Villagers are uniting to protect pristine Green Belt land from being turned into sites for housing and offices.
Wheathampstead and Kimpton homeowners are urging councillors to reject plans to build stables and hard standing on protected areas near their villages.
On land formerly part of Answell Farm on Down Green Lane, Wheathampstead, a new landowner has built a permanent stable and put down hard standing and asphalt.
Down Green Lane resident Beth Grant said: “It’s angering. We are surrounded by fields and woodland and the worry is when they put down concrete, they will put down housing. I would like them to pick it back up and just leave it as green space.”
St Albans council’s head of planning Tracy Harvey said: “We are investigating various issues regarding a field at Down Green Lane that is used to graze and ride horses.
“Permission was granted by Herts Highways for hard-standing to be laid at the field’s entrance. A complaint of additional hard-standing is part of the ongoing investigation.”
There is also a push for greater protections for Green Belt land at Kimpton Bottom.
An application has gone to North Herts District Council to build three stables and a tack room for outdoor recreation at nearby Cottage Farm.
Charlotte Vickerstaff said: “I would like the parish and district councils to take action and protect our Green Belt.
“But they can only push back against the application in order to preserve the openness of the Green Belt, so they can’t do anything about it.”
Kimpton Parish Council voted to oppose the development, and the application is currently awaiting a decision from the district council.
Helen Hunter of DLA Town Planning, which put in the planning application, said: “The applicant has taken account of the concerns of local people and has revised the proposal down from five stables to three.
“There is ample land for grazing three horses, and the building has been reduced in length, width, and height, and the existing dilapidated stables on site would be removed.
“The stables would be a modest building that would be for an appropriate use in the Green Belt for outdoor sport and recreation and for no other purpose.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here