A meeting of our full Council in April 2022 considered options in relation to the Local Plan following the public engagement carried out in 2021. It was agreed to set aside the current Regulation 18 draft Local Plan, but continue the local plan process by completing consideration of the Regulation 18 engagement responses and carrying out additional work as necessary to inform a local plan spatial strategy, whilst awaiting clarity from the Government on changes to law or policy affecting that matter.
Officers are therefore continuing with a range of technical work which will underpin the new Local Plan whilst also awaiting details of proposed changes to the NPPF (relating to policy approach) as well as the plan making reforms set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in May. At this stage, we do not have a firm timetable for the next steps but our Member Planning Panel have been advised that we do not now envisage having a new draft plan available until next year. We will be looking to update our Local Development Scheme as soon as our timescales are known.
Further information relating to the contents of Hertsmere's new draft Local Plan and the previous public engagement which ran until 6 December 2021 can be found on the Hertsmere Local Plan website.
The draft Local Plan was previously considered by our Councillors at meetings of our Executive on 14 September and full Council on 30 September.
More detail on planned infrastructure improvements is contained in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan, which can be found on our Supporting Studies page.
You can:
You can view the technical studies that we have completed so far on the Supporting Studies page.
More about the new Local Plan
The process of creating a new Local Plan for Hertsmere began in 2016. Central government requires all local councils to prepare a Local Plan, which sets out how the numbers of homes and jobs will be boosted in each local authority area.
We have powers under the Local Government Act 2003 to charge for the discretionary services of providing planning advice. We are now looking to enter into Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) with site promoters to take outstanding technical work forward on the Local Plan. Further information can be found here: Local Plan PPA service leaflet (PDF 174kb).
Local Development Scheme 2021
The Local Development Scheme 2021 (PDF 1.13mb) sets out a timetable for the preparation of the Local Plan.
Past public engagement on the new Local Plan
To help us choose where new development for homes and jobs could take place, we asked for your views on sites that had been put forward for development by land owners and site promoters. The engagement ran until 20 December 2018.
Read our Potential sites for housing and employment, PSHE (PDF 21.86mb)
Read the Third issue of our newsletter (PDF 585kb).
In response to this, we received approximately 4,000 responses from over 2,100 individuals, as well as a number of local groups, statutory bodies and developers/site promoters, including details of 21 new sites.
You can view a summary of all the responses received from:
- the general public within the overview of responses from general public report (PDF 6.46mb).
- the site promoters, statutory bodies and local interest groups within the overview of responses from site promoters, statutory bodies and local interest groups. (PDF 4.87mb). An errata to this report can be found here.
*** Note: The Potential Sites for Housing and Employment document was published in 2018 and therefore does not include consideration of sites put forward in the Employment Call for Sites carried out in spring 2021. Assessment of these new options is ongoing and feedback on any of the new sites that we consider should be considered for development will be sought through engagement on the draft Local Plan, which opens on Monday (11 October 2021).***
If you would like to be added to our consultation database or wish to view details of previous consultations, please visit our consultation system. All those on the consultation database will be informed of future consultations as the new Local Plan progresses.
New potential housing sites
As part of the Potential Sites for Housing and Employment (PSHE) consultation new sites were promoted. A map showing all of these sites can be found within the overview of responses from site promoters, statutory bodies and local interest groups report. This now concludes the current call for sites process. Any further submissions will need to be made as part of the consultation on the Draft Local Plan which is currently scheduled for Spring 2020.
Further details on new sites, which have been submitted in response to the PSHE report, can be found on our consultation system, and within the updated HELAA report which will be released shortly. If you wish to submit comments in relation to these new promoted sites please email us at local.plan@hertsmere.gov.uk
There will be a further opportunity to comment on all of the sites included within the Draft Local Plan when this is published.
In our short video clip, Councillor Dr Harvey Cohen, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Localism, explains more about the new Local Plan and the period of public engagement that was held recently.
Potential sites for housing and employment
As part of our engagement process, we held a number of exhibitions enabling people to come along, see the potential sites that have been put forward and speak to our staff. They were held at:
If you were unable to attend the exhibitions, you can view the content of our exhibition boards here.
Issues and Options consultation (October - November 2017)
A consultation had previously been held on an Issues and Options document (PDF 14mb), which closed on 30 November 2017.
As part of the Issues and Options consultation, we held a number of drop-in sessions around the borough. These enabled people to come along and find out more about what we are doing and ask questions. There was an opportunity to leave questions with us on the day. The second issue (PDF 4mb) of our newsletter was also distributed to all households in Hertsmere.
We have listened to what people said in response to the Issues and Options consultation and are committed to continuing to consult throughout the preparation of the new Local Plan. You can view our Report on the Issues and Options consultation (PDF 2.58mb).
Local Plan launch (Winter 2016 - Spring 2017)
Between November 2016 and April 2017 we asked residents and people who work in the borough to tell us what they like about Hertsmere, what they think should change and what they think are the important issues that the plan should address. The first issue (PDF 6mb) of our newsletter was also distributed to all households in Hertsmere.
We received comments from people around the borough, which you can read about in the Consultation Report (PDF 4mb)