Allotment Questions – second set – August 2012
Ref / Question / Response30 / Will Watford Borough Council do all in its power to uphold, ancient rights, legal rights, plans and visions made by those who installed them in the past and to encourage more people on to allotment sites. / Watford has over 28 hectares of allotment land, equivalent to 3.4m2 per person – well above the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG) suggestion of1.25m2 per person based on an average plot size of 250m2.
The council has made a commitment to protect the overall provision of allotment land within the borough This will be reinforced through the Allotment Strategy that we are currently developing and which will be shaped by engagement with allotment holders through the Allotment Stakeholder Panel.
We currently have a 91% occupancy rate on Watford allotments – up from 66% in 2002 and have successfully reduced waiting lists.
31 / Can the large areas of car parks surrounding WatfordHospital and any non essential services go underground so as to release ground for future hospital expansion, surely this must be the time for courage and bold imagination to preserve what we have, and that which we need. / Part of the plans we are working on is to build one or more multi-storeys and utilise under croft parking in some of the developments.
32 / Can the unused offices in Clarendon road be used for future accommodation? / Evidence shows that large business relocations are few and far between in Watford. The town now generally attracts smaller businesses that need flexibility in their offices, to allow them to respond to different needs as they grow.
Many of the vacant office buildings in the town (such as in Clarendon Road) are designed to cater for single, large occupiers. This means that much of the vacant stock in the town is unlikely to be occupied without significant investment. The vast majority of this vacant stock is owned by large pension funds and hedge companies who hold the stock but are not prepared to invest or redevelop these sites. The council is, therefore, not in a position to influence its redevelopment and there is little appetite in the private sector to spend speculatively until there is a wider improvement in the market.
Watford Health Campus, therefore, provides a somewhat unique opportunity to create business space more suited to the needs of modern Watford businesses – helping existing businesses stay in the town as they grow and helping attract new businesses and new jobs to Watford.
West Watford is also one of the more deprived parts of the town, generally experiencing higher levels of unemployment and lower levels of car ownership. It is,therefore, important that jobs are provided within easy access.
In a regeneration scheme like Watford Health Campus, it’s also important that opportunities are provided for people to work close to where they live. A mixed-use development like this seeks to create a genuinely more sustainable community for the future, providing housing, employment, services and leisure facilities all within close proximity, reducing the need for people to travel and ensuring Watford is a place where people will continue to want to live, work andplay in the future.
33 / Can those unfilled plots and such areas be put aside to encourage those who would be interested in flower growing, and possible Bee keepers involved? / As we mentioned in a previous response, we currently have a very high occupancy rate and so there are relatively few unfilled plots. Allotment holders have told us that, for them uncultivated plots (ones with tenants but who are not maintaining the plot to an acceptable standard) are more of an issue than unfilled ones. When we know a plot is not being maintained we contact the tenant to alert them that we are aware and outline options for their tenancy. Ultimately, this might end with termination of the tenancy. Where we have a waiting list for an allotment site, this is good news for the person waiting to take on a tenancy.
If people want to grow flowers on their allotment then that is entirely their choice. In terms of bee keeping, you will be pleased to know that people can keep bees on the allotments at the moment provided they write to us for permission in advance.
34 / Can affordable allotment rents be considered to help encourage more people to take part? / We do make sure that allotments are affordable for people in receipt of a range of benefits. This means that people on low income can get a 50% reduction in the cost of renting an allotment.
Even without reductions, the cost for a standard 5 pole plot is £22. This is less than 50p per week, which makes allotments a very affordable leisure activity.
35 / Can nearby schools take part with an educational approach and by getting their hands into the soil, instead of many hours glued to a computer screen? / You will be pleased to know that we do have good community use of allotments across the borough. This includes use by a local scout group, a nursery, a secondary school and by various local voluntary organisations
We are always interested in working with community groups and so whenever we are approached we are more than happy to discuss a group’s requirements.
36 / Being next to a medical centre, can such areas be used for therapeutic activity and convalescing? / You might have read some of the comments from West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust on how important they believe improving green space across the Health Campus site will be for hospital visitors, patients and staff. This space will be available to everybody to enjoy and benefit from.
37 / The two contractors chosen to carry out the Health Campus have both changed their proposals since being selected. The cynic in me, says that they submitted a plan which they thought would help them to be selected with the view that they could change their plans at a later stage. Why have the council simply accepted the changes to the plans? Could the council go back to the other contractors and consider their proposals again? Or, could the council say that they cannot fundamentally change their original proposals. / The preferred private sector partner (Kier Property) was selected on 28 August 2012. The Health Campus partnership will now be working with Kier Property on their proposals. Nothing is yet set in stone but Kier were chosen following a very thorough evaluation process, which included an evaluation of their proposed masterplan for the Health Campus site.
Therefore, the plans on the 17 July were indicative of the final two bidders’ plans for the Health Campus. Neither set of proposals that were on display had been selected.
