Inspectors say Dacorum has not justified 1,400 homes east of Tring, and the plan is 923 homes short. What that means for the Local Plan, and for Hemel.

On 14 July 2026 the two inspectors examining Dacorum’s Local Plan wrote to the council to say that its largest Green Belt release, around 1,400 homes on 119 hectares east of Tring, is not justified on the evidence in front of them. They also confirmed something that matters just as much to Hemel Hempstead: the plan as submitted does not identify enough land to meet its own housing requirement. This page sets out what the letter says, what the council has agreed to do about it, and the numbers underneath the argument, all from the examination documents themselves.

What the inspectors actually said

Policy Tr03 would take land east of Tring out of the Green Belt for around 1,400 homes, a neighbourhood centre, a primary school and a secondary school. The submitted plan keeps 36.4 hectares alongside the Grand Union Canal in the Green Belt as a buffer, but over 82 hectares would still be released, running from Station Road to Bulbourne Road across almost the whole eastern edge of the town.

The Chilterns National Landscape, until recently called an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, wraps the site on three sides. The inspectors visited the viewpoints themselves and reported back:

Due to the size and scale of the allocation proposed… Policy Tr03 would introduce a significant amount of built development into this sensitive rural area which is part of the setting of the Chilterns National Landscape. Based on the evidence before us, we consider that this would indeed cause harm to the character and appearance of the area and the setting of the National Landscape.

Their objection is not to Green Belt release in principle. They accept the council’s case that Dacorum’s settlements are tightly drawn and that meeting housing need will require some alteration, and they accept that it is logical to grow Tring, the borough’s third largest town. What they could not find was a comparative assessment showing that this site, at this scale, is the right answer:

We do not find a suitably robust, comparative assessment of options to conclude that an allocation of the size and scale proposed, in the location proposed, is justified.

Two facts made the council’s case harder to run. A similar scheme on the same land was dismissed at appeal by the Secretary of State in 2024, who agreed that it would harm the character and appearance of the area and the setting of the AONB. Then in April 2026 the council itself refused planning permission for a residential-led scheme of up to 1,400 homes there, against an officer recommendation to approve, citing harm to Green Belt purposes and to the Chilterns National Landscape. The inspectors noted the council was relying on a dismissed appeal as its rationale while simultaneously refusing permission on landscape grounds.

Source: Inspectors’ Post Stage 3 Hearings letter, DBC/ED61, 14 July 2026.

The council’s answer: more evidence, by 4 September

The inspectors offered three ways forward:

  1. Provide the evidence to justify the allocation as submitted, including a comparative assessment of options.
  2. Modify Policy Tr03 to overcome the problems.
  3. Delete the allocation from the plan.

They asked for the council’s initial view and a timetable by 31 July. On 30 July 2026 Ronan Leydon, Dacorum’s Head of Strategic Planning, replied that the council will pursue Option 1: it maintains that the policy as submitted is sound, and will produce a more detailed comparative assessment plus a note on how the impacts of growth at Tr03 can be mitigated. The council is “optimistic that the comparative assessment and additional material can be prepared and made available… on or before Friday 4 September”, and has asked the inspectors whether a short, focused consultation will then be needed.

Source: Council’s reply, DBC/ED62, 30 July 2026.

What it means for you: nothing is decided. The plan is not withdrawn and the allocation is not deleted. But the council has taken the option that requires it to win an argument it has already lost twice on this land, and the inspectors warned explicitly about “lengthy delays to the examination”.

The number underneath it all: the plan is 923 homes short

This is the part that reaches beyond Tring. In its own note on housing land supply, submitted on 27 April 2026, the council set out that once more recent permissions are counted and a year of windfall allowance is removed, the supply position at 1 April 2026 is 16,349 homes against a plan requirement of at least 17,272. That is a shortfall of 923 homes.

The requirement works out at 1,016 homes a year. The council’s own note concedes that “achieving the stepped change in growth to 1,016 dwellings per annum early in the plan period is proving increasingly challenging in the absence of an up-to-date Local Plan.”

Then there is the five-year housing land supply, the test that decides whether a council keeps control of planning decisions. On the updated trajectory, Dacorum cannot show five years on any of the standard calculations.

Dacorum's five-year housing land supply at 1 April 2026 on four calculations Against the submitted requirement, Dacorum has 4.6 years of housing land supply on the Liverpool method with no buffer, 4.1 years on Sedgefield with no buffer, and 3.4 years on Sedgefield with a 20 per cent buffer. All are below the five-year threshold. Only the council's proposed stepped requirement, at 5.3 years with a 20 per cent buffer, clears five years. Dacorum cannot show five years of housing land, on any standard method Years of deliverable housing land at 1 April 2026, from the council's own note to the examination (DBC/ED54). 5 years Liverpool, no buffer Sedgefield, no buffer Sedgefield, 20% buffer Stepped plan, 20% buffer 4.6 4.1 3.4 5.3 The bottom bar is not the current position. It is what the council says it could show if the inspectors accept a stepped housing requirement, starting at 450 homes a year in 2024/25 and rising to 1,234 from 2031/32, rather than a flat 1,016 a year from the start. Source: Dacorum Borough Council, Note on Housing Land Supply (DBC/ED54), 27 April 2026.
Three of these are the position as it stands. The fourth is the council's proposed way out of it.

