New planning head to consider potential for garden cities

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has appointed a new director of strategy and development to help draw up a new local plan and weigh up the potential of garden cities.

Trevor Saunders, who joined from Central Bedfordshire Council where he was associate director of planning, told Planning: “We are in the early stages of a new local plan and have to find 13,000 homes in the next 20 years for the area, which doesn't sound much.

“But it does when when you see how constrained Hertfordshire is in terms of green belt land and lots of small market towns.”

Saunders said: “One of the things we are looking at is the government's interest in garden cities and the opportunity to promote the idea of this form of development. 

“Local MP Grant Shapps played a big role in the NPPF and we will look to exploit these kind of relationships to the best of our abilities and help showcase what is one of the finest forms of development that the planning industry has produced in the last 100 years.“

Has your organisation recently made a new appointment or promotion? If so, please let us know by emailing planning@haymarket.com