Draft masterplans for west Knebworth reflect our character but need better access and facilities

Our village is at a critical point in its long-term development, with three large sites allocated by the district’s Local Plan 2011-2031: two on the west side (KB1, KB2) and one on east side (KB4) of the main village. The way that these sites are laid out will lock in decisions about the character and access around the village for decades to come, including constraining options for future growth beyond this Local Plan.

I’ve gone through the draft proposals and attended the developer’s public consultation. In short my top personal comments on the plans as they stand are as follows, but this may change as the draft masterplan is updated and taken through the district council’s process.

• I welcome the clear focus on appropriately reflecting the heritage of Knebworth and the garden village design, in line with our Neighbourhood Plan.
• The access routes in and out of the site for vehicles are inadequate and I believe will lead to unacceptable safety issues and levels of congestion without alternative solutions, for example on Deards End Lane and Stockens Green – both conservation areas too. This needs a re-think and a design that will discourage local residents from using cars just to get around the village, does promote cycling and walking, but provide options that do not increase existing critical congestion issues the village is already along the B197 through the village centre. We have design for long term sustainability as the village grows, and that means non-zero car use even with more active travel use.
• The statement of to “up to 40%” affordable homes should be a firmer commitment to provide 40% affordable homes; we need a range of affordable and social homes too not just larger family and executive homes.
• The needed primary school is provided for, however there is no allocation for a secondary school on this site. Whilst one site of this size would not justify a secondary school on its own, this site is the biggest of many other developments nearby. The current allocation of land for a small secondary school on the east side of the village is still stuck in limbo between different authorities as far as I know, with the net result being no new local secondary school delivered for residents of this development, or existing families for that matter.
• Whilst the green spaces are welcomed, but there’s no new community social or retail infrastructure (e.g. community hall, sports facilities, convenience store etc). This should be looked into either on-site or provided elsewhere via economic contributions in the planning process.

These are not views of either the parish or district council but my own that I’m providing to help others assess what they should support or suggest is changed, when providing feedback. Please don’t forget to feedback to the developers via their consultation website in January.

The layout of Local Plan sites will shape our village’s future

Our village is at a critical point in its long-term development, with three large sites allocated by the district’s Local Plan 2011-2031: two on the west side (KB1, KB2) and one on east side (KB4) of the main village. The way that these sites are laid out will lock in decisions about the layout and access around the village for decades to come, including placing constraints on any future growth.

The proposals for KB1 and KB2 are for nearly 400 homes and a new primary school – it is the majority of the new development in Knebworth agreed in the NHDC Local Plan 2011-2031. It also fundamentally changes the scale of housing to the west side of the railway line.

Making your views known now can have an impact

The developers of sites KB1 (near Deards End Lane) and KB2 (near Gypsy Lane) are currently running a consultation process on their draft “strategic masterplan”. This describes at a high level the overall layout and access into the sites, plus some high level views on design. They want feedback in January and the proposals are available via this link so I won’t explain it all here.

The consultation is on the draft of the masterplan that can be changed. Making our voices heard now can have an impact on what is finally proposed and built. The earlier this is done in the planning process, the more likely I believe it is to result in changes. Consultation does sometimes change what happens – for example the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans were modified for Knebworth following extensive community feedback.

I’d encourage people to feedback to the developers now, and subsequently to the district and parish councils through the planning processes. If you do like what is proposed, support it. If you don’t, please try and say what alternatives you would prefer rather than just disagreeing. The Parish Council has also published some useful material to help people think about the topics at hand, it’s available via this link.

Reflecting our garden village heritage and rural setting is good

I welcome the intent to base the design on the Garden Village heritage. That reflects the character of Knebworth and our adopted Neighbourhood Plan that I worked hard on with the Parish Council to get in place since 2015, rather than it just looking like any other village.

I believe that incorporating such design elements in both the layout of the site and the subsequent design of the houses will be key to giving these developments a sense of place and context, enhancing our community. I hope that the final masterplans continue to reflect this, based on feedback.

However this is not about building a heritage theme park, the designs will need to meet modern building and environmental standards too. Having a suitable masterplan in place will help the district council’s planning team assess any future planning applications against these principles alongside all the relevant up to date policies.

I also welcome the draft proposals for a village green, plus the site incorporating natural features like the pond and hedges, creating clear green corridors and active travel routes. I’m a keen walker around our local area and these sites sit at the boundary between a large village and precious green spaces such as several woods around Mardley Heath, Rabley Heath and Old Knebworth. I believe that creating a clear conceptual bridge to connect and transition into these areas is key.

Vehicle access and traffic impact will add to existing issues

As I’ve previously written, I believe that as the village grows we need to have a compromise between only promoting “active travel” (walking, cycling), puiblic transport use (trains, buses) and the reality of some car use in a semi-rural environment. I don’t believe that it is fair to penalise Knebworth residents who have little option when they want to go further afield. The current county highways policies actually encourage more congestion from developments to try and force a change in behaviour away from car use.

I want to discourage car use within our village, the distances are short enough that people who are able should walk or cycle wherever they can, for example to the shops or school. That is also one of the reasons for building a new primary school in the centre of the developments. Therefore I welcome the proposals in these masterplans that focus on encourage active travel locally – making is safe and easier – as well as other improvements planned through the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. However we should not also forget that some residents are not able to easily walk or cycle everywhere, for example those with illnesses, disabilities or local tradespeople with equipment.

