Officers still back up to 100 Green Belt homes at New Road, Stanborough, though the draft Local Plan rejected the site. Councillors decide on 11 November.
Councillors will decide next Wednesday whether up to 100 homes can be built on Green Belt land north of New Road, Stanborough. Council planning officers are again recommending approval.
The council’s own draft Local Plan has since rejected the same site. Its assessment found a relatively unsustainable location and a potential for “fundamental ecological constraints”. Officers say that does not mean this application must be refused.
Welwyn Hatfield’s Development Management Committee meets at 7.30pm on Wednesday 11 November in the Council Chamber at Campus East, Welwyn Garden City. It is the only planning application on the agenda, and the meeting will be webcast.
The application, 6/2026/0108/OUTLINE, was due to go to committee on 10 September. That meeting did not sit.
Why it was pulled in September
The new officer report explains what happened. A late representation from THaT Consultancy argued the scheme had not been fully tested against Policy TR3 of the national planning rules published in August 2026. That policy says the Department for Transport’s connectivity tool should be used, alongside other evidence, to judge how sustainable a site is.
The applicant, Stanborough Estates Ltd, care of Dandara, then filed a further transport note. The council consulted again from 15 September.
The tool gives the site an overall score of 52 for connectivity without a car, with comparatively low rankings for walking, cycling and public transport. Hertfordshire County Council, as highways authority, accepts that this is relevant. It says the tool does not set a pass or fail mark, and that its position on the scheme “remains unchanged”. It points to the bus money and footway improvements that would come with the development.
What has changed since September
The Regulation 19 Local Plan went out to consultation on 23 September, and it does not allocate this land for homes. That has handed objectors their strongest new argument.
The report sets out how the site, known as HEL-25, was treated:
- it failed Stage 2 of the council’s housing land assessment
- the evidence cited its relatively unsustainable location
- it also cited the potential for fundamental ecological constraints
- Stanborough sits in Tier 5 of the draft settlement hierarchy, described by the council as locations “not generally considered to be sustainable locations for development”
Officers answer that choosing sites for a plan and deciding an individual application are different jobs. The application has to be decided against the adopted development plan unless other considerations outweigh it. They accept the scheme conflicts with that plan, but say national policy justifies approval. The draft plan itself carries limited weight, the report says.
The wildlife trust wants it withdrawn or refused
Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust has written again, and its second letter is blunter than its first. It says the application “should either be withdrawn or refused”.
The trust has three arguments:
- the August 2026 national rules give new protection to chalk streams
- draft Local Plan policy DMP62 requires a developer to show water quality is protected, and the trust says this should not be left to a planning condition
- the council’s own assessment found the site unsuitable
The Environment Agency’s concern is contamination reaching groundwater through infiltration drainage. The site lies in a source protection zone for an Affinity Water public supply.
Officers respond with Condition 3, which would require a full drainage strategy, including detailed infiltration testing, at or before the next planning stage. They say that satisfies the national policy.
Objectors also point out that the drainage plan’s outfall to the River Lea crosses land the applicant does not own, and that no consent has been given. Officers say that is a matter of private land rights, and not in itself a reason to withhold permission.
Why officers still say yes
The case rests on housing need. The report says the council:
- delivered 46% of its target in the government’s latest Housing Delivery Test
- can show at most 2.3 years of housing land, against the five years it is meant to have
- has an acute need for affordable housing
At least half of the homes would be affordable. The report gives “primary weight” to that delivery and concludes the benefits clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt.
It also says a council study supports treating the 3.96 hectares to be built on as grey belt. The 5.23 hectares to the north does not meet that definition, but would stay open as wildlife land.
The numbers do not all match
Two figures in the report need care.
Objections. The main section still records 129 representations, including 120 objections, the same figures as the September report. It says more arrived after the second consultation, but gives no new total. When we read the public register on 5 November, it listed 265 entries marked as objections, or 207 after removing the redacted copies. That is our own count, and it includes consultees such as Hatfield Town Council and the wildlife trust.
Bus money. One paragraph says the bus contributions total £1.211m. The itemised list gives £182,240 a year for five years, which is £911,200, plus up to £21,374 for shelter maintenance. We cannot find the other £279,000 or so in the report.
The list also includes £167,200 for local GP surgeries and £28,750 over five years for managing Lemsford Springs nature reserve. County ecologists accept that more residents nearby would bring trampling, dog walking, litter and antisocial behaviour to the reserve. They say the contribution and the open land to the north can mitigate that.
What it means for you
A vote to approve would not be the final word. The application would still need a signed Section 106 agreement and a referral to the Secretary of State, who can choose to step in. Only then could permission be issued.
It is an outline application, so only the access from New Road is fixed. The layout and design of the homes would come back in a later application.
If councillors refuse, they must give planning reasons, and the applicant can appeal.
The register shows the public consultation expired on 29 September. Anyone can attend the meeting or watch the webcast. Democratic services can be reached through the meeting page for the rules on speaking.
We will report the result. The wider picture is on our Welwyn Hatfield planning news page and in our report on the draft Local Plan.
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