The planning application for the car park at Heartwood has now been heard and thankfully has been granted. We would like to reiterate the thorough, transparent and stringent planning process throughout. We held open door sessions in Sandridge, Harpenden, Wheathampstead and Marshalswick, as well as a series of on-site meetings which were publicised locally, with Woodland Trust staff being available for discussion at these and many public events.
Further lengthy consultation took place with specialist consultants, Hertfordshire County Council Highways engineers and Sandridge Parish Council. It was as a result of these 12 months of planning, consultation and many public discussions that led us to the realisation that a car park was desired by many, the Parish Council in particular strongly supporting our plans.
We also understand that such a large undertaking as Heartwood Forest will lead to a broad spectrum of opinions amongst the local population. Those of you that have visited the site already will be aware that the only real provision for cars currently is in the village of Sandridge itself so with a purpose built car park we will not only be alleviating congestion in Sandridge but also providing further local capacity for the benefit of the community.
Whilst we have targets for attracting people by foot, bike and public transport, such a large and unique project will naturally attract many visitors who will travel by car. Feedback suggested that it would become more and more of an issue without us addressing it directly early on . The new car park itself will only be for 50 cars, with overspill for a further one hundred on adjacent grassland, which would only be needed for larger community events.
Rigorous safety audits have been completed along with robust traffic modelling. These have been available for viewing and consultation publicly at local libraries, online and by request, something which the Trust advertised in the local press and on posters. The proposed location is the safest possible when all is taken into consideration, with a number of locations being considered and later discounted due to safety concerns.
The car park has been designed specifically to screen the cars within and it will be gated, so that we can close it in the evening and reopen in the morning. Any aesthetic impact will be minimal, with bunding, hedgerows and the forest itself as it grows screening the bulk of the car parking area, we would encourage anyone who hasn’t looked at the artist’s impressions to do so at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/heartwood
Feedback locally shows that the majority of people do accept and embrace the concept as a whole and we would like to believe that in the long term the project will lead to many positives for the local community. The site will become the largest native woodland in England and we want the local population to be proud of this and make use of the 850 acres of greenbelt land that we are opening up.
Building roadways across fields and through ancient hedgerows in green belt land should not be allowed. The proposals could hardly have been conceived to be more visible and more offensive to the people of sandridge. In planning matters we have been poorly served by those entrusted to protect our environment in recent years. I urge those reponsible to think again.
I am disgusted by the plan (and now completed) `driveway’-as your spokes people call it- up to Heartwood.
Like Nigel said, you claim to care for and protect our precious enviroment, yet when preparing the area around Heartwood, you destroy hedgerows (which surely must be home to many species!).
I live very near to this place and now hate having to drive past the entrance. Only in august i enjoyed walking through the field which was full of corn flowers, now im nt even sure if you left them standing!?
Hi Beth
We’re sorry that you feel so upset about the new car park at Heartwood. Please try to remember that Heartwood is going to be England’s largest new woodland, we’re expecting over 100,000 visitors per year and that means a proportion will want to come by car. Relying on the infrastructure in Sandridge village just wasn’t feasible or fair on the people who live there. There simply isn’t enough parking for all who want to drive to Heartwood. You obviously drive yourself, if you wanted to visit a woodland site away from your home, wouldn’t you expect to be able to drive and park there?
During our consultation and planning phase we considered all sorts of options, installing a track to the car park was not our first choice but as we progressed and discussed this with numerous bodies including Herts Highways it became apparent that there was no alternative.
The removal of the hedgerow is unfortunate but it improves the sightlines considerably to allow safe exiting from the car park. Considering the number of trees we are planting and the additional habitats we are creating it really is having minimal impact on the environment and the species that live there. The hedge was assessed for its ecological value before it was removed.
The wildflowers that you saw in the summer where not sown in the area that has become the car park and track so no wildflowers were harmed in the creation of it. We hope that there will once again be a display of colourful wildflowers next summer. We have also sown a further 8 hectares of wildflowers this year so the habitat for insects and birds and for us to enjoy is increasing.
I hope that you will still visit Heartwood despite your feelings on the car park and perhaps try to understand that we need to cater for as many different user groups as we can.
Best wishes,
Louise Neicho