Issue - meetings

A Planning Officer update was provided advising that two additional letters of objection had been received since the publication of the report. The Committee was also informed that an application to build a motorway service station had been refused by Buckinghamshire Council the previous evening on grounds relating to the landscape impact and impact on the Greenbelt.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 35(b) a member of the public spoke against the application and a member of the public spoke in favour of the application.

Local Ward Councillor Jon Tankard spoke, pointing out that the speaker in support of the  application did not mention any benefit to the area, other than employment, and believed the development would create an out of character addition to the area. The tiered and stacked nature of the proposal would become overbearing and would not be in keeping with the Wards of Gade Valley, Kings Langley and Abbots Langley.

Councillor Sara Bedford thanked the Planning Officer for the amount of work that they had put into this application. Councillor Bedford said this was the wrong application in the wrong place being too close to the South Mimms service station and too far from Cobham services, and would be too big, bringing unnecessary noise, light and air pollution to the area. It was a Greenbelt site and there would be no public benefit if the application was approved. Jobs would be provided during the construction phase and would occur wherever a new Motorway Service Station (MSA) was built.  While employment must always be looked at, it cannot be looked at in isolation and would require anyone to have the ability to drive in order to get to work, particularly at night.  Councillor Bedford added there would be a huge adverse impact on traffic at junction 20 of the M25, even with the migration of extra lanes, which would only serve to bring extra traffic, noise, pollution and fumes. Councillor Bedford asked if a further reason for refusal could be added, due to the application being an ‘offline’ service station, and therefore contrary to Government policy and circular 02/2013?

Councillor Alex Hayward said they were very protective of the Greenbelt.

Councillor Raj Khiroya thanked the Planning Officer for a fantastic report. Councillor Khiroya considered that the material consideration was the impact to the Green Belt and the locality. As previously pointed out, access should be direct, not via an already busy local road. The impact on local High Streets also needs to be considered when mentioning retail opportunities.

Councillor Chris Lloyd said that it was rare to get an objection from Herts County Council, so this was important to consider, and thanked the Planning Officer for the hard work put into the report.

Councillor Reena Ranger said that there were no special circumstances, you either believe in the Green Belt and localism, or you do not. Local people had said this was not the right location or the right size for the area, so there was no  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18