So, after 6 years a development on the Bircherley Green Shopping Centre site was given the green light on 25th June 2020. I sat through 2 hours of the Development Management Committee and frankly learned nothing that I didn’t know already. It confirmed two things. One it was not viable to offer affordable housing and… Continue reading Hertford Saved! – Doomed!
Tag: planning
Bircherley Green 2020
As promised in my previous post I am placing my letter of objection to the latest planning application for Bircherley Green as submitted by Chase New Homes. The full list of documents accompanying the application can be viewed here. My own letter of objection is posted here and can be read as a .pdf file.… Continue reading Bircherley Green 2020
The Great Wen
But what is to be fate of that great wen of all? The monster called … ?William Cobbett (1762 – 1835) Rural Rides, 1822. You may ask what William Cobbett has to do with modern day Hertford. In Cobbett’s time the Great Wen, the monster, was London. Today the great wen (or sore) in the… Continue reading The Great Wen
Hertford – the county town
Sometimes I think I am living in a different universe from everyone else. Apart from a message on Hertford.net no one else seems to be the slightest concerned that the planning application for Bircherley Green Shopping Centre has been withdrawn. Just to make sure I downloaded the entry again and here is the email from… Continue reading Hertford – the county town
Fings aint what they used to be
Since it was announced that Chase Homes intended to buy Bircherley Green the newspapers, message boards and pubs have been full of hopes, plans and wish lists. Unfortunately the planning process does not work that way. I have lived in Hertford since 1980 but was born and grew up in Camden Town. On Saturday morning… Continue reading Fings aint what they used to be
Peyton Place
The best thing about going on holiday with the grandchildren is that you forget about the cares of home and become a child yourself again. The downside is that when you come home you realise that nothing has changed and you are an adult again. So I didn’t expect much to have happened in Hertford… Continue reading Peyton Place
Bell tolls for Hertford
Never send to know for whom the bells tolls – it tolls for thee. So, the powers of conservatism in Hertford have finally won. The developers have pulled out of the second phase of the Bircherley Green redevelopment scheme. This is a Pyrrhic victory at best. We are left with a shopping centre with empty… Continue reading Bell tolls for Hertford
Gateway to the South
It is a case of deja vu – waiting for the next boot to fall or in Hertford’s case, waiting for the gates to open. This Road Traffic Order has been affixed to the notice board at the southern end of Bull Plain for a number of weeks. What it says is that gates will… Continue reading Gateway to the South
This is your home town
Son take a good look aroundThis is your home town. Bruce Springsteen I am tired of everybody telling me that Hertford is the county town. Maybe it is; but on what grounds? Look at this. This is the situation facing anyone walking through Maidenhead Street towards Salisbury Square. You have to turn left and cross… Continue reading This is your home town
2019-Bircherley Green
As I wrote last year there has not been much to write about in Hertford. Then as if by magic new proposals have been submitted regarding the redevelopment of Bircherley Green Shopping Centre. This application has since been withdrawn and a new application submitted by Chase New Homes. My stance has not changed much so… Continue reading 2019-Bircherley Green