Developers eye Water Gardens sites
- Billion-pound-turnover housebuilder Hill Group is working with Dacorum Council on a plan for ‘affordable housing’ on Hemel’s Water Gardens car parks
- The scheme is not mentioned in the most recent Dacorum Local Plan
- The listed Water Gardens are nationally celebrated for their innovative 1950s design and environmental value
- A Hill Group/Dacorum ‘feasibility study’ will also cover the extra parking needed for the Market Square ‘neighbourhood health centre’.
- The car parks are currently well screened from the Water Gardens themselves by skilful planting
- The Water Gardens sites are seen as a ‘priority’ for housing development under the Dacorum Investment Partnership (DIP)
- DIP is a a 50:50 controlled Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) between DBC and Hill Investment Partnerships
- Detailed plans for these and other DIP schemes are being kept from the public
- The Council claims the full DIP investment plan must remain secret because it contains ‘Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person’
- The plans were set out in this committee paper: https://democracy.dacorum.gov.uk/documents/s49761/FR%20OSC%2014-01-26%20Dacorum%20Investment%20Partnership%20Plan.pdf
- This is the agenda for the relevant Finance Committee meeting:
https://democracy.dacorum.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=130&MId=4077