21/052009
CONSERVATIVE
PRESS RELEASE
Date: 21 May 2009
COUNTY COUNCIL DEFEATS GOVERNMENT ON HOUSING NUMBERS
Judgement on Hertfordshire County Council’s legal challenge of the government’s East of England Plan (the Regional Spatial Strategy) was given yesterday.
The Judge agreed that Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, had failed to comply with the requirements to carry out a proper strategic environmental assessment before deciding to impose thousands of additional houses in Dacorum, St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield. This is the first time the High Court has been asked to rule on the government’s compliance with these regulations.
Executive Member for Planning, Derrick Ashley, says “Labour’s plans to railroad through massive development in Central Hertfordshire against the wishes of local people and their County Council has been thwarted by the High Court.
“The Conservative-run County Council has taken the lead in standing up to this Government who time and again have tried to impose through their plans without proper consideration or consultation. We do not oppose all growth in the county, but it must be in the right places, on the right scale and supported by the right infrastructure. Labour’s plans met none of these tests. What the Government has attempted to do is by-pass proper procedure and present us with a fait accompli and the High Court has found them out”, he added,
The East of England Plan would have required 12,000 more houses in Hemel Hempstead, 10,000 in Welwyn Hatfield and 7.200 in St Albans in the period to 2021.
Leader of the Council, Robert Gordon added, “The government’s plans would have given the green light to an urban sprawl connecting Hemel, St Albans and Hatfield would have destroyed the character of local communities and damaged the quality of life of tens of thousand of our residents.
“As Conservative Leader in Hertfordshire, I promise that we will always defend the interests of our residents against inappropriate impositions by government and its regional quangos.
“The government’s plans to 2021 are now in now in total disarray – as is the requirement to agree even higher numbers to 2031. The Conservative Party nationally is committed to abolish the Regional Spatial Strategies so the right result in the next general election will see the end to these threats to Hertfordshire,” he concluded.
Sadly, the Judge did not uphold the challenge to the government’s proposals for a major development in Hertfordshire, north of Harlow. The Council will consider his reasoning when the full judgement is published later.
The government was ordered to pay 80% of the County Council’s legal costs.
The Judge agreed that Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, had failed to comply with the requirements to carry out a proper strategic environmental assessment before deciding to impose thousands of additional houses in Dacorum, St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield. This is the first time the High Court has been asked to rule on the government’s compliance with these regulations.
Executive Member for Planning, Derrick Ashley, says “Labour’s plans to railroad through massive development in Central Hertfordshire against the wishes of local people and their County Council has been thwarted by the High Court.
“The Conservative-
The East of England Plan would have required 12,000 more houses in Hemel Hempstead, 10,000 in Welwyn Hatfield and 7.200 in St Albans in the period to 2021.
Leader of the Council, Robert Gordon added, “The government’s plans would have given the green light to an urban sprawl connecting Hemel, St Albans and Hatfield would have destroyed the character of local communities and damaged the quality of life of tens of thousand of our residents.
“As Conservative Leader in Hertfordshire, I promise that we will always defend the interests of our residents against inappropriate impositions by government and its regional quangos.
“The government’s plans to 2021 are now in now in total disarray – as is the requirement to agree even higher numbers to 2031. The Conservative Party nationally is committed to abolish the Regional Spatial Strategies so the right result in the next general election will see the end to these threats to Hertfordshire,” he concluded.
Sadly, the Judge did not uphold the challenge to the government’s proposals for a major development in Hertfordshire, north of Harlow. The Council will consider his reasoning when the full judgement is published later.
The government was ordered to pay 80% of the County Council’s legal costs.
