East Herts District Council, Call for Sites

Published: 05/07/2024

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On 5th July 2024, our local authority announced a call for sites. 

The East Herts Council has agreed that the 2018 District Plan needs updating. To help inform this update, the Council has launched a Call for Sites (5 July to 30 September) This is an opportunity for individuals, organisations, landowners, developers, agents and local businesses to submit sites that could potentially be used to build houses, employment space, infrastructure and community facilities or provide land for wildlife habitat creation and enhancement. Submissions are required to include details of ownership and support from the landowner/s. 

Council Statement

All submissions will be made publicly available on the East Herts Council website 

A detailed assessment of all the sites and proposed uses will be made in due course, to determine whether they are suitable, available, and achievable. 

The Council emphasised that the Call for Sites is a process to assess locations that could potentially be brought forward for development in the future. It is stressed that the submission of a site does not in any way confirm that it will be selected. 

Those submitting sites for consideration are asked to only submit areas of land that they believe have genuine potential to be developed or used for habitat creation over the next 15 to 20 years. 

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and Local Nature Recovery 

BNG cannot always be provided on the development site, so developers can pay other landowners to carry out habitat improvements on their behalf. Such land can be identified in the Call for Sites 

Sites put forward for habitat creation or enhancement can also to be considered as part of a Hertfordshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy being developed by Hertfordshire County Council aiming to identify locations to create, enhance or recover habitats. Such consideration could provide opportunities to attract investment and funding. 

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