Neighbourhood Plan

Where are we now?

The Local Plan was first published in July 2016. Since then it has been scrutinised by a government appointed planning inspector, revised by WHBC, scrutinised again, revised again and now awaiting further scrutiny. It’s taken an unusually long time and the reasons are many and varied but maybe the end is in sight.

The big question is how bad will it be?
It’s a sad indictment of a plan that was due to shape the future of our communities in partnership with these communities, that is now measured in degrees of bad. Perhaps we were too unrealistic to expect anything more positive.

What does this mean for Cuffley and Northaw?

Northaw was considered to be outside the scope for large scale development. It’s termed a ‘washed over’ settlement meaning because of its location and access to basic services it hasn’t been considered for contributing to the housing target.

One of the earliest decisions has proved to be the most controversial and, for Cuffley, the most damaging.  WHBC took the decision to apportion development based on a share of population. If Cuffley was 4% of the total population in the borough then their micro target would be a 4% share of the total housing target. This approach overlooked the unique position of Cuffley that doesn’t have the luxury (unlike every other settlement in the Borough that has been given their allocation) of a 360 degree scope. We are on the border of Broxbourne that gives us 180 degrees of scope. Take away the ancient woodland to the north and north east and the only developable land is in the south west quadrant. Not surprisingly this is where the vast bulk of all development was planned.

Actually, it would be wrong to call this a planning decision. There was no planning involved, just an allocation of housing numbers.

Not only did this “share the pain” approach overlook the geography of Cuffley, it also abandoned the planning principles that you plan growth around essential services such as roads, schools, health care and other basic infrastructure. The roots of this approach were much more political, but the Planning Inspector thought it was OK and we had little say in the matter.

So, our housing target (including some developments recently completed) was some 410 homes. Because of the allocations approach and the lack of suitable sites given our local boundaries, this inevitably meant the loss of green belt, most of it classified as high harm (i.e. it was pristine, open countryside)

Another aspect of the “planning by allocation” approach was ignoring the impact of development in nearby Goffs Oak and West Cheshunt. This was considered to be a minimal 120 homes that would impact Cuffley not the 800+ that will affect the infrastructure.

There are currently no plans to increase any road capacity, car parking, health and social care services or additional school capacity within Cuffley.

Are we getting a fair deal?

This is difficult to say as it’s very fluid, and quite subjective. The Council decided to try and redress some of the mistakes of the past (housing targets, site selections) to be told by the Inspector they can’t do this. The Council push back, the Inspector digs his heels in, and the Council concede. So sometimes you think people are listening and understand the gravity of what’s involved and then it all changes.

Local Plans will never get universal popularity – by their very nature they will have some negative impact. But people in Cuffley and Northaw acknowledge there needs to be more housing but with basically 2 caveats

• Infrastructure needs to increase in proportion.
• Do not use green belt as the first option.

Given the Local Plan for Cuffley has ignored both caveats you can understand that a plan that does no more than share the misery will never be popular.

What happens now?

We have recently responded to a consultation on what is believed to be the last lap on the epic journey. The government is putting the finishing touches to a new planning framework that will go a long way to address our concerns – a commitment to protect the Green Belt, more involvement with local people, less authoritarian decisions from the Planning Inspectorate. Will this arrive too late? Will the Inspector take note? Will anything change? It’s a waiting game.

So, what has been submitted?

Here are the headlines.
• A housing target over what is now a 13-year period of 15,200
• Enough sites have been allocated to deliver 12,800
• The Inspector is insistent that the Plan retains all high harm green belt sites (2 in Cuffley and 1 in Brookmans Park) taking the total to some 13,400
• A decision on the remaining 1,800 homes will be made in 7 years’ time based on population growth and associated housing requirements prevalent at that time.
• No plans for any additional infrastructure changes in Cuffley