The Three Rivers Council Local Plan Sub-Committee met on 9 September 2025 to discuss the Local Plan, including a briefing on green belt sites and housing numbers. The meeting was also scheduled to confirm the minutes of the previous meeting and discuss a verbal report on green belt sites and housing numbers.

Green Belt Sites and Housing Numbers

The Sub-Committee was scheduled to receive a verbal briefing on green belt sites and housing numbers. According to the agenda, a presentation was to be provided at the meeting to aid members' consideration.

At the previous meeting on 7 August 2025, the Sub-Committee received a report which provided an overview of the draft Green Belt Topic Paper which had been prepared to assist with the formulation of the Local Plan. The Head of Planning Policy & Conservation, Marko Kalik, summarised that as 76% of the District was Green Belt¹, this topic area was one of the most important within the Local Plan.

Recent updates to national planning policy set out that Green Belt boundaries should only be altered where exceptional circumstances were fully justified: these exceptional circumstances included releasing Green Belt where housing needs could not be met in other areas (i.e. through urban and brownfield sites) and also the acute need for affordable housing and other forms of specialist accommodation.

Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation

At the previous meeting on 7 August 2025, the Sub-Committee received a report which provided an overview of the most recent Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA)[^3] which had been prepared to assist with the formulation of the Emerging Local Plan and which identified current and future accommodation need.

The Senior Planning Officer, Aaron Roberts, summarised that the GTAA had required updating following its earlier publication in March due to an amendment to the definition of a traveller to include 'all other persons with a cultural tradition of nomadism or living in a caravan.' This had resulted in an increase in the number of people who would fall into the category of traveller.

The Sub-Committee agreed to publish the Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment July 2025 to the emerging Local Plan Evidence Base, and recommended to the Policy & Resources Committee the update to the 'Provision for Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople' policy.

Green Belt Topic Paper

At the previous meeting on 7 August 2025, the Sub-Committee received a report which provided an overview of the draft Green Belt Topic Paper which had been prepared to assist with the formulation of the Local Plan. Marko Kalik summarised that as 76% of the District was Green Belt, this topic area was one of the most important within the Local Plan. The Sub-Committee heard that the Topic Paper was a 'living document' which would be updated throughout the plan-making process in order to reflect the updated evidence, changes to the policy context, and the outcomes of various stages of consultation and engagement.

Jon Bishop, of the Three Rivers Joint Residents' Association, spoke on the item, drawing attention to potential anomalies arising from the settlement hierarchy outlined at paragraph 4.13.5 of the report. It was considered that the current definition may result in a lesser protection for Carpenders Park than for South Oxhey (although they were considered to be essentially the same conurbation), and for Kings Langley (which partly sat in Dacorum) and it was suggested that officers review the paragraph to allow these areas to be viewed more holistically.

The Sub-Committee noted the contents of the report and the associated Topic Paper.