Scenario 3 - New Freestanding Towns
Building new Green Towns in the Green Belt with a new railway stations would reduce the need to develop elsewhere. Development around stations in the existing towns combined with one new town around a new station at medium density could accommodate growth until 2050. Thereafter a second new town would be needed to accommodate all growth to 2080.
The two New Green Towns would each be for 25,00 to 33,000, one at Ickleford and the other at Woolmer Green.
The remaining growth to be accommodated within the existing settlements would be between 15,000 and 44,000 depending upon the densities in the new towns.
As the Scenario 1 figures show, this could easily be accommodated just in Stevenage and Hitchin, or could be distributed to all the existing towns at lower densities.
For example, 26,000 population could be located in a combination of Stevenage (14,000), Hitchin (8,000) and Letchworth (4,000)
Potential for population growth if new green towns are developed.
Capacity for growth predicted population of each town to 2080 if new green towns are developed. Growth is highlighted yellow.