Tring Lib Dem Councillor working to Save Green Belt

3.56.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 12th Apr 2009

Councillor Nick Hollinghurst on the Icknield Way

Vast swathes of Green Belt land round Tring are threatened by council planners.

Against county wishes, officers at Conservative Dacorum Borough Council are to take Miswell Farm "forward to the next stage for further consideration" of future development.

Lib Dem Councillor Nick Hollinghurst said, "This beautiful area on the edge of Tring is one of the county's best run tenant farms. But to Dacorum planners it is just Housing Site T/h15".

He continued, "It's difficult to think of anything more damaging to Tring than building on this area. It would start a domino effect all along the Icknield Way".

Now the Conservative County Council is making things worse. They have proposed their own scheme at Dunsley and Cow Lane Farms for playing fields, employment and up to 600 houses. They will "release the land for development" at all three farms "if the Borough considers there is a need".

This is all more than 10 years away, but Nick is urging everyone to take part fully in the coming planning consultations. "Playing fields would be good, a small business estate might be OK, but several hundred houses at Dunsley Farm - or elsewhere in Tring - would be quite unacceptable! So would building along the Icknield Way. We must fight this urban sprawl."