We would like to thank all of you who have already submitted your comments for the revised planning applications from Places for People, which cover the building of 8,500 homes and infrastructure, and two river crossings.

For those of you yet to comment, or those wishing to add to their previous responses, we have good news:

The deadline for responses has been extended to 5pm on Thursday, January 21, 2021

This is because Places for People have promised to provide important graphics showing different views from both sides of the proposed new road junction at Pye Corner. These images will visualise the impact of the new road proposals from Terlings Park and Pye Corner but will not be made available until the middle of January 2021.

As soon as these new graphics are available we will of course be in touch to let you know.

East Herts Council has pledged to communicate the extension of the consultation period directly to residents as soon as the Christmas post allows. 

Meanwhile, your Neighbourhood Plan Group has sought professional advice regarding the revised planning applications and are making arrangements for a public webinar to let you know the points we are making as a community response.

The planned date for this webinar will be on Monday, January 4, 2021 and we will let you know further details as soon as they are confirmed.

Below is a reminder of the links to use when responding, and our initial thoughts regarding the revised applications:

1. Outline planning application for 8,500 new homes plus infrastructure

2. Detailed planning application for new bridges and changes to existing bridges and other roads at Fifth Avenue

3. Detailed planning application for new bridges and changes to existing bridges and other roads at River Way

4. Detailed planning application for new bridges and changes to existing bridges at River Way (Listed Building Planning Application)

Remember to fill in all the necessary fields on all four forms, including the tick-box for whether you Object, Support or are Neutral towards the planning applications, as below.

We suggest that a possible response by you might include the following points:

“Unfortunately, despite the revisions made following the previous consultation period, the revised planning applications for villages 1-6 and two river crossings have not fully addressed the concerns raised by the community with regards to:

– the delivery of a development of six individual villages of exceptional quality with landscape buffers between each village in a way that protects landscape, heritage and the essential quality of living within the countryside

– timely and fully-costed infrastructure delivery, including schools

– adequate and costed provision of truly sustainable transport within and across villages, and with proper links beyond the village boundaries and to key connections outside the applicant’s landholding

– the absence of an agreed structure to achieve the GA1 policy requirement for a timely delivery of agreed assets to a properly funded community organisation

We therefore maintain our OBJECTION to the applications pending improvements that fully address the concerns of the community.”

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We’re aware that the sheer volume of unsorted documents in the revised planning applications has proved difficult to contend with for many.

After we discussed the matter with the developers’ consultants Quod, they have provided us with a smaller set of key documents, and a guide on how to navigate them.

Tap here for access to the key documents – and you can follow their guide to these documents here.

Thanks once more

– Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston Neighbourhood Plan Group

The formal deadline for you to respond to the four revised planning applications made by Places for People is only three days away at 5pm on Monday, December 21, 2020.

The Neighbourhood Plan Group have challenged this short timescale, especially as we have commissioned professional advice on the community’s behalf that will not be ready until early in the New Year.

We have been granted a short extension to get this NPG response in, but have not been able to get the council to shift the formal deadline for residents.

We encourage you to make a response to the consultation by the December 21 deadline using the following four links:

1. Outline planning application for 8,500 new homes plus infrastructure

2. Detailed planning application for new bridges and changes to existing bridges and other roads at Fifth Avenue

3. Detailed planning application for new bridges and changes to existing bridges and other roads at River Way

4. Detailed planning application for new bridges and changes to existing bridges at River Way (Listed Building Planning Application)

Remember to fill in all the necessary fields on all four forms, including the tick-box for whether you Object, Support or are Neutral towards the planning applications, as below.

We suggest that a possible response by you might include the following points:

“Unfortunately, despite the revisions made following the previous consultation period, the revised planning applications for villages 1-6 and two river crossings have not fully addressed the concerns raised by the community with regards to:

– the delivery of a development of six individual villages of exceptional quality with landscape buffers between each village in a way that protects landscape, heritage and the essential quality of living within the countryside

– timely and fully-costed infrastructure delivery, including schools

– adequate and costed provision of truly sustainable transport within and across villages, and with proper links beyond the village boundaries and to key connections outside the applicant’s landholding

– the absence of an agreed structure to achieve the GA1 policy requirement for a timely delivery of agreed assets to a properly funded community organisation

We therefore maintain our OBJECTION to the applications pending improvements that fully address the concerns of the community.

We also endorse the work of our Neighbourhood Plan Group in putting together a detailed response based on professional advice which will not be ready before you have required us to respond to this consultation.

The December 21 deadline has deprived us of the right to make representations informed by the independent advice of the professionals advising the community. This feels like an abuse of the consultative process.”

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Should you be unable to comment on the application before the December 21 deadline, we would recommend that you still submit it, as the council may still take your comments into account, even though they do not have to.

You can also send your comments to the NPG so we can include your thoughts in our response. 

We’re aware that the sheer volume of unsorted documents in the revised planning applications has proved difficult to contend with for many.

After we discussed the matter with the developers’ consultants Quod, they have provided us with a smaller set of key documents, and a guide on how to navigate them.

Tap here for access to the key documents – and you can follow their guide to these documents here.

We’re aware that the sheer volume of unsorted documents in the recent revised planning applications from developers Places for People has proved difficult to contend with for many.

After we discussed the matter with them, the developers’ consultants Quod have provided us with a smaller set of key documents, and a guide on how to navigate them

We’re still working as hard and as fast as we can to make our own summary of the revisions ready for you ahead of the December 21 deadline.