However the reality today is that Knebworth is increasingly congested, particularly along the B197. This is for many reasons but includes a lot of traffic travelling through Knebworth as an alternative to the A1(M), which as I’ve previously highlighted is under-capacity and has not been addressed for years, dumping traffic in Knebworth.

There is a danger that the new developments KB1, KB2 and KB4 all just make these problems worse for the lives of people in our village.

These proposals have no plan to deal with more traffic from 400 homes and a school to get in and out of Knebworth, even when more people take up cycling and walking locally. The impact of this does not seem to be accounted for in the proposals.

Traffic wanting to go north to Stevenage is likely to use Deards End Lane conservation area, which is already unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists with no pavement and narrow lanes. Or it will to via the roundabout by the butcher’s shop onto the B197, adding to the existing congestion in the village centre, which is not being addressed by these proposals. Traffic going south will either go via the village centre too, or through the Stockens Green conservation area.

Some ideas for local access roads – this is not the current plan

I would like to see a detailed assessment of the impact of all this, which I believe overall is unacceptable, and a sensible balance with some alternative solutions proposed in the final masterplans to practically help residents cope with the growth. For example, new road connections could be provided to access the sites which would both alleviate impact on the two conservation areas and also the B197 through the village centre. This can be done in a way that helps local residents but without designing a route that is so attractive and fast that encourages more through traffic off the congested A1(M) and onto the B197 through Knebworth.

Finally I’m concerned for the road safety of these proposals on Park Lane. These proposals will lead to having multiple T junctions onto Park Lane all in a short space. As well as nine new homes approved at Martletts nearby, this will mean three new T junctions on a part of road on a slope and bend, where today lots of vehicles speed as they enter or leave the village – there is a Speed Indicator Display there already for a reason. The police have recently updated their community priorities for the area and it includes tackling speeding on both Park Lane and Stevenage Road.

This is also a sensitive area from a heritage perspective. In the Knebworth Neighbourhood Plan there is a specific policy (KBEF4) to protect any negative impact of development on important views and character areas. The area of Park Lane east of the motorway is one of the specific areas cited. Therefore the design and road layout of the site will need to take this into account and respect the character.

Some other options proposed in the masterplan consultation material included roundabouts to help the flow of traffic and slow it down. I would welcome such changes, with clear signposting, to help manage the safety issues as well as ultimately be more of a reflection of the Garden Village design cues.

We need more school places delivered across the age ranges

I’m glad that there is provision for a new primary school as we need more places to accommodate all the additional growth across the village. The delivery of this school will need to be synchonised between the county council (who run education) and the district council (who control planning), and the developers of all the sites in Knebworth.

Otherwise we risk building and occupying homes when the school places are not ready, placing a burden on the existing primary school or forcing parents to have to travel further afield to school – potentially creating more local car use, not a good idea.

There is also the “elephant in the room” of no secondary school delivery. As far as I’m aware, this subject is still stuck in a disagreement between the county council and district council. The district council’s Local Plan has allocated land to the north-east of Knebworth for a new small secondary school, above the new housing site KB4. However the county council for years have disagreed with this approach and prefer to build a larger one north of Stevenage.

This stagnation, combined with entry criteria changes to the Hitchin schools, means that there is a limited choice of secondary schools for Knebworth children with no new solutions in sight. These developments add more demand to that existing problem.

We need affordable homes commitments

Everyone knows how the overall shortage of housing has driven prices up, especially for a commuter location like Knebworth. I’m concerned that the draft masterplan talks about “up to 40% affordable homes” which sounds like the actual number delivered may be materially less than this.

The district’s clear target is 40% for larger sites where viable and I’d like to see this turned into a firm commitment to reflect the diverse needs of all members of our community and not just building more “executive homes”. The developers should not be let off the hook on this. Why could this not even be exceeded, to set a great example?

We need more community facilities as the village grows

Knebworth is already the largest village in the district. This situation is only increased by the housing growth from these sites and also KB4 to the east of the village. We are lucky to have a village hall and a sports pavilion in the recreation ground already run by the parish council, plus many shops and other facilities.

However we have a unmet need for more facilities, for example to properly house organisations such as a pre-school (currently using sports pavilion) the or the scouts and guides groups. Also we have very few convenience shops or other retail outside of the village centre. The village centre shops will be a very long walk away from the north end of KB1 or south end of KB2.

Sadly I don’t see any provision for these in these draft proposals and that is an opportunity I believe should be investigated as part of the subsequent planning processes and developer contributions. For example this could be a new multi-use community centre on site, or money and a commitment to build one elsewhere as the village grows.

What happens next? Masterplans will help guide what gets built

It is really important that residents review this and feed their opinions back. Following this consultation, the developers (Countryside) will update the masterplan and a final version will go to North Herts Council for approval, likely in the spring of 2025.

After that has happened formal planning applications are expected to be submitted by developers to North Herts Council as the local planning authority – and the masterplan (if it was approved) becomes a material consideration in assessing those applications. Looking at what has happened with other sites, it is likely that the planning applications themselves would be in two stages – outline first, then a detailed one after.

Having masterplans in place provides more ability for the district council to steer the developers to build sites in a way that meets the district’s Local Plan and our own Neighbourhood Plan.

So please get involved with the processes and have your say.