"GO-East ignorant and incompetent" say Libdems

10.17.55am GMT Sat 3rd Mar 2007

LibDem councillors were scathing in their criticism of the justifications put forward by 2 civil servants from GO-East, the government office for the East of England, when they tried to persuade a crowd of around 200 residents how fundamentally sound their plan was at a public meeting on Valentines Night.

The key points put forward to support forcing the borough to find space for 4,800 more homes by 2021, plus another 5,000 at least by 2031 were demolished one after the other.

The plan is necessary for the continued economic growth of London - "We are not London and have no wish to be, which is why we live in Hertfordshire!" said Tony Skottowe.

The new towns have been expanding ever since they began and can continue to do so - "There isn't sufficient space to build the homes without joining up Hatfield, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead, this statement is total nonsense", said Nigel Quinton.

We need to 'modernise' the Green Belt - "That they thought people would fall for this arrant rubbish is truly astonishing. All it means is that the government wants to build on the Green Belt and destroy one of the best ideas ever put in place for preventing urban sprawl", said Tony Skottowe.

Health is not my field - the response of one of the GO-East people when asked why the new hospital in Hatfield had disappeared from the plan. Malcolm Cowan was shocked that a government planner could not explain why a key feature of the original plan that he had helped create was axed. "We have been stabbed in the back over this extra housing and now we've been stabbed in the front over the hospital." remarked Malcolm later.

Details of the infrastructure will follow later - "So the roads, rail, water and sewerage systems can be ignored for the time being can they?" said Nigel Quinton. "That is a ludicrous suggestion for a so-called planner to make. It looks more and more like the government told the planners what it wants and instructed them to come up with it regardless."

The panel examining the plan received valuable evidence from Arlington - This statement was greeted with hoots of derisive laughter by the audience. "You can bet your bottom dollar it was valuable", commented Tony Skottowe, "but certainly not to the borough's residents. Did they really expect to get unbiased opinions from a developer that owns most of the land between Hatfield and St Albans and stands to make millions of pounds out of developing the land?" he continued. "If it were not for the fact that we could be facing a catastrophe if this goes ahead, that statement would be positively laughable."

Speaking after the meeting Nigel Quinton summed up the LibDems views. "It was obvious time and again during the meeting that they knew nothing about the borough and had done no proper assessment of whether their plans are sustainable, let alone deliverable. We believe that local authorities should have the powers to decide for themselves, through the regional assembly, and not to have to suffer the consequences of ill thought out, poorly researched, and politically motivated interference from Whitehall. GO-East should go - now!" he concluded.