Councillors have praised the “empowering” results of a village poll held to determine whether new homes should be built on green belt land.

Kings Langley Parish Council asked villagers to give their opinion on Dacorum Borough Council’s consultation over its Local Plan, which closed on Thursday, December 14.

The sites being considered in the local plan include four areas within the Green Belt – Shendish, Hill Farm, Rectory Farm and also Wayside Farm, in Kings Langley.

The ballot question was: “Do you believe the Green Belt in and around the Parish should be developed, as being considered in the Dacorum Local Plan 2017 consultation?”

There was a turnout of 33 per cent and the results showed that 1360 people (99 per cent) were against the consultation and 13 people (1 per cent) were in favour.

Cllr Alan Anderson, who represents Kings Langley, said: “We will now be able to use the result of the village poll to show the strength of feeling in Kings Langley.

“We thank everybody who turned out on a cold dark winter’s evening to participate in the poll.”

Cllr Bob McLean, who also represents Kings Langley, added: “Given the weather, the shorter opening hours, the lack of postal votes, and problems over the delivery of the polling cards, a third of the village still turned out to vote.

“The poll will empower us more to argue on Kings Langley’s behalf, as the plan is developed.”

James Doe, assistant director for planning, development and regeneration said the council has “not yet made any decisions about whether any of these sites will need to be earmarked for development.

He said: “Dacorum Borough Council is at the very early stages of preparing the new Local Pan for the area and has just carried out the ‘Issues and Options’ consultation on the new Plan. A key aspect of the consultation was to get feedback on a range of options for the number of new homes the Borough should provide up to 2036, and where these should be built. Like all councils, we are required by Central Government to plan for significantly boosting the supply of new homes by allocating land to help address the national housing shortage.

“In terms of Kings Langley, the growth options range from no development in fields surrounding the village, through to a range of others which would require the use of land that is currently undeveloped.

“As part of considering these options we asked for feedback on a range of sites that have been put forward by landowners and developers. The Council has not yet made any decisions about whether any of these sites will actually need to be earmarked for development and will not do so until later in 2018 when all of the responses received to the consultation have been analysed and considered, and issues raised have been discussed with key infrastructure providers. The ability of the infrastructure such as schools, roads and health facilities to cope with any increase in local population will be a key factor that will help us decide on which level of growth will ultimately be chosen for both the village and the borough as a whole.”