1:53pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Neil Skinner
West Herts College has responded to “wild and unfounded claims” made during an ongoing planning dispute with its neighbours and Watford Borough Council.
The college, which is currently putting the finishing touches to a new multi-million pound campus building in Hempstead Road, has been ordered to remove three chimneys after complaints from neighbours.
The chimneys, which sit atop an outbuilding yards from residents’ gardens, were ruled by councillors to be unlawful when an application for retrospective planning permission was turned down at a meeting last month – much to the relief of residents in Cassiobury Drive who claim the structures have and will continue to have an impact on their gardens.
College principal Elizabeth Rushton, however, has hit back at their claims in a letter to the Watford Observer.
She said: “The council went against the advice of its own officers in rejecting the college’s revised proposals. “We have all along strived to work openly and considerately with the community. In particular, for those few local residents affected by the college’s new campus, we have spent a significant amount of additional money to provide screening, well beyond that required in the approved planning application.
“Some residents have used their influence and connections to make wild and unfounded claims that the college has acted illegally, that the flues are emitting noxious fumes which are poisoning their children, and that the noise from the service area will be higher than the planning limits. All are groundless.
“We are currently considering what our next steps will be, but come what may, we want to reassure the wider community that these issues affecting the service intake area will not affect the opening of Watford’s brand new college campus with its excellent modern facilities to new students this September.”
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