By Email
3/C Eagle Wing
The Planning Inspectorate
Temple Quay House
2 The Square
Bristol
BS1 6PN
15 May 2020
Dear Sir or Madam
1. I write on behalf of the Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation in respect of the appeal against East Herts Council’s refusal of planning permission of the above application, to ask that the Inspector confirms the Council’s decision that planning permission should not be granted.
2. Thorley Park, of which Ashdale is part, was developed as a major urban extension of Bishop’s Stortford in the 1970s and 1980s. At the time careful thought was given to housing density, the layout of the residential streets and the supporting amenities, including the open spaces within, around and between each development. It is therefore a matter of regret that East Herts Council did not adopt all the green spaces and left them in private ownership, even though it has maintained them.
3. We understand that the liquidators of Carillion, the former owners, sold at least some of these spaces to purchasers who seem to have acquired them purely on a speculative basis, to convert land that until now has been open space into private development. Thus approval of this application will not only result in the loss of green space and be out of character for the area but will also offer no benefit to the public to compensate for the loss.
4. We also observe that this is one several recent applications in Thorley Park where an applicant has similarly hoped to convert an open space into a private development. Thus, if this appeal were to be upheld, it would set a precedent on which these refused applications could be resubmitted and new applications brought forward, the detriment not only in Thorley Park but also to other parts of Bishop’s Stortford, and East Herts too.
5. We therefore agree that East Herts Council’s decision to refuse planning permission is entirely appropriate and support its Decision Notice dated 23 December 2019, and again request that the appeal is refused.
Yours faithfully
Paul Dean
Chairman