Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, UK

Site Information

The site is located on the north eastern edge of Kings Langley and is approximately 42 acres in size. The site is generally level and is currently used for pastoral use. Kings Langley is a small town, close to the important settlement of Hemel Hempstead in western Hertfordshire, critical commuter belt for London.

Our Planning Department Comments

• Kings Langley falls under the Dacorum Borough Council who are currently preparing a new Local Plan designed to cover the plan period until 2036. The new plan has recently commenced with the Issues and Options Consultation which has identified that, taking into account central Government's draft housing need methodology, Dacorum will need to provide 25,300 houses. Of this, Kings Langley has been identified as needing to contribute 1000 homes.
• The Local Authority have acknowledged that there will be a need for Green Belt release in order to meet the majority of the identified housing within the Borough and a Green Belt review has commenced to this end. The review, being held across two stages, informed the draft Site Appraisal Schedule that formed part of the Issues and Options draft of the Local Plan. Stage 1 identified our site as being suitable for release from the Green Belt for development and was recommended for further assessment in Stage 2. Alongside this, the landscape was assessed as having a high capacity to accommodate development. The final draft Schedule of Site Appraisals does not include our site as it was not formerly promoted at the time, however, the site directly to the south, known as Hill Farm, was assessed positively as being able to deliver 300 homes towards the 1000 home target. This sets an excellent precedent for our site as both sites are adjacent and are similar in nature.
• Given the above, we believe our site provides an excellent opportunity for promotion within the current draft Local Plan for successful allocation in 4 – 6 years.

Latest Planning Update

As referenced in the previous update, we continue to wait for the next consultations in the Dacorum Plan Review which is currently timetabled for June 2023.

However, South West Hertfordshire have commenced work on the South West Herts Joint Strategic Plan and initial consultations commenced in summer of this year and ended on 4 November 2022. Whilst we continue to work closely with Dacorum, we have also promoted our site to this emerging plan and will continue to work closely with both authorities.

The next step in the Joint Spatial Plan has yet to be timetabled.