- GFRA
- Aug 18
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 27
ACTION: object before 27 August
Barratt/Redrow have re-submitted their planning application for a 1400 house development on Marshcroft Green Belt farmland. Their previous application was rejected by Dacorum and eventually by the Secretary of State at the time in 2024.
But Barratt/Redrow now know that Dacorum Borough Council have u-turned on Marshcroft and included it in Dacorum’s draft Local Plan, as a site to be developed.
So the developers are likely to be looking to get quick approval for their actual building plans under their belt, whatever the outcome of the EIP process for the draft Local Plan overall.
You can object to this application. To do so:
the deadline is 30 September (we successfully lobbied for an extension from 27 August)
TO OBJECT ONLINE: visit the Dacorum webpage: Click Here
If you have objected previously and have your login, you can re-log in.
If not, you can register quickly and simply on the portal.
You’ll see the case reference is 25/01880/MOA
you can instead email planning@dacorum.gov.uk, including the case reference and the word “object” in your email. (But objecting online is better to allow for visibility and ease of collation.)
you can also email the text of your objection from the online portal to your local Dacorum Councillor, to ensure that your voice is heard. These are:
Tring Central
Tring East
Tring West & Rural
Leader of the Council
GFRA will be objecting based on the following points, which you can draw on in your
objections:
Substantial development in the Green Belt is unacceptable. The Developer must prove
“very special circumstances” when building on Green Belt land and demonstrate that the benefits clearly outweigh the harm.
Dacorum in its original rejection of the Marshcroft scheme cited “very substantial harm to the Green Belt and the visual experience of the Chiltern’s Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty”. This clearly has not changed.
DBC has not completed a sufficient review of the availability of brownfield sites in
urban areas to minimise the need to build on the Green Belt.
The Developer has not demonstrated there will be benefits to clearly offset the harm.
Two new schools are promised. The Primary school will only be big enough to service the new estate and will not alleviate Tring’s over-subscribed Primaries. No credibility should be given to the promise of a Secondary School as there is no clarity from Herts County Council on the substantial cost of building and running such a school.
A new Health Centre site and a £1.8m contribution towards building is promised. Again, there is no ongoing funding for it and it would only just meet the needs of the 3000 new Residents on the site.
The scale and location of development is inappropriate for Tring. This development, on
its own will increase the population of Tring by around 28% which will 'break' the capacity of local infrastructure and change the character of this historic market town forever.
The Transport modelling assumptions for the draft Local Plan are unrealistic as they assume that the new Residents of the Marshcroft site will walk or cycle into the Town Centre and Supermarket. We believe it is much more environmentally sustainable to build on more suitable locations e.g. Dunsley Farm – a site already in the draft Plan - and which is closer to the A41 and close enough for people to walk to the town centre.