Eastern and central districts consult on planning

Five district councils in eastern and central Hertfiordshire have teamed up with the county council to work on a plan that will guide planning and development in the North East and Central Hertfordshire area (NEC Herts).

The plan aims to ensure that infrastructure is properly co-ordinated and delivered alongside the need for new homes and jobs.

By working together, the councils are aiming to be in a stronger position to deliver and fund essential facilities that local people want to see, such as transport, schools, health and utilities like water and sewerage.

Each of the five district councils will still be responsible for preparing their own local plan, but a joint strategic plan will be a critical stage in local planning work across North East and Central Hertfordshire, setting the strategic framework and shared priorities within which individual local plans can be prepared.

The area covered by the strategic plan is currently administered by the following councils:

• East Herts
• North Herts
• Broxbourne
• Stevenage
• Welwyn Hatfield

Planners working on the project have reached a key milestone and produced a draft vision setting out the aspirations for the area up to 2050 based around 6 key themes - Place, Environment, Infrastructure, Movement, People and Economy.

The draft document setting out a North East Central Hertfordshire Vision 2050 is available online and residents are invited to take part in an online consulation here. The consultation is open until 31st January 2025.

A review of local government carred out by Price Waterhouse Cooper in 2020 identified the potential merger of the five councils as an option for a unitary authority to take over the running of North East and Central Hertfordshire from Hertfordshire County Council.

Central government has said that it will invite local authorities to submit plans for the governance of areas with a population of around 500,000 to take over from the current two-tier system. Hertfordshire has a population of 1.2m.