Open Letter sent to all Councillors (11 Feb 22)
Dear Councillor,
We send this email to all District Councillors and ask for your support in the Local Plan process. This has also been sent to Daisy Copper MP and Bim Afolami MP.
We attach the open letter we sent to the Council earlier this week and you will see it has been covered in a number of local newspapers.
Team CLASH issues challenge over Harpenden Road site | Herts Advertiser
As voting members of the full Council, we would like you to see our full open letter in order to further understand that there are better ways to deliver housing in the South East of England without bulldozing our green belt. We do not like to hear "the problem with delivering housing in St Albans is that there is a lot of green belt". Having high performing green belt is not a problem to most people in our community. It is an asset which is much cherished and a highly effective way of tackling one of the key contributors to environmental damage: unsustainable urbanisation.
Through the SADC Local Plan process so far, we can see that brownfield and windfall sites are still available for delivery. Local transport infrastructure will soon be overwhelmed again as everyone returns to a more normal pattern of working. Access to schools, health care and other services will worsen without a properly thought out regional framework to deliver housing. This delivery needs to meet real housing demand, using current population projection and not imported demand.
When considering new housing, we must think about locations for new stations on the Thameslink line and the proposed HERT project. We must think about garden villages centred around biodiversity net gain on site (not offset elsewhere) and zero carbon. There are some fantastic opportunities in the green economy, especially housing delivery and a real change in the way we can secure the best for future generations.
We urge you to take these challenges forward and ensure St Albans is in the best place to deliver new homes that have the best credentials for sustainability, infrastructure, the environment, for our community and for the long term protection of wildlife. These are not current buzz words. These are the new parameters for successful development.
This film shows you North St Albans. St Albans green belt must be saved.
This is North St Albans - YouTube
Best wishesTeam CLASH
Save St Albans Green Belt