The council’s suggested fix is a stepped housing requirement: 450 homes a year in 2024/25 and 2025/26, then 600, 600, 800, and 1,016 from 2029/30, rising to 1,234 a year from 2031/32. That defers the pain rather than removing it. Every home not built in the early years has to be built later, and the later years fall largely on the strategic sites around Hemel Hempstead.

Source: Note on Housing Land Supply, DBC/ED54, 27 April 2026.

Dacorum lost powers over major applications in June

Separately, and less noticed, the government designated Dacorum Borough Council on 15 June 2026 for the quality of its decision-making on major planning applications, under section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The designation took effect at 9am that day and stays in force until it is revoked.

In practice that means an applicant for a major development in Dacorum can now bypass the council and apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate. The designation is triggered when too high a proportion of an authority’s major decisions are overturned on appeal.

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, notice of designation.

What it means for you: a big scheme near you may now be decided by a national inspector rather than by councillors you can lobby at The Forum. It also raises the stakes on the Local Plan, because an adopted, up-to-date plan is the main thing that would let the council recover its position.

The scheme that will change Hemel Hempstead

While Tring occupies the examination, the largest thing in the plan is happening around Hemel Hempstead. Hemel Garden Communities proposes around 11,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs to the east and north of the town, split roughly between Dacorum and St Albans district. It is a joint project between Dacorum Borough Council, St Albans City and District Council, Hertfordshire County Council, The Crown Estate and the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, and was picked for the government’s Garden Communities Programme in March 2019.

On 25 June 2026 both councils adopted two supplementary planning documents for it: the HGC Framework and Transformation SPD, which sets out how the new neighbourhoods should be delivered, and the HGC Stewardship and Placemaking SPD, which covers how community assets and infrastructure will be looked after afterwards. Phillipa Zieba, the programme director, called the adoption “a major milestone”.

There is a catch worth understanding. Both SPDs are material considerations in planning decisions now, but they will not be fully operative as SPDs until the Dacorum and St Albans Local Plans are adopted. Which brings the whole thing back to Tring.

Sources: Hemel Garden Communities FAQs and the SPD adoption announcement, 25 June 2026.

Where the Local Plan has got to

Dacorum Local Plan to 2041: the examination so far
DateWhat happened
11 March 2025Plan submitted to the Secretary of State for examination
16 September 2025Stage 1 hearings open at The Forum, Hemel Hempstead
21 October 2025Stage 2 hearings, held jointly with St Albans
3 to 26 March 2026Stage 3 hearings, the last scheduled sessions
27 April 2026Council's updated housing land supply note (DBC/ED54)
15 June 2026Council designated for major application decision-making
25 June 2026Hemel Garden Communities SPDs adopted
14 July 2026Inspectors' letter: Tr03 not justified
30 July 2026Council replies, choosing to produce more evidence
By 4 September 2026Council aims to submit its comparative assessment

The examining inspectors are Matthew Birkinshaw and Thomas Bristow, and the programme officer is Louise St John Howe. They have said that comments are not invited at this stage, and that any further consultation will depend on what the council submits in September. Their full findings will come in the final report, after consultation on any main modifications.

How to check a planning application near you

Dacorum’s planning register is an Idox Public Access system, and it sits at a non-obvious address: planning.dacorum.gov.uk/publicaccess. You can search by postcode, by street or by the weekly list of newly validated applications, which is the fastest way to see what has just landed near your house. Comments are usually accepted for 21 days from the date an application is publicised.

For context on what all this building is meant to answer, our Hemel Hempstead house prices page has the Land Registry figures for each of the three towns, and our roadworks and travel page covers the road network the new homes will have to use.

Frequently asked questions

Has the Dacorum Local Plan been approved?

No. It was submitted for examination on 11 March 2025 and is still being examined. On 14 July 2026 the inspectors told the council that the proposed allocation east of Tring is not justified and that the plan does not identify enough land to meet its housing requirement in full.

How many homes does Dacorum have to build?

The submitted plan carries a requirement of at least 17,272 homes, which is 1,016 a year. At 1 April 2026 the council’s own note put deliverable supply at 16,349 homes, a shortfall of 923. The council has proposed a stepped requirement that starts lower and rises to 1,234 homes a year from 2031/32.

What is happening with the 1,400 homes east of Tring?

Policy Tr03 remains in the submitted plan, but the inspectors have found it unjustified on current evidence. The council has chosen to defend it with a new comparative assessment of options, which it aims to submit by 4 September 2026. The Secretary of State dismissed an appeal for a similar scheme on the land in 2024, and the council refused a planning application for up to 1,400 homes there in April 2026.

What is Hemel Garden Communities?

A joint programme by Dacorum and St Albans councils, Hertfordshire County Council, The Crown Estate and the Hertfordshire LEP for around 11,000 homes and 10,000 jobs east and north of Hemel Hempstead. Two supplementary planning documents for it were adopted on 25 June 2026, though they only become fully operative once both councils’ Local Plans are adopted.

Why can developers bypass Dacorum Borough Council?

Because the council was designated on 15 June 2026 under section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the quality of its decision-making on major applications. While the designation stands, applicants for major development can choose to apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate instead.

Sources

Examination positions change as documents are submitted. The council’s next evidence is due in early September 2026, and the inspectors’ final report will follow consultation on any main modifications. Checked August 2026.