L&G are not arguing that this development is needed to meet the housing needs of current Harpenden residents. On the contrary, they state that if they are not given permission to build, Harpenden will "stagnate" and our schools will somehow go from being currently oversubscribed to having so few pupils that they become unviable. L&G's view is that Harpenden needs to build more houses to bring more people in from outside the Town.
As local residents, we don’t think so! We think Harpenden will continue to be a vibrant, attractive place to live without this development. L&G’s own documents show that enough new homes are coming forward in Harpenden on land which is not Green Belt to meet Harpenden’s own housing needs and in sufficient volumes to support its existing population. We don’t see that it is for a developer to dictate how large Harpenden should be. Also we think that if this development is approved, it will open the floodgates to more speculative developments being approved on Green Belt all around the Town and all over our District.
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