We opposed the scale and bulk of the Alpine Press proposal. TRDC Planning Committee agreed with our view and refused it!
The planning application for the Alpine Press site, Station Road, Kings Langley (reference: 22/2025/FUL) was considered at TRDC’s Planning Committee meeting on Thursday 20 April 2023.
The KL&DRA went along and submitted a verbal objection to the addition of 2 storeys which would make the building, at 6 storeys, the highest building in the village.
We are pleased to report that the Planning Committee took on board our objection and refused the application - 7 voting for refusal, nobody voting for it and the rest of the Committee abstaining.
This is a great result although we can expect an appeal. We will keep you updated as and when this happens.
At the meeting, the architects for the site set out their reasons supporting the application. We were then given our opportunity to speak for 3 minutes opposing the application. The Association Chair, Gary Ansell, presented the following:
Hello, I’m Gary Ansell and I am Chair of the Kings Langley & District Residents Association. We represent villagers across both sides of the canal who live in Dacorum and Three Rivers. This split introduces significant challenges trying to maintain a consistent approach to new development, that protects and enhances the historic character and setting of our village.
On behalf of the Association, I ask you to refuse this application for the following three reasons:
One: We object to this building’s increase in height as due to its elevated position, it will be over two and a half storeys higher than any other building locally, including the new Bellway’s Millworks block. Millworks, although 5 storeys high, at ground level is 4m lower than the Alpine Press Site.
When Millworks was granted permission on appeal, the Inspector reasoned the following:
“The site is located within a modern business park towards the bottom of a dip in the river valley landform.” and “The proposed five storey building would be larger in height and bulk than various other buildings in the vicinity. That said, the site’s lower lying location, and existing built mass in the locality, soften the scale of the building, from various viewpoints.”
The Alpine Press site does not benefit from any of these features, standing isolated and higher up the side of the Gade valley.
The Inspector added: “Given the separation distance from the Millworks development to dwellings on Station Road, and intervening elements in the townscape, the proposal would not harm the privacy of residents on Station Road.”
This is not the case for the Alpine Press development and it will harm the privacy of Station Road residents and the Victorian cottages to the north, right next to the site, will be considerably overshadowed.
Two: The Alpine Press proposal backs onto Green Belt land surrounding Numbers Farm and is only separated at first floor level, by the railway. It will stand over 4 storeys higher than the railway and higher than the M25 viaduct, impacting in scale and density to the openness of the Green Belt, contrary to the NPPF.
Three: Parking issues will be increased in the surrounding area due to the increased number of dwellings. As a comparison, Millworks has 1.1 spaces per dwelling, against 0.7 spaces for the Alpine Press application.
We accept that the brownfield site already has planning permission for a 4 storey building, to which we raised no objection as that height was in line with its neighbours.
Adding two more storeys is unacceptable for the reasons outlined and we urge the Planning Committee to reject this new application.
Thank you