Sir,
Whilst visiting the Farmers Market on Saturday I popped into the Council’s Emerging Core Strategy exhibition in White Lion Square. Apparently there are to be around 7000 new homes built over the next 15 years but Hatfield, as ever, will be getting the brunt of it. A small sliver on WGC’s map reveals that only 700 are being considered for their Panshanger airfield site and already there’s a great clamour by their residents to prevent this. I daresay these Garden City NIMBY’s will win and their allocation will be coming our way.
Worse still, I read that the wonderfully wild 400 acre Ellenbrook Fields country park on the old airfield site, is designated as ‘safeguarded land’. This means it is earmarked for more housing. Therefore we’ll probably lose a great chunk of this pleasant amenity space. Furthermore, the signs around the country park warn that gravel extraction will eventually take place there. I presume this means that in years to come, Hatfield will have lost the entire country park!
If this was WGC there would be outrage. But this is Hatfield and one wonders who will
stand up for our town. The local Tories are too scared to speak up and the Labour voice is non existent. I think Hatfield is sleepwalking into being dumped upon once again.
Regards, Ray Mathews