The committee will take items in the following order:

1.      All items where people wish to speak and have registered with Democratic Services.

2.      Any remaining items the committee agrees can be determined without further debate.

3.      Those applications which the committee wishes to discuss in detail.

No apologies were received.   

No disclosures of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 06.12.2022 to be submitted and signed.

The minutes from the meeting on 6 December 2022 were approved and signed.

The Strategic Applications Manager delivered her report and presented her update sheet to the committee.

The Chair thanked the officer for her report and invited Romek Kowalewski to speak against the development. 

Mr Kowalewski stated that he was not against the entire development but rather specific aspects.  His first objection was to the Island Site becoming a car park, he claimed that building a car park on green land went against the Green Travel Plan and was not justified.  He continued to speak stating he objected to the number of tourists the site attracted especially as this had been steadily increasing.  He further objected to the cutting down of an oak tree.

The other main area of concern for Mr Kowalewski related to water; both the potential effects on water pressure in the area and that there was no clear plan for rain water run off or increased ground water due to the added concrete ground replacing green land. 

The Chair thanked Mr Kowalewski for his comments and invited the committee to ask questions of the Strategic Applications Manager in relation to his comments.

The Officer clarified points around both water pressure stating that both Thames Water and Affinity Water – the two local water suppliers – had been consulted and not raised objection in respect of the pressure situation and in this instance were the experts on the matter.  She continued to discuss how the plans outlined on how to deal with the rain water and surface water runoff and that this met the required standards. Further reports with additional details of management of this would be made prior to the construction period.   The Greenbelt issue was also briefly addressed, clarifying that the Greenbelt area was part of Three Rivers although the same procedures would be followed in respect of the determination of the application.

The Chair thanked the officer for her input and invited Emily Stillman from Warner Bros to talk on behalf of the development.

Emily Stillman introduced herself to the committee and thanked them for their time.  She spoke about Warner Bros and their history in Watford.  She went on to discuss the changes in the entertainment industry and the move towards high budget television.  The new site would be designed to cater to this industry demand and would provide around 1600 additional jobs directly on site as well as many more work opportunities working in cooperation with other organisation around the Watford area.  It would boost the local economy by around £85 million.

She went on to discuss some of Warner Bros’ other local connections and partnership work including charity work with the likes of the Peace Hospice and others, as well the their film-themed childcare and connections with both Hertfordshire University and West Herts College.  Ms Stillman discussed opportunities for people outside of the film industry to retrain to work within it and talked about the dedicated nature area that would be open to the public as part of the new development.

The Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

The Chair informed the committee that this application had been withdrawn.