Work starts on new Bengeo homes

Work on a controversial development of 118 new homes on a greenfield site north of Bengeo has begun after local residents failed to secure a judicial review into how planning permission was granted.

Contractors moved onto the site on Monday morning, creating a new entrance from Wadesmill Road and clearing land for parking and site offices.

The development will offer a mix of two, three, four and five bedroom houses and apartments, featuring air-source heat pumps and electric charging points.

The site was earmarked for housing in the district council's 2018 Local Plan, conditional on prior gravel extraction in the fields to the north. However, planning permission for a quarry was refused by both the county council and confirmed by the government in 2019 following a public enquiry.

Policy HERT4 North of Hertford

I. Land to the north of Hertford is allocated as a residential development site to accommodate a minimum of 150homes, with around 50 dwellings being provided to the north of Sacombe Road by 2022; and,subject to the satisfactory previous phased extraction of mineral deposits on the neighbouring site, around 100 homes to the west of B158 Wadesmill Road between 2022 and 2027.

The rejection of a quarry north of Bengeo and conditions attached to development on the greenfield site left residents with the impression that building work would not be allowed to take place. This was confirmed by the then leader of East Herts Council.

In the event that extraction should not take place, East Herts Council has been consistently clear that only the first 50 dwellings on the Bengeo Nursery site would be delivered through the HERT4 allocation.

:: Linda Haysey, 2019 Leader of East Herts District Council

However, in 2023 Durkan Homes submitted a planning application for 118 homes and in February 2025 the district council gave the go-ahead for the plans, with planning officers saying "the phased approach to the site allocation, as set out in DP Policy HERT4, is no longer necessary, required or justified. Mineral extraction is not likely to occur on neighbouring land in the near future, and as such the requirement to maximise extraction of mineral deposits is not relevant."

Local residents sought to overturn planning permission by applying to the High Court for a Judicial Review, but were ultimately unsuccessful despite a number of hearings.