Plans for hundreds of homes on a former golf course have reduced as a new secondary school was also cut from the project.
The landowner of Bushey Hall Golf Club and developer Griggs Homes have formally submitted an application to redevelop the course, which closed in 2019, into a new residential community.
Known as Scotts Wood Park, off Bushey Hall Drive, it would include a mix of housing types and tenures with up to 70 per cent designated as affordable, according to the developer.
The site had previously been earmarked for 400 homes, although the provision has been reduced to 350 units to address concerns raised in the public consultation over traffic impacts and housing density, according to documents submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council on August 6.
The proposed six-form entry secondary school has also been removed due to “significant” community objection, according to Griggs Homes, over the “need and location of the school on the site and related traffic implications”.
Following the consultation, the developer claimed there was “strong support” for the proposed two-storey community hub which would include healthcare and well-being facilities.
If approved, the new estate would consist of 72 one-bedroom flats, 93 two-bedroom homes, 136 three-bedroom houses and 49 four-bed properties up to three storeys-high.
The developer said the affordable housing provision was “welcomed” by the borough council as there was a “high need” for three-bedroom affordable homes while there are currently 230 families on the waiting list.
Scotts Wood and part of existing green space would be opened up to the public as a community park.
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Although the former golf course is allocated as green belt land, the applicant claimed the application’s “extensive public benefits” outweighed any potential harm.
Members gathered in October 2019 to say goodbye to the Bushey Hall Golf Club as the clubhouse was set to be demolished for 32 flats.
At the time, club secretary Russ Ball told the Watford Observer: "It is the end of an era. This club is more of a family than it is a golf club.”
The approved development at the south end of the course was never started however, and the site still remains vacant.
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