Scheme

Gilston Area Village 7 forms part of the wider Gilston Garden Town proposals and provides the opportunity to deliver a new vibrant new community including significant infrastructure, amenities, and connectivity.

The development will deliver 1,500 high-quality new homes, a local village centre comprised of 11,510sqm of non-residential floorspace, 5,100spm of commercial floorspace, an independent nursery, primary school, open space including play areas and allotments, outdoor sports and recreational facilities comprising of a community park, football hub and village playing fields.

In addition to the community benefits, significant contributions will also be made to the sustainable transport corridor to further enhance sustainability.

Strategy

Meeting Place undertook significant consultation with the local community and stakeholders.

This included five consultation events over a three-year period which covered the promotion of the site and some of the details that were included in the outline application that was submitted in 2019. A webinar was held in December 2020 to update residents and stakeholders on the changes made to the application since submission and consultation with East Herts District Council.

This was advertised by a newsletter and website updates were also made to ensure residents were kept updated. In the lead-up to committee, communication focused on the social value that the scheme would deliver.

As part of this, a social value statement was produced to demonstrate the benefits of the scheme and how engagement has been undertaken.

Outcome

Following a series of Member Briefing events, an extraordinary Development Management Committee was held in late March to determine the application.

Councillors and Officer’s recognised that the site would help deliver their Local Plan ambitions and also help with their housing delivery and the outline planning application was approved.

This is a landmark decision that will help facilitate the delivery of new homes, infrastructure and amenities at Gilston Garden Town.

The approval of Gilston Village 7 follows the work we delivered in helping to achieve permission for Places for People’s application for 8,500 new homes, infrastructure and amenities, which will allow the delivery of 10,000 new homes.