Free town centre wi-fi to be axed

Hertford's free town centre wifi service is set to be axed following a meeting of the full town council to discuss the budget for the coming year.

The service was launched in 2016 and initially covered Railway Street, Market Street, Salisbury Square, Market Place, Bull Plain and Maidenhead Street, before expanding in 2018 to cover Fore Street, Parliament Square, The Wash, St Andrew Street, Warren Place and Old Cross.

Usage analysis shows that the average monthly usage of the service has dropped from 6,074 in 2019 to 3,393 in 2023. As the cost of the provision has increased, the number of users has decreased, with the average cost per user has rising to £0.34 in 2023 from £0.16 in 2019.

The council also discussed releasing £75,000 from the New Homes Bonus Strategic Fund to support work on a Neighbourhood Plan for Castle, Kingsmead West and Bengeo South Wards (CKWBS). These three areas are the only remaning wards without a Neighbourhood Plam, following the adoption of Plans for Kingsmead, Sele and Bengeo wards. The wards of Kingsmead West and Bengeo South were created following recent boundary realignments used in last year's local council elections.