Object to 650 homes at Home Farm

The development would cause great damage to the attractive countryside and its openness near Radlett. This would badly affect the special character of Radlett, where open countryside is within walking distance. It would reduce the ability of Radlett residents and visitors to walk out into relatively unspoilt countryside.
In particular, it would affect the footpath from Common Lane opposite Battlers Green Farm (A17) and the bridleway leading from Loom Lane (A71). The footpath gives easy access to the countryside and along its full length offers changing, long open views with very few buildings in sight. In the opinion of many local people, footpath A17 is the best of the paths leading from Radlett for its open views of countryside. This would change to walking through, or at least past views dominated by, the development, with some buildings up to 4 storeys high. Even bungalows would spoil the attractive views.

The site is not in practice an extension of the Radlett settlement. It only shares a boundary with back gardens on a small part of The Ridgeway. The two “sustainable transport” accesses onto Common Lane and Loom Lane are long, have gradients, and would be used by comparatively few people, certainly to reach the centre of Radlett or the railway station. It is about 700m to Loom Lane along the bridleway, then another 1km to the railway station or 700m to the nearest shops in the centre of Radlett. Most residents would be car dependent, and the only road access proposed is on Watling Street, nearly 400m (a quarter of a mile) outside Radlett to the south. This is a busy road without pavements. The site is therefore not sustainable and would generate a lot of additional traffic and parking problems.

The nearest part of the development would be about 900m (just over half a mile) from the edge of Borehamwood development that already has planning approval. Even the right of way between the proposed entrance and Borehamwood would be 1.25km (three quarters of a mile). This is too close, and the Green Belt would no longer do its job of keeping the towns apart.

The site is on grade 2 “very good” (88%) and grade 3a “good” (11%) agricultural land. The classification runs from grade 1 “excellent” to grade 5 “very poor”, and there is very little of either extreme in Hertsmere. Most of the land around Radlett is 3a with some 3b, and there is relatively little grade 2 across Hertsmere. National planning policy (2024) directs councils that must release Green Belt land to protect the best and most versatile farmland (grades 1 to 3a) and to release lower quality land (3b to 5) first.

The development is disproportionately large compared with the existing size of Radlett, an increase of about 20%. Radlett does not have the necessary infrastructure: for example, there is no secondary school, and the roads are already congested, with frequent long queues through Radlett. Existing infrastructure shortfalls for the current population must be addressed before adding a proportionate increase this large, comparable to the whole 15-year increase for the other three settlements.

The development would make already congested roads far worse and increase parking pressure in Radlett.

The development would replace what is at present a relatively defensible southern boundary of Radlett with one that makes further expansion easier in future. This is shown by the council adding a new site next to the Home Farm site in the latest stage of its new Local Plan, so further progressive expansion south would not be restrained. The inspector who allowed the appeal for 195 homes at Shenley Hill considered the constraint against further development a major positive. That development is 1.3km from the agreed Borehamwood development, compared with 900m for this site.