County Hall: Re-development of site

Published: 01/03/2024

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Hertford Civic Society reports on Hertfordshire County Council’s withdrawal from most of the County Hall site

Hertfordshire County Council has announced that most staff are to leave County Hall. While the front part is earmarked for retention ‘for democratic and civic purposes’, a process of marketing for employment use is being carried out for the remainder of the site. This is because County Hall is not being used to capacity and the County Council faces significant financial pressures.

Hertford Civic Society requested a meeting with the team responsible for the re-development of the site. Their names are below.

Here are some brief notes on this event, which took place on 21 November 2023.

• During an initial phase (one year), marketing of the site as a place of office employment will be explored by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC), though this is not expected to generate a result.
• HCC is holding monthly meetings with East Herts Council (EHC). EHC is responsible for planning in East Herts – including any proposal that might made by HCC for the County Hall site.
• The HCC team confirmed that as part of their review of the EHC District Plan, they might expect to be proposing alternative uses of the site while retaining the front buildings which are listed (grade II*).
• The HCC team said that due to Covid/flexible working (often from home) lunchtime spent by HCC staff within Hertford has already been much impacted, for some time.
• Civic uses are expected to continue for the front buildings eg Weddings and other possible options – and the Chamber could be opened up for alternative community uses eg orchestras.
• HCC owns a cluster of 3 buildings in Stevenage to which staff would mostly move – Robertson House (already used for Children Services and Adult Social Care), Abel Smith House (bought for investment and let out) and Farnham House (already in use and being reconfigured to accommodate more staff).
• HCC has received £26m from the Government to upgrade the Stevenage campus, particularly its environmental standards.
• Herts Archives' future location is still under consideration but may move from the current site. Potential funding is anticipated from HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund).
• Woodland and cricket pitch are to be retained as it is; sources of funds are being explored to re-provision the cricket pavilion which was the victim of an arson attack. Hertford Civic Society suggested this be communicated to nearby residents so as to avoid unnecessary anxiety.
• Major HCC staff move to Stevenage expected Spring 2024.
• Hertford Civic Society reiterated the need to ensure the site is of high quality visually and environmentally, and that a wide range of possible uses should be considered which could benefit Hertford.
• Car parking – this was one potential type of community use being explored as an interim measure eg Richard Hale has expressed some interest.
• The whole process of change and re-development is expected to take some years.

For Hertford Civic Society:

Malcolm Ramsay Terry Betts
Jan Goodeve Mike Howarth

For HCC

Sass Pledger – Director of Property Robert Smyth – Strategic Asset Manager Madeleine Lewis – Project Manager

 

Letter to Sara Saunders, Head of Planning & Building Control, East Herts District Council

REVISING THE DISTRICT PLAN AND RE-DEVELOPING THE COUNTY HALL SITE

Dear Sara

Hertford Civic Society has realised for some time that the County Hall site might face re-development. We made representations to EHDC about its designation for office use even during the preparation of the ‘old’/current District Plan (adopted in 2018).

We want to express renewed interest in the future of the County Hall site, within the context of the next District Plan. A report last October to your Council Executive indicated that while the new plan was not imminent, “an Engagement Strategy should be prepared which sets out the Council’s approach to engaging community and stakeholders.” If this is now under consideration, we would like to be included, bearing in mind both the County Hall site and other potential locations.

We have already had some useful dialogue earlier this year with the County Council, which is actively withdrawing staff from most of the site. We also had a briefing by officers responsible for the future of the County Hall site.

While we recognise that there is still a ‘waiting time’ of almost a year, to give the County Council enough time to check whether there is any interest from organisations that might want to rent the buildings as office space, we believe that it is sensible to begin to review other possible uses – and for EHDC to think about meeting/briefing with Hertford Civic Society (with just a small group from our main committee).

We would therefore be grateful if you and your colleagues would consider the format and scheduling of this event. We would like to emphasise that we are open to varying approaches to the future use of the County Hall site. We want to make sure that the right options are found for the future of Hertford, given that this is a large site close to the heart of the town, with some listed buildings of architectural merit. We believe we could contribute constructively here: for 60 years we have actively promoted high-quality planning in Hertford, from an expert and independent standpoint. We have 300 members living in or near Hertford.

Best Wishes

Jan Goodeve
Chair, Hertford Civic Society

Copies to:

Ben Crystall, Leader EHDC
Bob Deering, Hertford St Andrews, Herts County Council Steve Watson, Chairman DMC
Vicky Glover-Ward, Exec Member Planning & Growth Rachel Carter, Hertford Castle
Sarah Hopewell, Hertford Castle

Councillor
Councillor
Councillor
Councillor
Councillor
Councillor
Richard Cassidy, Chief Executive
Claire Sime, Planning Policy Manager Benjamin Wood, Comms, Strategy & Policy Members of Hertford Civic Society

 

 

 

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