There are two planning applications in the pipeline which technically fall outside the parish but might be of interest to residents – a change of use for Hilliers Garden Centre on the Leighton Buzzard Rd, and changes to parking along Monument Drive at Ashridge.

Hilliers

A proposal has been submitted to demolish the existing buildings and structures of the Hilliers garden centre on the Leighton Buzzard Road and to redevelop the site for storage or distribution with ancillary offices and associated parking. This proposal will be considered by Great Gaddesden Parish Council at its meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday 29 April at Gaddesden Row Village Hall when representatives of both Hilliers and the developers are expected to attend.

Ashridge

The National Trust has submitted a planning application to stop parking along Monument Drive at Ashridge and create a new pay and display carpark on the meadow behind the café. I assume that the carpark will be free for members as elsewhere but haven’t seen this confirmed. This forms part of a longer term strategy to redistribute visitors to the estate by creating two new ‘gateway’ visitor centres to the north and south of the drive, at which point parking spaces at the Monument will be reduced, and to divert visitors from the estate by creating green spaces (‘SANGs’) when undertaking any new housing development.