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Search the Public Notice PortalResidents are “refusing to give up” protecting the “thin green line” around their area ahead of a planning inquiry.
The application to build 256 homes, housing with care, and a children’s home behind Carpenders Park care home in Oxhey Lane was refused by Three Rivers District Council.
Councillors cited harm to the green belt but could be overruled at a public inquiry starting on July 1 after the developer appealed, claiming the land should instead be considered grey belt under the latest rules.
Carpenders Park residents who fought for the outcome are now continuing the battle at appeal, but have faced steep costs organising the formal Rule 6 Party group needed to have a voice in the process and appointing a specialist.
“This is a genuine David and Goliath fight,” said Rue Grewal, a former district councillor and lead spokesperson for Residents Protecting Oxhey Lane Fields.
“The developer has every resource that money can buy. We have a community that refuses to give up.
“The case has been built. What we need now is the community behind us.”
A GoFundMe page has gathered £24,080 towards a £75,000 goal, with all money going toward legal costs, and key group members have taken on personal financial risk to keep the case alive.
- Visit the GoFundMe page here: Save Our Green Belt - Stop 256 Homes on Oxhey Lane
Some have even put in thousands of hours of unpaid work, trawling through planning documents, to keep costs down.
“The green belt was created to stop London sprawling outwards,” Rue said, adding that “nobody here is saying don’t build” but housing must be in the right places.
“It is why Carpenders Park is not simply another part of Harrow or Watford, and why this matters to residents in South Oxhey, Bushey and across South West Hertfordshire too.
“It keeps communities distinct and it keeps fresh air and open green space within reach of everyone, whatever their circumstances.
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“This stretch of Oxhey Lane does exactly what the Green Belt was designed to do. It is the thin green line between Hertfordshire and London and once it is gone it is gone forever.”
Developer Burlington did not respond to a request for comment, but its statement of case document described how the homes would help tackle a “critical and worsening need for market and affordable housing” in the district.
It also highlighted that the government had directed the council to add the site to its local plan a day before the application was refused, due to a lack of designated housing sites in the draft local plan it had previously put forward.
