County Hall Site

Published: 01/07/2024

---

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

---