Goodbye to (nearly) all this…

Above is the Green Belt north of the M25 with St Albans in the distance. Hertsmere Borough Council proposes to build a new 5,000-home township, Bowmans Cross, on much of this land. It’s just one of many developments close to Barnet in Hertsmere’s draft Local Plan for 2026-41. You have until 17^th November to submit your views on the planning application for Bowmans Cross, and until the 19th on the Local Plan.

…And hello to this?

Above: Bowmans Cross looking S-W – visualisation by HTA Design LLP

Hertsmere’s Local Plan

About 79% of the area of Barnet’s northern neighbour, Hertsmere, is currently designated as Metropolitan Green Belt. Five years ago Hertsmere published a draft Local Plan that proposed to build over 10% of it – including a substantial chunk of the pleasant countryside that separates Barnet from Borehamwood and Potters Bar. The Barnet Society and some 20,000 others objected. In January 2022 Hertsmere scrapped that Plan.

Now a new (Regulation 19) Plan is out for consultation, but it’s not very different from the previous version. Its Policy H9.C states,

“Speculative proposals for major-scale housing development upon sites in Hertsmere’s countryside/Green Belt beyond the Borough’s four main towns [Borehamwood, Bushey, Potters Bar & Radlett] will not be positively considered…”

But in practice the Plan pushes the boundaries of Borehamwood and Potters Bar in our direction. These are the new developments that we will notice most:

Development of the fields separating Potters Bar from the M25 will be particularly destructive. Not only do they provide an attractive working agricultural landscape between Potters Bar and Barnet, they link visually with Bentley Heath, Dancers Hill, Wrotham Park and Dyrham Park to create a green panorama much greater than the sum of its parts.

Add to those the new township of Bowmans Cross, and 720 hectares of Green Belt will be lost – an area ten times the size of Hadley Common and Hadley Wood combined.

Another major concern of ours is that little is said about transport improvements, which will be vital to the Plan’s success, especially in Hertsmere’s more rural areas. Barnet already suffers from road and parking congestion due to commuting from Hertfordshire into London, and our bus link with Potters Bar is frail. Building new homes and workplaces near our border seems certain to exacerbate these strains.

It’s also disappointing that although the Plan extols the value of nature and promises green corridors and enhanced pedestrian and cycle routes in towns and new developments, there are no plans for new rural routes of any kind.

We also regret that safeguarding of the cross-border Watling Chase Community Forest is so fleetingly mentioned in the Plan, and its expansion not at all.

Better news for Barnet is that no new building is planned in the countryside south of the M25 and east of the A1. Some of our residents will find work in Hertsmere’s media and IT industries. And new homes near Barnet are likely to be cheaper and more spacious than in Barnet itself. They’ll attract young couples and families who can’t afford property in our borough. It would be ironic if Hertsmere’s new housing ended up benefitting struggling Barnet residents at the expense of its own.

The deadline for representations on the draft Local Plan is 11:59pm on Thursday 19 November.

You can read the relevant documents and guidance here:

 A new Local Plan for Hertsmere – Hertsmere Borough Council

You can submit your representation here:

https://hertsmerelocalplan.commonplace.is

Above: Bowmans Cross looking S-E – visualisation by HTA Design LLP

Bowmans Cross

This will be a new township on open fields and obsolescent sand and gravel quarries by the M25 north of North Mymms. A first phase of 2,500 homes will be built by 2041, growing ultimately to 5,000 homes. Population figures aren’t given, but presumably will eventually total at least 15,000.

There’s clearly something to be said for concentrating new homes in a few places large enough to support a decent range of services such as schools, clinics, retail and social facilities, rather than sprinkling them across our countryside where few services will be viable and residents will depend on cars. A sustainably planned community could also offer great opportunities for recycling and energy generation.

But although the application drawings show lots of greenery, the applicant makes no firm commitment to achieving exemplary environmental standards, only “a holistic view of sustainability, supporting the journey to net zero” (whatever that means). The new homes will only be net zero “where viable” – a big “if”. A site-wide heat network is also “not currently considered to be viable”. A number of further energy efficiency measures “will be considered” but are not guaranteed.

Another fundamental weakness of the scheme is transport. Although Bowmans Cross adjoins the M25, that’s already unacceptably congested at peak times. It has no railway station, nor any plans for a rapid transit system. The application promises new bus services, but the only new route specified at the start of occupation is a shuttle 85 bus to and from Potters Bar station, though eventually this will be replaced by an 86 bus and extended to Hatfield. Four mobility hubs (integrated EV charging, car club, cycle/scooter hire and related facilities) are shown, but in reality most residents seem likely to keep their own cars.

This application looks like a lost opportunity. Last year the government’s New Towns taskforce stated,

“We want exemplary development to be the norm, not the exception. The next generation of new towns must be well-connected, well-designed, sustainable, healthy and attractive places where people want to live and have all the infrastructure, amenities and services necessary to sustain thriving communities established from the outset.” 

Measured against those principles, it is hard to see this planning application as offering much more than a pretty dormitory estate.

The deadline for comments on the Bowmans Cross planning application is 11:59pm on Tuesday 17 November.

You can submit your comments here. The application reference no. is 26/1330/OUTEI.