12:19pm Friday 22nd January 2010
By Neil Skinner
Councillors have thrown out plans to build houses on a derelict patch of land outside Rickmansworth School.
Hertfordshire County Council, which owns a disused plot of land on Scots Hill, had applied for outline planning permission to build five houses on it.
If approved by, planners would then have been allowed to submit more detailed plans for the development.
The school, however, had objected to the scheme and argued it could better use the land – currently used by neighbouring residents as a car park – by turning it into a cycle storage area.
It also raised concerns that the development would subvert its tough admissions rules, with any children living in the houses guaranteed places.
Three Rivers District Council’s development control committee, however, decided last night to refuse the plans, arguing there simply wasn’t room for such a large number of houses.
Council leader and committee member Ann Shaw, speaking after the meeting, described the plans as “greedy.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/trade_directory/