Agenda item

Question 1 from the Public, Resident in Mill End

5a)       Does the council agree that the public’s safety is paramount? Please can you explain why on average only two PCN's have been issued per month since Christmas on Money Hill parade, which is undoubtedly the busiest shopping area in Rickmansworth?

            Written response:

            The primary purpose of parking penalty charges is to encourage compliance with parking restrictions which are aimed at encouraging sensible and legal parking, reducing traffic congestion on our roads and making our roads safer for all road users. Three Rivers DC have a Parking Enforcement provider who enforce these restrictions around the District.

It is clear from deployment data for Uxbridge Road and the immediate locality that Hertsmere BC continue to visit the area frequently. However, this is just one area of the District with parking restrictions and the Civil Enforcement Officers cannot continually be present in this locality. Hertsmere BC have confirmed their visits and the impact of ‘drive offs’ and business awareness of Civil Enforcement Officer visits.

Public safety is of utmost importance to this Council, but the volume of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) should not be used as a sole measure of a parking enforcement response.

Question 2 from the Public, Catherine Green, Mill End

5b)       The NPPF demands that there should be “exceptional circumstances” before Green Belt boundaries can be changed and says that inappropriate development is harmful to the Green Belt and should be approved only in “very special circumstances”.

Three Rivers has decided the development on the field above William Penn playing fields is one of those very special circumstances and I'm sure you will be making sure all the boxes are ticked to have the Green Belt boundary officially re-defined. In what way is this development more 'very special' than another development? 

Written response:

Firstly, just to clarify: the exceptional circumstances in the NPPF refer to the alteration of Green Belt boundaries through the plan making process, and this is what the Council needs to consider as part of its Local Plan preparation. Very special circumstances relate to sites that come forward as planning applications that fall within the Green Belt and is part of the decision making process for planning applications. This is a separate process to the preparation of the Local Plan and as such only the exceptional circumstances for altering Green Belt boundaries is relevant in this case.

The first step is to consider whether exceptional circumstances exist for alteration of Green Belt boundaries, and this is not site specific. The Council is required to consider other needs such as the need to address the lack of affordable housing, needs for older persons and the need to deliver much needed infrastructure all of this constitutes exceptional circumstances.

The Council has agreed an approach to reduce the impact on the Green Belt that will not meet government targets 11,466 over 18 years and which have not yet been changed). It is clear that as Brownfield land will only provide some 1,000 housing units and  “windfalls” and existing planning permissions approx. 1,400, that of some Green Belt land release will be necessary as we are required by the NPPF to positively plan to meet the needs of the area. At this stage no decisions have been made regarding specific sites and Three Rivers has not decided as claimed by the question to develop the field above William Penn. The Council will be looked at low harm Green Belt sites that might provide some 3,000 or so homes and larger sites may be considered only if it can be demonstrated that the benefits delivered by these sites in terms of sustainability and infrastructure  outweigh any harm to the Green belt.

The Council will consider sites at future Local Plan Sub-Committee meetings prior to going out for consultation where residents and other stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the approach and sites included.

Only once that consultation has taken place and a final decision on sites is put before Councillors at a Full Council meeting can it be said that any site is proposed for allocation for development and not until then.  It is highly misleading to the public for anyone to falsely claim otherwise, Equally it should be noted that the Final Decision on which sites are actually allocated rests with the Government Planning Inspector who has to approve any Local Plan and will, hear submissions from landowners and make that recommendation – not the Council. It should be noted that in 2011 under the  previous Local Plan three sites that the Council had not included and objected to were included by the Government Inspector – one is being developed now and the other two fully built.

The Chair advised they would allow the two members of the public who had submitted questions to submit a supplementary question by email.

The written questions and written answers provided were included in the summons and could be viewed using the link below:

Agenda for Full Council on Tuesday, 11th July, 2023, 7.30 pm - Modern Council (threerivers.gov.uk)