Have your say is the plea from councillors to the people of Baldock ahead of a meeting tonight to discuss future housing developments in the town.

The public will have the chance to discuss North Herts District Council’s Local Plan with Baldock councillors during a meeting at St Mary’s Junior School, which starts at 7.30pm.

The district council’s draft Local Plan, which aims to provide 10,700 new homes across the area by 2031, could include a proposal for 3,500 homes on land north of Baldock and a plan for 45 homes on land east of Clothall Common.

In an open letter to residents entitled ‘Save Baldock from Overdevelopment’, Councillor John Harris, who represents the Baldock East ward, said: “There will be a meeting organised by your Baldock and Arbury councillors to outline the real threats that now exist due to potential new housing development in Baldock and surrounding areas. Please try to attend this crucial meeting.”

Councillor Jim McNally, who represents the Baldock Town ward, added: “The main point of the meeting is to listen to what residents have to say on what is in the public domain about the local housing plan for Baldock and the surrounding area.

“I think the councillors believe that development is good for the town, but the concern is overdevelopment. We need a development that is good for the town, sustainable, well-planned and consistent with the identity and character of Baldock. But I am prepared to change my view when I have listened to the views of others.

“When speaking to residents the main concern has been infrastructure and the coalescence, you might put it, between Letchworth and others with Baldock.”

Members of Save Rural Baldock, a campaign group which aims to ‘save rural farmland and fields in historic a Hertfordshire market town from mass urban housing development’ will also be attending the meeting.

Writing on the group’s dedicated website – www.saveruralbaldock.co.uk – Baldock resident Alan Gordon said: “One possibility is thousands of new homes, on relatively small plots, including a new secondary school. Increasing the size of Baldock by such a large percentage and changing it from a town with one secondary school to a town with two, is a major change in the character of our town.”

The preferred options of land in Baldock that could be built on will be published by NHDC in mid-November before a further consultation on the Local Plan takes place between December and January.