Issue - meetings
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Meeting: 22/09/2026 - Cabinet (Item 29)
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.
Decision:
The Chair invited Mr David Cook to provide a 5-minute verbal presentation relating to Agenda Item 8 – Local Plan – Content and Evidence Base Consultation.
Minutes:
Audio recording – 3 minutes 51 seconds
The Chair invited Mr David Cook to provide a 5-minute verbal presentation relating to Agenda Item 8 – Local Plan – Content and Evidence Base Consultation.
Mr Cook thanked the Chair for the opportunity and advised that:
· He was speaking as a North Herts resident with three daughters living at home due to not being able to afford to move out and remain in North Herts.
· He provided consultancy planning work on a commercial basis but had no work connection to the North Herts area.
· He wanted to note that the Interim Strategic Planning Manager was an asset to the Council and was a great ambassador in the community promoting interest and engagement with the process.
· His first point related to self-build, which was referred to within the document pack, which outlined there was a statutory duty to meet demand for this.
· Whilst two options were presented for the Cabinet to consider, they should also consider a third option which could establish a specific policy to encourage self-build development, as was the case in Central Bedfordshire.
· He did not want Cabinet to adopt this policy tonight, but rather to consult on this position.
· Secondly, many key workers cannot afford to live in the area local to which they work, with most housing still unaffordable even at reduced market rates. This included people like teachers, nurses and Council officers, who were having to travel into their place of work to provide services to villages which were unaffordable.
· Again, there should be a consideration as part of the consultation on how this could be addressed.
· Finally, there was an issue with the balance of urban and rural development, with most housing being provided as urban expansion and therefore there would be a higher proportion of urban properties. However, this was not beneficial to the surrounding villages, and consideration should be given to appropriate development to support rural life, such as farm worker properties previously built in the rural areas of the district.
In response to the presentation, the following Members raised points:
· Councillor Daniel Allen
· Councillor Donna Wright
The points raised included:
· There were specific self-build plots included in the permission granted for the Land North of the Grange development. This was an important step and reflected that self-build had always been part of the agenda of the Council.
· There were good points raised and these could be taken forward and considered as part of the next version of the Local Plan.
· The comments on urban versus rural expansion were interesting and the historical trend of this could be explored.
· Whilst rural communities did need to be sustainable and provide options for younger workers to remain local, there was also a need to consider the protection of the countryside, as well as providing housing with suitable transport options.
· It was important to provide a good balance of appropriate group across the settlements in the district.
The Chair thanked Mr Cook for his presentation.