CLASH campaigners leaflet motorists over threat to St Albans Green Belt

Green Belt supporters call on residents to oppose housing and care home scheme

A ST ALBANS campaign group handed out about 800 leaflets to city-bound peak hour commuters on Monday morning warning that they might be joined by hundreds of additional vehicles on Harpenden Road should a proposed Green Belt development go ahead.

The group, Campaign by Locals Against Sewell Housing (CLASH), wants residents to support its push against a scheme to build 116 houses, a 72-bed care home and two tennis courts east of Harpenden Road, citing child safety fears and that additional houses built at a site near Woollams playing fields would over-stretch education, health and community services.

An application for Sewell Park has been submitted to St Albans district council and is open for consultation until September 21.

A spokesman for CLASH said: “We distributed leaflets to drivers to enlist support and make people aware of the development. It was very clear that lots of people were unaware of the proposal.”

Promoters of the scheme, Hunston Properties, said in their application that the 5.1ha former arable agricultural site had not been farmed for more than 10 years.

Thirty-five per cent of the 116 houses would provide social housing, comprising 12 one and two-bedroom flats and four two-bedroom and 25 three-bedroom homes.

The care home would provide flexible accommodation capable of meeting the needs of residents suffering from dementia, and would employ up to 48 non-residential staff.