RADBURN WAY, LETCHWORTH GARDEN CITY - PART 2
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL ESTATES SURVEYOR
This reports is to consider whether the Council should not progress development or disposal of the site. Instead, the Council should consider capitalising on the site’s biodiversity, with a view to improving public use of the site and exploring the site’s value as part of a habitat bank.
Additional documents:
Decision:
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
(1) Approved that the land should no longer be declared surplus, and development of the site should not be pursued.
(2) Approved progressing with plans to improve management of the land with the intention to provide a habitat bank, or similar, with improved public access as appropriate. Officers from Green Space, Estates and other services to work jointly to manage and deliver the project, reporting back to the Executive Members for Enterprise, Resources and Environment.
REASONS FOR DECISIONS:
(1) Difficulty providing a suitable access to the site, with a significant associated capital cost to achieve.
(2) Hertfordshire County Council has advised local planning authorities that the Herts Ecological Networks Map should be used to assess the strategic importance of habitats, and this site has been noted as being strategically significant - the highest rating.
(3) The need, as part of the planning allocation, for the reprovision of the priority orchard habitat elsewhere in North Herts, in addition to the new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements. BNG makes sure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development and is now mandatory.
(4) A biodiversity baseline assessment of the site in July 2024 identified a high baseline biodiversity value due to the presence of the strategically significant Priority Habitat Traditional Orchard, with mixed scrub and mature and irreplaceable trees.
(5) Since the allocation of the site in the Local Plan the Council has declared both an ecological and climate emergency.
(6) Settle Group concluded that a small development on the eastern section of the site with access from the garage site on Radburn Way would not be viable.
(7) A financial assessment attached at Appendix B of the Part 2 Report, indicates residential development of the site is not viable either with access from a third-party ownership on Radburn Way or via Freeman Drive, given the additional costs of developing the site in accordance with planning and climate change requirements.
Minutes:
N.B. This item was considered in restricted session and therefore no recordings were available.
Councillor Tamsin Thomas, as Executive Member for Enterprise, presented the report entitled ‘Radburn Way, Letchworth Garden City – Part 2’.
Councillor Tamsin Thomas proposed and Councillor Mick Debenham seconded and, following a vote, it was:
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
(1) Approved that the land should no longer be declared surplus, and development of the site should not be pursued.
(2) Approved progressing with plans to improve management of the land with the intention to provide a habitat bank, or similar, with improved public access as appropriate. Officers from Green Space, Estates and other services to work jointly to manage and deliver the project, reporting back to the Executive Members for Enterprise, Resources and Environment.
REASONS FOR DECISIONS:
(1) Difficulty providing a suitable access to the site, with a significant associated capital cost to achieve.
(2) Hertfordshire County Council has advised local planning authorities that the Herts Ecological Networks Map should be used to assess the strategic importance of habitats, and this site has been noted as being strategically significant - the highest rating.
(3) The need, as part of the planning allocation, for the reprovision of the priority orchard habitat elsewhere in North Herts, in addition to the new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements. BNG makes sure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development and is now mandatory.
(4) A biodiversity baseline assessment of the site in July 2024 identified a high baseline biodiversity value due to the presence of the strategically significant Priority Habitat Traditional Orchard, with mixed scrub and mature and irreplaceable trees.
(5) Since the allocation of the site in the Local Plan the Council has declared both an ecological and climate emergency.
(6) Settle Group concluded that a small development on the eastern section of the site with access from the garage site on Radburn Way would not be viable.
(7) A financial assessment attached at Appendix B of the Part 2 Report, indicates residential development of the site is not viable either with access from a third-party ownership on Radburn Way or via Freeman Drive, given the additional costs of developing the site in accordance with planning and climate change requirements.