The decision of the Watford Borough Council’s development management committee to allow the building of three unwanted houses in the back gardens of Oxhey has far more implications than Watford residents may think. It calls into question what exactly the point is of living in a conservation zone when clearly it offers you no protection against speculative developers. What we have is some town hall bureaucrat who can tell you what kind of windows you can have or what colour you must paint your front door, but has no problem dumping three houses in your neighbour’s back garden.

Anyone who lives in a Watford conservation zone must now ask themselves whether it is worth it, and whether we were just being conned all along that it had any use whatsoever. We heard at the planning hearing how ordinary families cannot build a porch to make their house safer and warmer. Other residents have been compelled to have windows that are 40 per cent more expensive to satisfy the whim of the planners.

One has to ask is it really worth it? Does a conservation zone have any meaningful purpose in stopping unwanted development? Does it help home-owners who want to improve their property? We could be forgiven for thinking that we have been taken for a ride.

Ian Davis

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