The clearest issue now is this: East Herts District Council has now confirmed that Amwell Place Farm (including the farm buildings) is to be considered as a potential housing option for Hertford Heath both through the Neighbourhood Plan process and through the District Plan Review. But if the Neighbourhood Plan is not taken forward, there is a real risk the site could progress mainly through the District Plan Review without being openly and fairly compared against other reasonable alternatives at village level, and without the same local scrutiny and resident influence.
That matters because abandoning the Neighbourhood Plan does not remove the requirement for around 84 new homes. It simply transfers far more control to district-wide processes through the East Herts District Plan Review, reducing the village’s influence over where development happens and what mitigation or community benefits are secured.
At the Parish Council meeting, reasons given for stepping away from the Neighbourhood Plan included claims that there is “not enough public support” and that the costs of carrying on are too high. Many residents are understandably concerned that this represents a fundamental change of direction, without residents being properly informed or consulted, and despite the clear vote in August 2024 to continue with the Plan.
1. What the Neighbourhood Plan was meant to do
When the Neighbourhood Plan began in 2016, the Parish Council told residents that:
Amwell Place Farm was not an appropriate location for development; andany future growth – including any potential Green Belt changes – should be shaped through a Neighbourhood Plan, with residents having a proper say.That was the promise: local people shaping where growth happens and what it looks like.
The East Herts District Plan says Hertford Heath, as a Group 1 Village, needs to plan for around 84 new homes over the plan period, with up to 40% affordable housing on larger schemes. The Neighbourhood Plan is supposed to:decide which sites deliver those homes;set design, character and landscape expectations; andsecure local infrastructure and community benefits.Nine years on, there is still no adopted Plan and the 84 homes are still not allocated.
2. Residents have already shown support
In August 2024, the Parish Council asked residents whether they wanted to continue with the Neighbourhood Plan and whether they supported commissioning updated assessment work to compare site options properly.
Residents said yes: a clear majority supported carrying on with the Plan; andaround 30 residents volunteered to join or support a re-formed steering group.That is not a picture of “no public support”.
Since that vote, however, key steps needed to move the Plan forward have not yet taken place:no re-formed, functioning steering group;no clear timetable to complete the Plan; andno open invitation for volunteers to play an active role in shaping site choices and policies.
3. The lawful next step was clear — and it still hasn’t happened
Following an independent review of the Neighbourhood Plan process in 2023, the Parish Council was advised by AECOM the Parish Council’s independent consultants, that given identified issues in the earlier process, the lawful next step was to update the existing AECOM assessment work (the Strategic Environmental Assessment) so that all reasonable housing options could be compared properly — including Amwell Place Farm — across the full range of relevant themes, not just heritage.
In plain English, that means comparing sites side-by-side on matters residents care about, such as
access
traffic and road safety
ecology and biodiversity
landscape and views
drainage and flood risk
heritage impacts
and overall sustainability and deliverability.
The purpose is straightforward: to help ensure the final site choice (or combination of sites) is the most sustainable and least harmful option, and to ensure the potential benefits and trade-offs of each site can be openly discussed.
Just as importantly, it is meant to allow residents to see the evidence and comment on it through proper public consultation (including Regulation 14), so the Plan reflects what the community actually supports.
However, this updated assessment has not been taken forward, and the funding that had been approved to support it was allowed to lapse in April 2025. The practical result is that residents are being left without the transparent comparison and meaningful choice that the Neighbourhood Plan process was designed to provide when it commenced in 2016.
4. Is Abandonment in the Best Interests of Residents?
Abandoning the Neighbourhood Plan does not remove the housing requirement. It simply shifts decisions to district-wide processes and reduces village influence over site selection, mitigation and community benefits.
This is precisely why residents voted in August 2024 to continue with the Neighbourhood Plan rather than abandon it. Residents understood that walking away would not make the housing requirement disappear — it would simply hand decisions to others.
The Parish Council should not reverse that direction without:clear reasons;published evidence; andmeaningful consultation with residents.A key reason the Plan exists is to ensure there is a transparent, professionally independent assessment and village-level comparison of the main site options before decisions are made. Without that, decisions are far more likely to be taken through district-wide processes, without the same degree of local scrutiny or resident influence.
5. Amwell Place Farm – now confirmed as being considered for housing.
East Herts District Council has now confirmed that Amwell Place Farm is not being reserved for the District Plan Review only and should also be considered as part of the Neighbourhood Plan process. In addition, the site has been submitted through the District Plan Review Call for Sites.
Residents are not, however, being clearly informed that Amwell Place Farm is being promoted in this way, including in a form that could be argued to meet the full village’s housing allocation.
This matters because the Parish Council’s own post to all residents dated 19 December 2016 stated that Amwell Place Farm had been considered and deemed inappropriate at that time, and that “there is no plan in place for development on this land”.
Residents were also told that, through the Neighbourhood Plan, they would have a say over “how and where the village may grow”, but only if residents agreed.
Now that Amwell Place Farm is again being actively promoted by Hertfordshire County Council, and has been confirmed as being considered through both the Neighbourhood Plan process and the District Plan Review, residents should be proactively informed of this change in position and what it could mean for Hertford Heath.
Most importantly: if the Neighbourhood Plan is discontinued, there is a real risk that Amwell Place Farm could progress primarily through the District Plan Review without being openly and independently assessed side-by-side against other reasonable alternatives at village level, and without residents having a direct say through the Neighbourhood Plan process and referendum.
6. “No public interest” ?
Residents voted to continue in August 2024, and over 30 people put their names forward to help.
If any councillor is asserting that there is now “no public support”, that claim should be evidenced transparently — for example, by explaining what steps were taken to contact volunteers and what response was actually received. It cannot reasonably be used as justification to abandon the Plan without proper resident engagement.
7. Cost (and capacity) is it credible reason to abandon the Plan?
The Parish Council has previously indicated that funds were budgeted or earmarked to complete the remaining assessment work, and a charitable donation was offered to support completion if needed.
In addition:
the Parish Council still holds around £10,000 of Neighbourhood Planning grant
around £15,000 has been indicated as being set aside in the Parish budget for technical work
Two new councillors joined the Parish Council in 2024 with specific skills to help deliver the Plan – one with project management experience and one a retired Hertfordshire County Council town planner who has been advising the
Parish Council on its options
and East Herts District Council has repeatedly encouraged the Parish Council to progress and complete the Neighbourhood Plan using the existing evidence, and has previously advised that the Plan could and should be brought to completion.
In those circumstances, cost is not a sound reason to discontinue the Plan when the remaining steps are clear and achievable.
8. What residents can do now
If you care about where Hertford Heath’s new homes go, and about keeping decisions at village level, you may wish to contact the Parish Clerk and councillors before the meeting on 12 January 2026 to ask that:
the Neighbourhood Plan is completed rather than abandoned
Amwell Place Farm and all other reasonable alternatives are assessed transparently and compared side-by-side at village level
and residents are properly consulted before any major direction change is made.
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