Plans to build 350 homes on the former Bushey Hall Golf Club have been signed off by Hertsmere Borough Council’s planning committee – two months after an earlier meeting on the proposals descended into acrimony.
At a meeting yesterday (Thursday, August 21), councillors narrowly voted to go ahead with the Griggs Home development, which will include 245 homes deemed affordable.
The application was first considered in June when a row erupted between councillors and officers after the committee voted against granting permission. In the end, a final decision was deferred until yesterday’s meeting.
A key point of friction was whether the land should be classed as Grey Belt or Green Belt.
Planning officers said it is Grey Belt land and argued that it does not strongly contribute to the Green Belt’s purposes, which include preventing neighbouring towns merging into one another.
And, ahead of yesterday’s meeting, officers confirmed that even if the site were classed as Green Belt, they would still recommend approval of the development on the grounds that its benefits outweighed its drawbacks.
Two barristers separately instructed to look at the assessment of the site as Grey Belt agreed that it was “sound” to do so.
But at the meeting, Cllr Brett Rosehill proposed rejecting the application on the grounds that it should be classed as Green Belt. He described it as “the last line of defence against a merging between Bushey and Watford – and that the harms of the development would outweigh its benefits.
Cllr Maxie Allen agreed with Cllr Rosehill that it could undermine the separation between Bushey and Watford.
“There are many perspectives where visual separation would substantially be affected”, he said.
Two other councillors, David Lambert and Paul Morris, backed them in rejecting the development, but they were outvoted by five colleagues – Cllrs Christian Gray, Helen Green, Aaditya Kaza, Linda Smith and Natalie Susman. Cllrs Marc Amron and Shailan Shah abstained.
The camps were divided in the same way when Cllr Gray proposed granting planning permission, winning the vote by five votes to four.
Cllr Gray questioned whether the development would impinge on the gap between Bushey and Watford, and praised the amount of affordable housing.
The 245 affordable homes will include 91 homes available for social rent at around 50% of market value, including 20 four-bedroom homes and 35 three-bedroom homes.
Thirty-one properties will be available at affordable rent – 80% of market value – and 123 properties for shared ownership.
In Hertsmere, an average of just 52 affordable homes have been built per year over the last decade.
Cllr Smith said she was “blown away” by the “phenomenal” amount of affordable housing proposed, while Cllr Susman noted the “dire shortage” of larger affordable and social rent homes in Hertsmere.
James Craig, director at Griggs Homes, said the site offered “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform North Bushey and deliver benefits on a scale never seen before in Hertsmere”.
He continued: “The former Bushey Hall Golf Club closed in 2019 [and] since then 100 acres of land have been locked away from public use. Our proposal would open this as Bushey’s largest community park.
“This is the single largest affordable housing delivery in Hertsmere’s history.
“This scheme sets a new benchmark. It is sustainable, landscape-led development and delivers a package of benefits unmatched in Hertsmere. Tonight, you have the opportunity to unlock Bushey’s largest park, tackle the borough’s housing crisis, and create an inclusive community.”
He added that the contributions made towards local infrastructure would total more than £20m.
Cllr Louise Nicolas, though, speaking as a community advocate, questioned the value of the proposed new medical centre.
She described it as a “pipedream” and said “it doesn’t really mean anything when the NHS have categorically said they won’t want it and won’t fund it”.
The application was for outline permission, with full details – such as parking – to be confirmed in further applications.
There will be two access points into the site from Bushey Hall Drive and Bushey Mill Lane, and they will not be linked to avoid rat-running.
Concerns had been raised about potential traffic problems, and officers accepted there would be an “increase of queuing and delays expected as a result of the development”, though added that this would not be “severe”. Hertfordshire Highways did not object to the application.
Hertsmere can currently show a supply of deliverable housing sites for only 1.36 years, well below the expected minimum of five years and, according to officers, “amongst the lowest in the country”.
It means a ‘tilted balance’ applies, and the council can only block developments if the negatives will “significantly and demonstrably” outweigh the positives.
Covering Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils.
