BLOG: Standing United Against Forced Changes to Our Local Plan

The Housing Minister has decided to intervene in our Local Plan and gave us a directive to add seven large sites that the council had previously ruled out. This would push our housing numbers to more than 11,200, far beyond the 7,000 homes in the Plan democratically approved by Full Council earlier this year.

All party group leaders co-signed the letter and are united against the government’s approach. That alone tells us how serious this situation is.

We’ve looked carefully at the concerns raised by the government, and we do not believe intervention is justified.

Three Rivers has followed the statutory Local Plan process in full and has undertaken multiple independent reviews on the green belt to identify where development would cause unacceptable harm. We’ve also worked constructively with neighbouring authorities, and our Statements of Common Ground will demonstrate full compliance with the Duty to Cooperate.

The issues raised by the Minister—housing numbers, site choices, and development scale—are matters of planning judgement. These are exactly the questions that should be tested at an independent public examination, where evidence from all parties can be considered transparently.

We have also provided detailed reasons for excluding the specific sites referenced in the letter. These decisions deserve proper scrutiny by a Planning Inspector, not a direction issued before the final key consultation.

Three Rivers is exceptionally constrained because 76% of the district is green belt and fewer than 700 homes can be delivered on existing sites that are already developed. As a result of the direction, 93% of the development required would fall within the green belt, which we believe is not justifiable and goes against the purpose of green belt.

We have assessed more than 360 sites. The evidence is consistent: only a limited number are suitable, sustainable, and deliverable.

The Regulation 19 Plan approved in January reflects the highest level of development we believe can be delivered while still meeting national policy as a whole—balancing housing need with Green Belt protection, environmental constraints, and infrastructure capacity.

The council is not failing to prepare a Plan. We have followed the statutory process, and the remaining issues are for independent examination. We have therefore asked the Secretary of State to withdraw the Direction so we can move to Regulation 19 sooner.

We have invited the Minister to meet with us in the district to discuss our concerns and for him to see our unique constraints first‑hand and understand the challenges we face.