There was an earlier masterplan for the site (from 2007) but this was not developed by either of the two bidders (Kier or John Laing).
38 / The change to the plans is for additional housing - from 300, which is a lot, to 600 houses, which is a huge number of additional dwellings. This is not a direct benefit to the Health Campus, in fact at the meeting someone suggested taking the 'Health' out of Health Campus and I do agree as this seems to be a housing development! West Watford is very densely populated. I have lived here for over 20 years and have seen the increase in traffic with the constant building of new dwellings. The recent census showed that Watford has experienced a very high level of growth in population, 12.3% over the decade. West Watford is crowded, has few green spaces, ongoing difficulties with very busy roads, parking problems and full schools. I understand, and I may be misinformed, that Dorothy Thornhill moved out of West Watford, partly because of the parking difficulties. Watford council has recently agreed to build 300 plus dwellings on the Rembrandt House site. Dorothy said at the meeting that we cannot say that Watford is 'full up', but we need to look at the infrastructure and if it can cope with, for example up to 1000 more cars on the road every day. / The current planning application for the Health Campus is for circa 500 homes rather than 300.
Interestingly, analysis of new housing in Watford suggests that less houses have been built in west Watford than in some other parts of the borough over the last 10 years. Analysis also indicates that the population and growth rates in west Watford suggest that increased housing provision is needed.
As part of the planning process the Council is required to identify an adequate and continuous supply of land for housing to meet Watford's housing growth requirements. All local authorities have to do this.
In order to achieve this the Council has a housing target of 6,500 homes to be delivered from 2006 to 2031. This target is based on ONS population projections, previous East of England Plan targets and potential housing development land identified in the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. The target is not sufficient to accommodate all of the demand or need for new housing in Watford, but it is considered to be a reasonable figure taking account ofthe sites availablewithin the constrained administrative boundary and ourinfrastructure requirements.
The overall strategy is to provide most of the new housing at sustainable locations, identified as Special Policy Areas (SPA)in the Council's Local Plan (Core Strategy). The SPA's are previously developed land, close to neighbourhood centres and with good transport links.
The Health Campus is one of these sites (SPA3). This envisages provision ofat least 500 new homes,1,000 to 1,900 new jobsand additional supporting facilities/infrastructure at the Health Campus, in line with the current outline planning permission. For more information please refer to Policy SPA3 and Chapter 8 of the Core Strategy:
The Health Campus still has new hospital facilities at his heart – West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust itself has been clear about their aspirations for a re-provisioned hospital on the site and their requirements in terms of space to facilitate this. For the partnership, this means that ‘health’ continues to be central to the scheme.
To give you some idea of the demand for housing in Watford, in August 2012 there were 5,105 applicants on the council’s housing register. Of these, 1721 can be identified as having a need for social housing.
39 / I would like to add that the structure of the meeting was frustrating at times. Taking 3 questions together meant that by the time the second and third ones were being answered people had forgotten what they were and questions needed to be repeated, wasting time. Some questions regarded specific individual issues and were not appropriate when Farm Terrace allotment should have been the focus of the evening. / I hope my previous answer responded to this question fully. We tried to ensure that we met everyone’s expectations during the meeting but appreciate some issues raised were specific to individuals. We have now set up the Farm Terrace Group to enable Farm Terrace allotment holders to engage with the council on their issues and areas of concern.
40 / There was some scaremongering talk at the meeting of health staff leaving if the Health Campus did not go ahead. However, in this time of redundancies and economic crisis, I feel it is highly unlikely that those with a job would leave. / West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust to respond. Question has been forwarded to them
41 / Croxley Rail Link was mentioned as something that is going ahead, but I would like to remind you that there is a Public Inquiry planned for this proposed project and that it is not finalised. / Again, I hope my previous answer to this answered the point you raised. Croxley Rail Link is, as you say, not a done deal but is certainly progressing and there is a lot of commitment from the partners involved to see it come to fruition.
42 / The proposed removal of Farm Terrace Allotments is a continuation of the gradual reduction of green space in West Watford. The proposal of a green space by the river as an alternative which could be used by all, would be likely to become a no-go area and monopolised by local youths, as is the current green space by Riverside Drive. / The Health Campus scheme will improve the area overall and this is likely to discourage anti-social behaviour, which is often more prevalent in areas that are run down and in need of regeneration.
43 / As an allotment holder of 12 years at Holywell, I know the care and understanding of the soil which takes place within your plot. Moving to an alternative plot is traumatic as it is starting from the beginning again. Alternative plots were mentioned, but no details given. Many people live close to their plot and do not want to have to drive to a new plot further away. I know the council have said that Watford has an oversupply of allotments, but within West Watford, there is not an oversupply in relation to the high population. / These are important issues and, not surprisingly, are ones that are being raised by Farm Terrace allotment holders through the Farm Terrace Group that we have now set up. We will be working through them with the Group over the autumn.
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