts of EHDC want it to go ahead on green belt land and no decent transport links, doctors, hospitals, schools etc. Still we might get a travellers site.
Ian
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Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by Ian »

If you wish to comment on this you can use the consultation website to do so at http://consult.eastherts.gov.uk/portal/. It's open now until the 29 March and I'd encourage as many people as possible to write in with their views.
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Pat-H
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Location: Ware

Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by Pat-H »

One of the pledges many years ago was to remove planning red tape and bureaucracy. The claim was it hindered development and added unnecessary cost and delays.
Well here we are today. Grenfell was one example of the "improvements" and we now see the other. That red tape was part of the process that allowed the public to feed in and have an input.
Nowadays its all about the developers and the bottom line. We get a token say but this gobbling up of public land and green belt will continue until there's a political change.
The Masked Woler
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Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by The Masked Woler »

kevin phillips bong wrote:How do we make our voices heard against this Ian - wait till the planning application goes in??
This has been such a disputable scheme which seems to have been decided without properly consulting the people of Ware
The people of Ware simply don't care - I discussed the plan ages ago with several and the attitude was that It wasn't near them so was of no interest.

How people can be so stupid as to think this won't affect everyone in the town is beyond me.

One example - we will need many more school places will they:-
a) build new schools using up valuable development land or
b) enlarge the ones we have adding to the traffic problems in the town even for people not near the proposed houses.

You decide
jbond
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Joined: Fri 28 Jan 2005 12:00 am
Location: Ware

Re: 1500 new homes for Ware

Post by jbond »

Ian wrote:The proposal is to change the wording to "at least 1,000 homes to the North and East of Ware, as set out in Policy WARE2" along with "with the intention to provide for a further minimum of 500 dwellings beyond this plan period, should satisfactory mitigation to identified highway constraints" where before it was "approximately 1000 homes etc.

This now changes the planned maximum number we had before to a completely open ended expansion of Ware
This makes no sense. You can't say "at least 1000" and then immediately contradict it by saying the next 500 require mitigation of traffic constraints. To actually make sense it should read:- at
*most* 1,000 homes is identified to the North and East of Ware to be delivered by 2033, with the intention to provide for a further minimum of 500 dwellings beyond this plan period, should satisfactory mitigation to identified highway constraints in both the local, and wider strategic, road networks prove achievable and deliverable. I've posted comments to this effect everywhere I can.

There are places in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan where it's stated that anything over 1000 houses in Ware requires the Hertford Strategic Traffic solution, most likely a bypass. Which has no route, funding or agreement but will be delivered by 2024!

Even if we can't stop the green belt release we should be able to limit the damage to 1000 houses given the pressure from HCC Transport and the EHDC IDP and DP statements.
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