Our Story

Hertford Civic Society was founded by local people in 1969 to counter major development proposals damaging to the local environment and community. We work by engaging and informing residents, and lobbying politicians and local authorities to ensure every Hertford resident is proud of where they live.

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Our Journey:

1969: Hertford Civic Society was created

HCS began as an act of community resistance in response to official threats to bulldoze the much-loved core of the town to build a shopping centre.

2019: HCS continues to flourish

The same spirit of community resistance was still going strong 50 years later when, in 2019, Hertford Civic Society hosted a public meeting of over 200 people to review the County Council’s plans for a Hertford bypass for the A414. The opposition was vocal and articulate enough to begin to persuade the County Council to re-think its initial assumptions.

2024: Hertford Civic Society remains impactful

What We Do:

The main activity of Hertford Civic Society is to scrutinise the more high-profile planning proposals confronting the town. When necessary, we fight hard against damaging propositions, based on our independent expertise.

Every few years, we organise an awards process to identify and celebrate the best new buildings or major architectural redevelopments within the town. Certificates and plaques go to the winners; the plaques can be seen dotted around the town, some dating back several decades. 

Hertford is steeped in history and so we collaborated with the Town Council to identify key historic buildings to create a heritage trail, identified by blue plaques.

We own and are responsible for maintaining Confluence, the fountain in Salisbury Square, right in the heart of Hertford.

New members are always welcome, join us. We offer our members talks on a wide range of local topics and host occasional parties, sometimes in venues normally off-limits. In 2019, we celebrated our 50th anniversary with a party in a lovely private garden in Bengeo, and we recently hosted a gin-tasting in a private sculpture garden.

Keep up to date with our work on X.