Hertfordshire council area

Selling Land in Dacorum

Dacorum runs from Hemel Hempstead, one of the first generation of new towns, to the market towns of Berkhamsted and Tring, and it built just over half the homes it needed in the latest Housing Delivery Test. Its Local Plan to 2041 is deep into examination, and a government designation in June 2026 changed where major applications can be made.

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Dacorum at a Glance

Dacorum Borough Council covers 81 square miles of west Hertfordshire: Hemel Hempstead, the market towns of Berkhamsted and Tring, the large villages of Kings Langley, Bovingdon and Markyate, and smaller villages such as Chipperfield, Potten End, Aldbury, Long Marston and Wilstone. Its main lines of communication are the A41, the West Coast Main Line and the Grand Union Canal, with two stations in Hemel Hempstead and others at Berkhamsted, Tring and Kings Langley. The M1 runs down the eastern boundary and the M25 crosses the south eastern tip.

52% in the Housing Delivery Test. The council built 1,578 homes against a requirement of 3,051 over the three years measured.
Just over half is Green Belt. The 2013 Core Strategy describes almost 85% of the borough as rural, with 60% of that countryside, and just over half the borough as a whole, in the Metropolitan Green Belt.
A Rural Area beyond it. The rest of the countryside is what the council calls the Rural Area, which lies beyond the Green Belt. Its largest settlements are Aldbury, Long Marston and Wilstone.
The Chilterns. Over a third of the borough lies in the Chilterns National Landscape, whose edge forms the southern boundary of Tring, and the beechwoods at Ashridge are protected as a Special Area of Conservation.
A plan still in examination. The council submitted its Local Plan to 2041 on 11 March 2025. It will replace the 2013 Core Strategy, the 2016 site allocations and saved policies from 2004.

That mix is what sets Dacorum apart. Roughly two fifths of its countryside lies outside the Green Belt, so there are real areas where the Green Belt test does not apply, although where that land overlaps the Chilterns National Landscape the landscape test is just as demanding.

Dacorum in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
52%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Homes built against homes needed
1,578
of 3,051 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
September 2013
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Submitted for examination
As at March 2025.

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

Where the Local Plan to 2041 Has Got To

Councillors approved the plan on 15 October 2024, by 25 votes to 13, and it was consulted on from 4 November to 17 December that year. Local reporting at the time put the total at 15,332 homes between 2026 and 2041, with the largest new allocations at Marshcroft in Tring (1,400 homes), Polehanger Lane in Hemel Hempstead (750), Shendish Manor in Hemel Hempstead (500) and New Mill in Tring (400).

Government inspectors held the third stage of hearings in March 2026 and wrote to the council after those sessions on 14 July 2026. The council replied on 30 July, and on 7 September it asked for an extension to the deadline for the documents it is preparing in response to that letter. The examination is therefore still open, and until the plan is adopted the 2013 Core Strategy, the other older documents and national policy decide applications.

If Your Land Is Not in the Submitted Plan

An examination that is still waiting on documents has not finished testing where homes should go. Land that is well evidenced can still be relevant, whether through changes at this stage, through a later review, or through an application under national policy. Around Tring and Berkhamsted that evidence usually starts with a Chilterns landscape assessment and an Ashridge zone check; around Hemel Hempstead, with access and how the land relates to the garden communities. We pay for it all. Our call for sites and local plans guide explains how examinations work.

What a 52% Result Opens Up, and Where

At 52%, Dacorum falls well short of the 75% mark, which brings the shortfall route in policy S5 into play. It lets homes go beyond a settlement edge if the field sits comfortably against a town or a village such as Long Marston and the roads, schools and drains can cope, but it stops at the Green Belt boundary.

Where a district is Green Belt almost from edge to edge, that caveat rules out nearly everything. In Dacorum, where the Rural Area around Aldbury, Long Marston and Wilstone lies beyond the Green Belt, it leaves a real choice of routes:

Countryside outside the Green Belt. Here the shortfall can do real work, provided the land sits well against an existing settlement. Inside the Chilterns National Landscape, major development still needs exceptional circumstances, so the most promising land is often just outside it or in a part of the landscape that is already enclosed.
Inside Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and the large villages of Kings Langley, Bovingdon and Markyate. Here policy S4 does the work regardless of the score, tilting decisions towards approval. Lock-up garage courts, yards behind shops and long back gardens all sit under it.
Green Belt land, including the countryside that keeps Hemel Hempstead apart from the smaller villages on its edge. The question here is grey belt. Fields enclosed by roads, housing or commercial land, and sites that were previously developed, are the ones to look at. Our grey belt guide sets out the test.

