Judicial Review of Bengeo homes plan to get further hearing

A court has refused permission for a Judicial Review of East Herts Council's decision to grant planning permission for 118 homes of a green field site north of Bengeo, Hertford.

However, the court has acknowledged that the case has enough merit to warrant a second hearing, expected early in the new year.

East Herts Council granted planning permission for the 118 homes in September last year, despite the authority repeatedly saying that development would only be allowed after neighbouring land had been quarried. Planning permission for a quarry was refused by the government in 2019, following a campaign against gravel extraction by local residents.

We believe we have significantly strengthened our case since we submitted our original claim back in April 2025, and so we asked for reconsideration on nine separate grounds. Four of these focus on how the decision was justified by the Council's own Planning Officers and also on how the issues were presented to Councillors at the Planning Meeting in September 2024. We expect the next stage will be a short hearing at the Planning Court when we will have the opportunity to present our case for granting a Judicial Review. We remain hopeful that a Judicial Review will be granted.

Save Bengeo Field Group

Dr Andrew Stevenson, former Bengeo County Councillor, said: "I was County Councillor at the time that the District Council were developing and consulting on their planning policy. I was told very clearly in meetings and it was in the documents that the policy was only to develop this land for housing IF AND AFTER a quarry had been developed and completed. I was very surprised to see the officers report of the District Council recommending housing without a quarry having been built. This goes against everything I was led to believe at the time."

Veronica Fraser, one of the Hertford residents, stated: "I'm absolutely horrified that EHDC have agreed housing development on Bengeo Field. I want our Bengeo Councillors, and the Council overall, to know that that decision is considered a total betrayal of democratic representation, and the Council's commitment to the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan and that no building development would happen unless the area was quarried.

"I attended the EHDC Committee meeting where development was approved and, as someone supportive of local councils, I was deeply disappointed by the quality of the discussion and the many inaccurate statements that preceded the vote. The potential loss of a much loved green space is worrying. Even more worrying is the overall feeling that our local government organisation is willing to ignore the strength of local feeling and appear to pander to developers".

Aska Pickering, one of the Save Bengeo Field campaigners, said: "The residents of Hertford and areas around have tirelessly campaigned for a number of years to protect Bengeo Field from development, as this is a much loved and much used green area. Community support to save Bengeo Field from housing development is now growing rapidly with fundraising actively under way."

Updated at 21:12 to add:

When permission for a judicial review is refused, the court may decide that the case is "totally without merit" and therefore "bound to fail". In such cases, an applicant cannot apply to the court for reconsideration at an oral hearing. Otherwise, an applicant is entitled to apply for a reconsideration, as is the case here.