Tap here for access to the key documents (link now expired), provided by Quod.

We have reproduced the guide below, complete with direct links to each sub-folder of documents.

Village Development Outline Application Amendments:

• Cover Letter – which summarises the main changes to the application and provides a guide to the new documents submitted in the context of those in the original May 2019 application.
• Development Specification – which contains the specifications and standards applying to the residential-led mixed use development, and includes in appendices the Parameter Plans and the detailed plans for the four strategic access points. 
• Placemaking Strategy – which sets out Places for People’s vision and strategy for what kind of place the Gilston Park Estate will become.
• Strategic Design Guide – which sets out strategic and village-specific physical design principles to guide the form of future development.

River Crossings Full Application Amendments:

• Cover Letter – which summarises the main changes to the applications and provides a guide to the new documents submitted in the context of those in the original May 2019 application.
• Central Stort Crossing General Arrangement Plan – which sets out in plan form the proposals for the crossing with text boxes to give some narrative on the proposals.
• Eastern Stort Crossing General Arrangement Plan – which sets out in plan form the proposals for the crossing with text boxes to give some narrative on the proposals.

Covers Village Development and River Crossings Application Amendments:

• Environmental Statement Addendum Non-Technical Summary (NTS) – which presents a summary of the findings of the originally submitted Environmental Statement (May 2019) and the new Environmental Statement Addendum covering the environmental impacts of the proposed development across a range of topics and proposed mitigation.

If residents are interested in how Places for People have addressed the comments made in relation to the statutory and public consultation on the May 2019 application, this can be found in these documents which are structured based on East Herts District Council’s response:

• Village Development Addendum Report
• Central and Eastern Stort Crossing Addendum Report

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Despite our best efforts, the official deadline for comments from the public remains 5pm on Monday, December 21, 2020.

The NPG has managed to secure an extension only for the NPG itself, until January 8, 2021.

Should you be unable to comment on the application prior to the December 21 deadline, we would recommend that you send a copy of your remarks to the NPG so we can include your thoughts in our response.

Days after Places for People announced its long-awaited revisions to its planning applications for Villages 1-6 and two roads, Briggens Estate 1 is about to submit its own revisions for an additional 1,500 new homes plus infrastructure (Village 7).

They have announced a webinar to discuss the changes ahead of the imminent release.

It takes place on Thursday, 3rd December at 6.30pm. You can register your attendance info@gilstonvillage7.co.uk by email or by phoning 0800 148 8911.

The full calendar for online events from both developers is as follows:

• Wednesday, December 2 at 6pm-9pm – East Herts Council’s Zoom Q&A on Places for People’s applications
• Thursday, December 3 at 6.30pm  – Briggens Estate 1 webinar
• Saturday, December 5 at 10am-1pm  – East Herts Council’s Zoom Q&A on Places for People’s applications

Planning Applications

You may have seen some fluorescent yellow planning notices appearing outside.

After long discussions with the council, developers Places for People have finally made revisions to their major planning applications: an outline application for 8,500 new homes, and full applications for two roads (a Central Stort Crossing and Eastern Stort Crossing).

3/19/1045/OUT (127 new documents)

3/19/1046/FUL (95 new documents)

3/19/1051/FUL (109 new Documents)

3/19/1049/LBC

There are some big, big changes from the original applications, and they’ll affect us all.

Despite the lack of door-to-door notice from the council or developers, the current consultation period has already started and will run for just four weeks, ending at 5pm on Monday, December 21, 2020.

With COVID-19 restrictions still in place, there are plans for two Q&A sessions via Zoom: on Wednesday, December 2 at 6pm-9pm and Saturday, December 5 at 10am-1pm.

To gain access to those sessions you’ll have to email gilston.applications@eastherts.gov.uk at least 24 hours in advance.

Four weeks during a lockdown in the run-up to Christmas is much too short a time for residents to have a fair chance to comment, especially given the months-long delay in finally getting these changes together.

Here at your Neighbourhood Plan Group we will be formally making that point on behalf of the community and seeking an extension.

We also encourage you to let the council know that it would be fairer for us all to have more time to look over these significant changes before commenting, so drop them a quick email to say as much.

What’s more, the landowner for “Village 7” (around 1,500 new homes) is planning to submit its own amended application in December, and is apparently also planning a four-week consultation running over Christmas and New Year.

It isn’t acceptable, and we need to let the council know that.

Your Neighbourhood Plan

At the same time as all of the above, your Neighbourhood Plan has been undergoing independent examination.

We had an eight hour Zoom meeting with the Examiner this week. He wants us to make some changes and refinements, and we need to get them completed in the next four weeks.

Planning law encourages communities to make a Neighbourhood Plan and we know it’s a vital step for the protection of our community.

All the volunteers in your Neighbourhood Plan Group will be pulling out all the stops to get those changes made to make sure your Plan is passed and up for referendum next Spring.

Other Consultations

As if four major planning applications and Neighbourhood Plan examination weren’t enough, there are four more consultations that have been snuck out relating to transport, sustainability and healthy living for the new Harlow and Gilston Garden Town.

All of these need responses in the next few weeks and with limited resources and funding it’s a lot for our small group to be getting on with.

I want to thank all of the members of the Neighbourhood Plan Group – and all of you – for your hard work and support on all these matters to help protect and improve our community.

Anthony Bickmore, Chair Neighbourhood Plan Group
21st November 2020