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When you come to respond to the Dacorum Local Plan consultation, the response format is a form, with NINE "write your answer in the box and continue on a separate sheet" questions you can answer, in your own words, in order to provide your comments on the Plan.
How to navigate the Dacorum Local Plan Consultation - your Plain English guide to the supporting documents. Stage 1: So, you follow the link and arrive here: https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/.../plan.../new-single-local-plan So far, so good. So much text! But there's a video. Good place to start? Well, if you want the soft-sell… Stage 2: You watch the video (3 minutes 18 sec) yep, it gives you the soft-sell and you have …thoughts, you know there are problems with this, opportunities, let's say. How to make a difference? Try this: Stage 3: Visit the Virtual Exhibition https://dacorumlocalplan.consultation.ai/ Now we're getting somewhere. Just for fun, you can move the perspective around, to pretend you're actually in a room, like WITH OTHER PEOPLE, (but without masks…) The Local Plan draft is set-out "around you" here, in (relatively) bite-size pieces: IMPORTANT: Down in the corner there is a Live Chat - so you can put your "explain this" questions in (for clarification); but watch out, bec
The Housing Targets Imposed by the Government, or The Mysterious Case of the Missing Cap (Easy Read Version). The Office of National Statistics is charged with estimating all sorts of things, but among them the demand in the community for more houses. Everyone knows we should be building new houses. The government thinks we should build 300,000 a year in the UK. They put that in their manifesto and they were re-elected in December 2019 with a large majority. So the government said, "The people voted for our manifesto to build 300,000 houses per year - and build them we will!" And to make that happen they took powers to force councils to build the share of the 300,000 that they, the government, wanted. So the government said to Dacorum Borough Council, "You must build 922 houses a year. There's lots of land round the edge of Hemel Hempstead and round Tring and Berkhamsted, so shut up and build! We don't care if it's Green Belt, we don't care if it's wall-to-wall houses from Westminister to Ayl
922 homes per year, over 18 years = over 16,000 homes, in Dacorum. Why so many new houses? This Local Plan has been drafted to provide for the 922 dwellings per year that national Government have said we need to enable within our boundary. This is rather more than the expected growth in this area (355 per year) because houses are not affordable here. Of course, "expected growth" isn't the whole story, because there are thousands of local people - many living in overcrowded conditions - who need properly affordable housing close to good public transport, or walkable to town or workplaces. The government algorithm uses an average home price in our area, and compares it with the average earnings in Dacorum. House prices and rents in Dacorum are certainly not *properly* affordable, but the current algorithm forces the vast majority of house building into London and its commuter areas - and that includes Dacorum. So what's this consultation? This is your opportunity to have a say about what is propo
Consultation consultation consultation! If you've been checking Facebook regularly, or have been following Dacorum Borough Council happenings you may be aware that last week Dacorum Borough Council voted by 29 to 18 (with some abstentions) to put the 'Emerging Local Plan' out for consultation immediately. The consultation officially begins on Friday 27 November at 5pm but the draft version is available here for review now. https://www.dacorum.gov.uk/.../plan.../new-single-local-plan What is a Local Plan? Put simply, the local plan for Dacorum is a document prepared by the council which outlines the plan for growth in Hemel, Berko and Tring (plus villages) over the next 18 years. ThIs includes housing, employment and retail. For many people, housing will be the most interesting part, where it will go, how tall it can be, and so on. Why should I care? You may be aware of some large housing developments starting to appear around Dacorum, such as the Bovis development at the top of the hill in Apsl
NON-POLITICAL PUBLIC SERVICE ARTICLE
Nigel Taylor, DBC Councillor for Berkhamsted explains the strategic planning system, as it relates to housing numbers and the Planning Inspectorate:
The Liberal Democrat Councillors on Dacorum Borough Council are protesting against imposed government housing demands for the Borough which they feel are excessive, especially in their impact on Berkhamsted and Tring.
Wendy Chamberlain, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife.
Like other district and borough councils across the UK, Three Rivers District Council has been allocating government grants to local businesses to help cope with economic shock of the Covid-19 crisis.
Laying the foundations for changes to Hemel housebuilding targets:
