Hertfordshire Guide to Growth : Five Years On

Five years ago the University of Hertfordshire and our chancellor, Lord Salisbury, sponsored the Hertfordshire Charrette, which was guided by Andrés Duany with assistance from the BRE and Turnberry Consultants, and involved a wide range of stakeholders with interests in the future of the county. unusually, the charrette had a broad focus on placemaking across the county rather than looking at just one settlement. It offered Hertfordshire residents and professionals the opportunity to work directly with a design team developing sustainable growth strategies. That process produced the excellent Hertfordshire Guide to Growth (2008) which focused on six general ‘scenarios’ by which the county might grow in the years until 2021, and an analysis of typical urban models, including a critique of the design of the new town of Stevenage, and case studies, including village and hamlet extensions. Since that time certain ‘structural’ things have changed. the county’s growth targets in the form of housing allocations put forward by the East of England plan were abandoned, as was the regional spatial strategy (RSS). the national planning policy framework (NPPF) and the Localism and Decentralisation Act came into force. Yet similar issues for the county remained: how to deal sustainably with pressures and requirements for growth; how to improve resilience in relation to the environment, and the social and economic life of the county; and how to harness the benefits of development while minimising any cost to communities. Against this backdrop it seemed timely to review where we have come from and consider directions for the future in relation to the county’s future development in the light of the ideas generated by the Hertfordshire Guide to Growth. this intensive three-month research project has recently been completed and has produced this report: the Hertfordshire Guide to Growth – Five Years On.