Council Responds To Bircherley Green Inaction

Following last week's open letter to developer Wrenbridge and local councillors about Bircherley Green, the district council have issued a response clarifying their position regarding the stalled work on the site.

In their response, East Herts District Council detail the progress made over recent months, including amendments to planning documents and discussions with developer Wrenbridge.

In a statement, a council spokesperson said: "We know how frustrating these delays have been to residents and visitors to Hertford and we have been working hard to support Wrenbridge through this process"

"We will continue to work with Wrenbridge on this scheme to ensure we get the right development for our town"

The full response is as follows:

East Herts Council has been working with Wrenbridge, developers of Bircherley Green, which is owned by the Diageo Pension Fund, for a number of years. An initial planning application for this site was submitted in 2017 and, following months of work with the council, was approved in January 2018, subject to a number of conditions to ensure the development met legal requirements.

Residents and visitors to Hertford will have seen that while demolition works had begun, work on the site has since ground to a halt. Works have stopped as the council is still waiting for the submission of a number of planning conditions from Wrenbridge, which were imposed on the original planning permission, and until these are received, works cannot continue.

Wrenbridge submitted a Non-Material Amendment application last year, which was refused because the changes sought were considered to be materially different from the scheme that had been approved. A further two Non-Material Amendment applications have been submitted this year, of which one has been refused as the changes proposed were again considered to be materially different from the approved scheme, and the other is still pending consideration.

Wrenbridge has submitted a new planning application in November 2018, where changes to the scheme have been proposed and are under consideration. This application is required to be taken to the East Herts Development Management Committee (DMC). Decisions at DMC are made in accordance with the processes laid down in law and by the conditions set out in the adopted District Plan. DMC can only make decisions on complete applications, which ensure all the relevant information is to hand and all appropriate assessments and reviews have been undertaken.

In this case, a viability assessment was missing, and is an important piece of work that is required in determining the level of affordable housing in the scheme, something that we know is important to residents. The missing information has now been provided, but the Council was waiting for the final report from an independent assessor, which meant the application could not go to DMC in March, and there will not be one in April due to the election, therefore this will not be decided until May.

We know how frustrating these delays have been to residents and visitors to Hertford and we have been working hard to support Wrenbridge through this process. We will continue to work with Wrenbridge on this scheme to ensure we get the right development for our town.