Vision for village revealed (From Watford Observer)

Dacorum Borough Council issues report on vision for Kings Langley

3:50pm Wednesday 31st October 2012 in News By Rebecca Perring, Reporter

A vision to provide housing, employment and school provision in Kings Langley to sustain the village’s growing population over the next 20 years has been issued in a report.

Kings Langley has a population of around 4,000 people and Dacorum Borough Council launched a public enquiry in to providing homes and jobs within the village up until 2031.

This was part of a public enquiry by the council at the Civic Centre in Hemel Hempstead, to specifically look at plans to build houses in Dacorum, including 110 new homes in Kings Langley and 130 homes in Bovingdon, which would also include affordable housing.

The report said: "Kings Langley is a large village. Large villages are ‘Areas of Limited Opportunity.’ "It has an important role in meeting local housing needs, jobs and services, both for residents and adjoining rural communities.

"The general approach is to support development that enables the population to remain stable, unless a small element of growth is required to meet community needs."

David Hogger, the government inspector looked into the reports as part of a scheme to provide enough homes for a growing population. Potential Greenfield sites to build houses on include Rectory Farm to the north, Wayside and Broadfield Farms to the south west, land north east of the A41 bypass and east of Watford Road.

However objections were raised over the Greenfield sites including Rectory Farm and Wayside and Broadfield Farms because of ‘adverse impacts on habitats and species due to land take and habitat fragmentation.’ It was recommended that neither should be taken forward at the present time, due to advice from Hertfordshire County Council regarding the lack of capacity at Kings Langley primary school.

The Wayside and Broadfield Farm option would also result in the loss of active farmland and site options have been considered through consultation on the Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

It was also advised that the Grand Union Canal would be identified as an important strategic wildlife corridor that runs through the village, as well as Kings Langley Common an important area of open land.

Problems of school provision in the village were also raised, whereby the report suggested ‘that local services and infrastructure are already at capacity especially schools.’ The choice of the location of Kings Langley Primary School shows 42 per cent of pupils attending the school are from the south east Hemel Hempstead.

The county council and borough council confirmed informal discussions regarding potential expansion of the school, which would free up places for village residents had taken place.

There are also plans to look in to expanding Kings Langley Secondary School and the need to upgrade existing facilities.

The school is located on the Green Belt and ensuring the new developments do not the increase the site’s impact on the openness of the Green Belt will be considered.

Other concerns highlighted in the report suggested traffic in the High Street should be addressed, by the implementation of traffic calming measures, preserving the ‘village’ character and retaining essential small businesses in the local centre.

The report has recieved fairly positive feedback and Three Rivers Council, Docorum Council and Hertfordshire County Council have confirmed they will continue to work together to jointly monitor the development of infrastructure in the village.