11:40am Thursday 18th March 2010
By Neil Skinner
A senior councillor has hit back in the ongoing development row with West Herts College, accusing its principal of “denigrating local residents.”
Councillor George Derbyshire has led a campaign against the college’s decision to erect three large chimneys at its new Hempstead Road campus – just metres from many back gardens in Cassiobury Drive.
Those chimneys, which residents claim billow fumes into their gardens, were ruled unlawful at a planning meeting last month, when a retrospective application was rejected.
In last week’s Watford Observer, college principal Elizabeth Rushton accused local residents of using their council connections to make “wild and unfounded” accusations against the college.
Councillor Derbyshire, writing this week, was forceful in his response. He said: “It is unacceptable for her to seek to denigrate local residents for seeking help from their local councillor…
“Responding to residents’ legitimate concerns is what local councillors are all about.”
Councillor Derbyshire’s complete letter will be published in tomorrow’s Watford Observer.
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