OPEN SPACE FOR KNEBWORTH VILLAGE

The current provision for open space in Stevenage is 6.5 hectares per 1,000 people. Knebworth only has about 6.5 hectares of open space in total (mainly in the Recreation Ground) and that's for a population of going on 5,000 people. Stevenage has community parks, it has community woodland... and of course it has secondary schools, with the associated open spaces and playing fields that they bring - along with their important contribution to community identity and community spirit.

Only one site in Knebworth offers an opportunity to create significant community open space without bringing Knebworth closer to Stevenage - the field at Knebworth South.

At the moment this field is discounted for reallocation by North Herts' Local Development Framework because of the parish and district line, which zig-zags randomly across the field with no reference to any landscape features, ownership, or any other determining features.

Stevenage is currently reassessing its boundary lines, maybe Knebworth and North Herts should reassess theirs - and petition to move this boundary, either south to the natural boundary of Wych Elm Lane... or, if Knebworth is feeling particularly bold (and really wants to ward off Stevenage in the long term) north of the village.

With control over this field, Knebworth could look to create a community-owned, fixed "green" boundary to the village, comprising parkland, woodland... and perhaps even its own secondary school.

Arguments are raised that there are not suffiicient pupils to justify a state secondary school in Knebworth. However, if other rural communities in the same situation were included, like Woolmer Green and Datchworth, there would be sufficient pupils to validate a voluntary-aided secondary school, with subsidised places for local children. That may not be as desirable as a state school, but it may be preferable to asking our children to squeeze into trains and clog up the roads getting to school in Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City every morning.

The South Knebworth field is large enough to generate the signifiicant funds needed to achieve this.

Because of the space it offers - and the current residential layout of South Knebworth - it is also, arguably, the development option that has the least effect on current private home owners. It offers an opportunity to enlarge and landscape the cemetary - maybe into a "Green Cemetary", where graves are marked by trees rather than crosses. And, crucially, it offers direct access to the B197, therefore not adding extra congestion to the centre of the village (see Lutyens' map below).

Because of current policy (which, the Local Development Framework consultations are reassessing), the sites identified for possible development in Knebworth are all to the east or the west of the village and disassociated from Knebworth's main road (which runs north south). Policies are designed to protect communities, not to work against them - and where there are special circumstances Local Authorities need the freedom to make exceptions to policy in the interests of a community. Similarly, communities need sometimes to explore outside of the box to find the best solution.