Two applications that would see up to 1,000 homes built in green belt land near Watford have passed an early planning stage.

A developer submitted a request for an environmental impact assessment screening relating to building 400 homes at the Catlips Farm site in Berry Lane, Chorleywood, on July 30.

Just a day later, Three Rivers District Council received another environmental impact assessment screening request over building up to 600 homes, a primary school, and a doctors surgery in land north of Little Green Lane, Croxley Green.

The screenings are usually done at an early stage in the design of a project and seek to determine whether a proposal is likely to have significant effects on the environment.

Today (August 15), in both cases, the council concluded: “The impacts discussed above are likely to be relatively limited and thus unlikely to give rise to unusually complex or potentially hazardous environmental effects, other than what would normally be considered in a planning application.”

This means that a full environmental impact assessment is not considered necessary, because the developments are “neither unusually complex nor likely to have potentially hazardous environmental effects”, and the applicants can continue moving towards a full or outline application.

“This recommendation does not in any way prejudice the outcome of any future planning application, which will be subject to full consultation, and assessment of the planning issues,” the screenings added.