Hemel Garden Communities

Hemel Garden Communities is a programme run by Dacorum, St Albans City and District Council and Hertfordshire County Council with Hertfordshire Futures, the Crown Estate and other landowners. By 2050 it expects to add around 11,000 homes and up to 8,000 jobs to the north and east of the town, with 40% of the homes affordable and new neighbourhoods linked to Maylands, the town centre and the station. The Hertfordshire Innovation Quarter, with flexible office and industrial space, is part of it.

The programme crosses the boundary between the two councils. Land east of Hemel Hempstead is the subject of a cross-boundary outline application, reference 5/2025/1964, for two neighbourhoods with employment land, schools, a country park and a medical centre. St Albans is the lead planning authority, and each council assesses the part within its own area. For land nearby but outside the programme, the effect is indirect: new roads, schools and bus routes can make a field better related to the town, which matters under the unmet need route and any future plan.

Land close to the Buncefield oil terminal, on the eastern edge of the Maylands area, is a separate case. The terminal is of national importance for fuel storage and was the scene of a major explosion in December 2005, so how close a plot sits to it is one of the first things we check on that side of town.

The Ashridge Beechwoods and What They Cost a Scheme

The beechwoods at Ashridge are protected as a Special Area of Conservation, the Chilterns Beechwoods. Because more homes nearby mean more visitors, the council's mitigation strategy applies across a zone of influence reaching 12.6 kilometres from the Ashridge Commons and Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest. New homes in that zone must pay towards managing the woods and must be matched with Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace, known as SANG.

Requirement	What it means for a site
Strategic access management and monitoring	£1,014.33 per new home from 1 April 2026, paid by every scheme in the zone.
Council-owned SANG	£6,083.53 per home from 1 April 2026, where a scheme uses the council's own greenspace, such as Bunkers Park or Chipperfield Common.
Distance to SANG	Schemes of 10 or more homes must fall within the catchment of their SANG: 2 km for a greenspace of 2 to 12 hectares, 4 km for 12 to 20 hectares and 5 km above 20 hectares.
Capacity	The council issued an early warning about SANG capacity in May 2024, which makes a scheme's own SANG more valuable.

These costs come off what a scheme can support, so we allow for them from the start. A larger holding can sometimes be planned with part of it laid out as its own SANG, which can make the rest of the land deliverable.

The June 2026 Designation

On 15 June 2026 the government designated Dacorum Borough Council for the quality of its decisions on major development. Local reporting said more than 10% of its decisions on such applications in the two years to March 2025 had been overturned at appeal. The designation stays in force until it is revoked. While it lasts, applicants for major development, which includes schemes of 10 or more homes, can choose to apply directly to the Planning Inspectorate instead of the council.

That gives a larger scheme a second route to a decision. It does not lower the bar: the inspectorate applies the same policies and expects a complete, well evidenced application, which we prepare and pay for.

The Land We Look for in Dacorum

Fields in the Rural Area, near Tring and villages such as Long Marston and Wilstone, that sit well against the settlement.
Green Belt fields beside Berkhamsted, Kings Langley, Bovingdon or Markyate that are enclosed enough to be grey belt.
Land on the edges of Hemel Hempstead that is not already part of the garden communities programme.
Yards, depots, former nurseries and other previously developed land, inside or outside the Green Belt.
Larger holdings that could include their own natural greenspace as well as homes.
Sites within walking distance of Hemel Hempstead's two stations or those at Berkhamsted, Tring and Kings Langley.
Plots inside the towns and villages where policy S4 applies.

Land deep inside the Chilterns National Landscape or next to Ashridge faces a high bar, and we will say so plainly. Our how it works page explains what follows.

Questions About Land in Dacorum

My field near Tring is not in the Green Belt. Does the 52% result help it?

It can, if the field sits well against the town and its infrastructure can cope. Land to the south of the town is in the Chilterns National Landscape, and there landscape policy is the harder test, so we look at that first.

Will the Ashridge contributions come out of my price?

They are a cost of any housing scheme in the zone, in the same way as affordable housing, and we allow for them when we first assess the site. You never pay them yourself, and you pay nothing towards the planning work.

Can a scheme on my land go straight to the Planning Inspectorate?

While the June 2026 designation is in force, a major application can be made directly to the inspectorate. Which route is better depends on the site, and we explain our reasoning first.

My land borders Hemel Garden Communities. Is it part of it?

Only if it is within the areas set out in the plans for the programme. Land next to it is judged on its own merits, although the new roads and services it brings can strengthen the case for a well placed site.

What happens if the Local Plan is adopted without my land?

Adoption sets the council's strategy, but it is not the last word. A review will follow, and a well placed site can still go forward through an application under national policy. We would tell you honestly where your land stands.

Tell Us About Your Land in Dacorum

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Sources

We update this page when new Housing Delivery Test results or local plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.