The Final Battle to save Kings Langley’s Green Belt
Rectory Farm is an area of arable Green Belt very close to the heart of Kings Langley. Dacorum removed it as a potential site for housing from their Local Plan and the Council’s planning officer refused the developer’s planning application. The developers have appealed against that decision and it will now be up to the Planning Inspectorate as to whether the appeal is upheld or turned down.
The KL&DRA has been actively fighting to protect this site from development for over 25 years and we’re not giving up now. We see this as the thin end of the wedge for Kings Langley’s Green Belt.
We believe that Dacorum’s decision to remove the site from their Local Plan is right for Kings Langley and the Borough. The Planning Officer refused the application primarily on Green Belt grounds, which we completely support.
We also believe this is not the right site for housing and even if it was, the application includes the wrong mix of housing for Kings Langley, with no guarantee that any of the houses will be truly affordable, or that they will ultimately be provided at all (developers have a knack in wriggling out of their commitments to build affordable housing as they don’t make them any profit).
The developers have offered sweeteners to the community by way of canal side park land. The area they have offered is low lying, boggy, floods regularly and is unsuitable for housebuilding. There will be a new cafe. We have three already. Sunnyside Trust will be offered land for growing and facilities for their trainees. How will this directly benefit Kings Langley?
There will be 135 new homes on the site, which will introduce approximately 250+ new residents, perhaps 150+ additional vehicles. This effectively creates a far greater negative impact on Kings Langley than the sweeteners offered.
The only acceptable answer for Rectory Farm’s green fields is to turn the whole area over to the community as a mix of parkland, amenity area and growing space for truly local community enterprises such as Food for Kings.
It is worth mentioning that back in 2017, the Kings Langley Community Benefit Society produced a far more Kings Langley friendly proposal, whereby the green field area in its entirety would be turned over to to a small farm area, vegetable growing area, orchard & bee hives, semi-natural grassland, a wetland area and marina. A real benefit to the village without the additional strain of additional residents and their vehicles.
To help save this land, the KL&DRA are now facing this final battle head-on, by appearing at the Appeal’s Public Inquiry to present our case as to why the Planning Inspectorate should uphold the Council’s refusal of planning permission. We are working with a professional planning consultant, CPRE Hertfordshire and a barrister, who will act with us, explain our arguments and cross-examine the developer’s witnesses. These are skills we ourselves don’t possess, and for which we have to pay for, a cost which we estimate to be in the region of £20,000. We are therefore asking for donations to help boost our funds, to cover these costs, and give the Public Inquiry our best shot, on behalf of our residents and for the future of Kings Langley as a village.