Overview: Commissioned to review a Stage 3 appraisal of the Green Belt within the Welwyn Hatfield Borough area, in relation to certain parcels of land, Open Spaces identified a range of criteria which could have resulted in different conclusions, including errors in mapping, a lack of granular assessment of potential developable land, and as strong degree of subjective judgement.
As with the review for Land Parcel A, Open Spaces determined that the qualitative method of assessing the Green Belt based on a three-point system appeared to be limited, as it did not provide separation between results to determine the potential for each parcel on a comparative basis. Similarly, the Land Parcel B was only a fragment of a much larger parcel. This, combined with willingness on the part of the promotor to ensure the inclusion of suitable and robust landscape mitigation, would result in establishing a very strong relationship with the adjacent settlement.
Open Spaces continues to monitor the progress of representations by the promotor.
