Policy information sourced from St Albans District Local Plan
5 New Housing Development in Specified Settlements
Within the specified settlements listed in Policy 2, there will be a presumption in favour of housing development on:
- the sites listed in the schedule at the end of this policy and defined on the Proposals Map. Development on these sites should comply with the Planning Guidelines in the schedule;
- other sites where housing is consistent with the policies of this Plan. Residential development will not be permitted if there is a need to retain land in open use (see Policy 75) or if the land is required for another purpose in accordance with this Plan’s policies and proposals” (1). Where comprehensive redevelopment is proposed on existing industrial and warehousing sites (except those listed in Policy 20) the Council may require a housing development (see Policy 24).
The Council will normally seek to negotiate an element of affordable housing on sites of over 0.4 hectares and on sites of under this size where 15 or more dwellings are proposed (see Policy 7A).
Residential design and layout - proposals will be assessed against Policy 70. Within existing residential areas, housing densities on development sites will generally be lower than in towns and proposals must be compatible with the maintenance and enhancement of the settlement’s character. In particular, backland development will be refused unless applications comply with Policies 69 and 70.
Development on new greenfield sites should respect the density, scale and environmental quality of the character of the settlement to which they are related.
Footnote
(1) Policy 20 indicates that housing would be acceptable on employment area EMP.19. In addition, a planning brief will consider the possibility of non-employment uses on EMP.4
Please also see table on pages 29 to 31
For more information please see the Local Plan