In March 2021, the community in Hertford Bengeo Ward received the very welcome news that the referendum on the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan will take place on Thursday 6th May 2021. Residents of Hertford Bengeo Ward, who are on the Electoral Register, can cast their vote on whether they want East Herts District Council to use the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan to help it decide planning applications in the Plan Area over the 12 years up to 2033.
The community have been very actively involved in the production of the Neighbourhood Plan since the first public meeting at Bengeo School in 2017 through to the publication of the final Plan in March 2021. With the support of a planning consultant, and the Hertford Town Council Neighbourhood Plan Working Party, the Community Steering Group produced and wrote the Neighbourhood Plan. The Plan has 18 planning policies on green spaces, important views, nature conservation, air quality, community, heritage and cultural assets, sustainable travel, and residential and commercial development. It also has an Action Plan which sets out examples of community projects and initiatives the Neighbourhood Plan will lend its support to.
Draft versions of the Neighbourhood Plan were published in June 2019 and February 2020, together with a Consultation Statement, a Basic Conditions Statement, and a draft Strategic Environment Assessment Screening Report. All these documents are available on the ‘News’ page of this website, together with copies of the draft and final version of the Neighbourhood Plan.
Extensive community and statutory consultee consultation on the Neighbourhood Plan included: community surveys, policy exhibitions, drop-in events, leaflet distributions, and regular promotion on the Neighbourhood Plan website and Facebook and Twitter pages. Hard copies of the Draft Plan were available at key locations in the Plan Area.
East Herts District Council consulted on the Neighbourhood Plan from July to September 2020 and the Plan was independently examined between October and December 2020. The policies in the Neighbourhood Plan were amended in line with the Examiner’s recommendations and the revised Plan was submitted to and approved for referendum by the Executive Member for Planning and Growth at East Herts District Council.
The Community Steering Group are promoting the referendum to residents of Hertford Bengeo Ward. A majority vote at referendum is required for the Neighbourhood Plan to be adopted. If it’s adopted, the planning policies in the Neighbourhood Plan will be given equal weight to the policies in the East Herts District Plan in deciding the outcome of planning applications in Hertford Bengeo Ward.
The Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan was produced with the very helpful sponsorship of Hertford Town Council, Molewood Residents’ Association and Watermill Estate Residents’ Association.
More About Bengeo
Find out more about Bengeo on Wikipedia
Click here for a map of Bengeo Ward from Mapit UK
Some useful statistics about the Bengeo Ward from Qpzm LocalStats
Briefing note on Referendums of Neighbourhood
Development Plans