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A Vale Royal Borough Council draft
plan was published in the autumn of l995,which contained a proposal to develop
Grange Farm in the centre of Hartford for 300 houses.
As there had been recent major expansion in the village and there was a major
traffic problem in the morning and evening a large majority of the village was
against further development. In January 1996 an action group was set up to
oppose this, which later became the Hartford Village Trust, to preserve and
enhance the village of Hartford. Over a period of several years over £40,000 was
raised to provide professional advice on planning, traffic and the environment.
The results of this were presented at a public enquiry on the draft plan early
in 1999. The inspector of the enquiry ruled that in spite of the Trust’s
arguments the houses were needed and the development should be allowed.
Subsequent involvement by the Trust
with the Department of the Environment about a draft directive, DG3, lead to its
publication just in time to cause Vale Royal Borough Council to remove Grange
Farm from active consideration for development in the current planning period.
It had been clear from the beginning of this story that the village needed to
become more proactive, rather than reactive to environmental matters, in order
to have its views taken into account in the planning process. The appropriate
vehicle for this was seen to be a Hartford Civic Society under the umbrella of
the Civic Trust to take over and broaden the remit of the Hartford Village
Trust, to increase the involvement of the village and to have the support of a
regular membership. This was formed in 2003 and has made a good start to produce
a Village Design Statement and involve actively a wider group of people in the
village.
Dick Finnis (November
2004)
(Dick was one of the
primary driving forces behind the opposition to the Grange Farm development and
for the formation of the Hartford Trust and Hartford Civic Society. He was
Chairman of the Society until July 2004)
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