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District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Sun 25 Sep 2016 3:03 pm
by Steve
The latest and final draft of the District Plan for Ware is now online. This is the final draft before it is submitted to the Secretary Of State for approval.

A 6 week public consultation with start in November.

From my brief reading, the number of homes proposed up to the year 2033 has been significantly reduced to 1000 (for comparison, the figure for Hertford is 950).

http://democracy.eastherts.gov.uk/docum ... 20Ware.pdf

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Mon 26 Sep 2016 9:59 am
by Ian
Thanks for posting that Steve. It's good to see that EHDC have now said exactly how many houses they want to build. It's 1,000 up to 2033 but a further provision for 500 more if the 1,000 are successful (I won't bet any money on it being seen as unsuccessful!)

This is a much more sensible number and I feel that EHDC have responded to some of the concerns raised by respondees, however at this stage there is not enough detail to be able to comment fully about everything, for example the infrastructure part makes little definite plans for anything but a new sewer and a link road between East Ware and the A10 north of Wodson Park (both good things). However, nothing is being done about the A414 going through Hertford, it's already stupidly busy during rush hour both morning and evening and this will make things significantly worse.

A also note that very little is said of the large number of flats and houses that are already being built or have been built in Ware over the last few years, that must be over the 500 mark by now I'd estimate.

Finally, I see that plans for a travellers site have been slipped in there - that will be very unpopular with residents I'm sure.

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Mon 26 Sep 2016 11:33 am
by RichardH
Yes, the travellers site is right opposite Hanbury Manor - I think they will have something to say about that!!

I wonder what the number of dwellings in Ware is at present? Be interesting to know what percentage increase 1000 houses represents.

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Mon 26 Sep 2016 11:45 am
by Steve
Ian wrote:... however at this stage there is not enough detail to be able to comment fully about everything, for example the infrastructure part makes little definite plans for anything but a new sewer and a link road between East Ware and the A10 north of Wodson Park (both good things). However, nothing is being done about the A414 going through Hertford, it's already stupidly busy during rush hour both morning and evening and this will make things significantly worse.
It's worth considering that the District Plan is a policy document rather than a formal detailed planning commitment.

There is also a dedicated chapter on transport at:
http://democracy.eastherts.gov.uk/docum ... nsport.pdf

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Fri 30 Sep 2016 9:12 pm
by Scottman
Haven't had time to read it yet, but a few broad observations :

- one learns over time that the density of modern housing development is driven by the National Planning Guidelines, not by common sense or real life. Rabbit hutches for the masses....Flats over houses, because the latter are selfish on space and terribly costly even on land we, the public, already own (see HRC Ware development). Nor is there much effort to balance the flats/houses/retirement properties formula so that people can find what they need at different stages in life. Duh!

- there is a doctrinaire view that cars are history and no-one will own them, so miniscule provision for garaging or parking them, nor any need for connecting roads (eg A414 Hertford). We shall congest them off the road. Walk, its good for you.

- the second point seems not in any material way to connect to any positive views about significant improvements to the public transport infrastructure. We are left with a slow branch line into only a double track artery into London. The Victorians should have been more thoughtful. The answer is of course teleporting, but this is not covered in the document.

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Mon 03 Oct 2016 11:42 am
by mb1
When we leafletted Ware for Burning Issue to stop the incinerator there were about 5000 households to leaflet, so 1000 is a 20% increase. I haven't had a chance to read this yet, are there any plans for new schools, doctors, dentists etc?

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Mon 03 Oct 2016 11:55 am
by RichardH
I was wondering how many houses there are in Ware.

5000 houses sounds a bit low - bearing in mind the stated population is 18,000. Makes an average household of 3.8. Apparently the average in the UK is 2.4 people per houshold, so that makes the number of houses around the 7500 mark. Still a 14% odd increase.

I have only skimmed it, but there is certainly mention of new schools plus potentially expanding current schools.

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Tue 01 Nov 2016 8:28 pm
by Steve
A six week consultation on the District Plan opens on Thursday 3rd November 2016

http://www.eastherts.gov.uk/article/343 ... ews-wanted

And in regard of the posts above - according to the 2011 census there are 8011 households in Ware.

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Sat 05 Nov 2016 11:12 am
by mb1
5000 or so must just have been the number of houses we were able to leaflet for Burning Issue.

Re: District Plan Pre-submission Draft

Posted: Sat 05 Nov 2016 2:33 pm
by Matt40
Something has prompted my interest in this today and that is the traffic in town. I have lived here 10 years and it used to be much quieter and yet now it takes a good ten minutes to get through the high street on a 'good' day. What is the reason for this? Is it the Ware population increasing with more flats etc or something else? My road used to be relatively quiet (collet/bourne road) but now it's used as a 'rat run' to avoid the town I think. If my thoughts are correct then I just cannot imagine the town accommodating another 1000 homes. I will probably move again in search of more peace and quiet lol!