Why Fields Matter
Where we began — Three Rivers — is 76% green belt: the countryside that wraps the villages of southern Hertfordshire. These fields are not empty plots. They are habitats, carbon sinks that help slow climate change, and the places where communities gather, play and breathe.
That green belt is under sustained pressure. Around Abbots Langley alone, a hyperscale data centre has already been approved on green belt, and 192 homes are approved at Woodside Road. The draft Local Plan proposes thousands more green-belt homes around small villages — with the largest single site immediately behind Abbots Road.
It is rarely one scheme at a time. New homes, a data centre and new junctions land on the same small area, and the pressure compounds: water in a district already short of it, roads already carrying more than they were built for, schools already stretched, and wildlife, landscape and the places people value put at risk. The council's own assessments raise the same questions we do.
Save Our Fields began with neighbours whose last remaining local fields were under threat of development. We are building the walk field by field — and every time someone sends us a meadow they love, Rusty gives it a proper look. This is a national issue that starts in the shire. If you know a field that deserves better, tell us. The meadow belongs to all of us: every walker, runner, dawdler, and every creature that calls it home. Whoever you are, you're welcome here.
🦋 Biodiversity Protection
🏘️ Community Strength
🌡️ Climate Resilience
👨👩👧👦 Public Health
