This joint letter, dated 10 April 2007, was sent to North Hertfordshire District Council by the following voluntary sector organisations in Hitchin:

The Hitchin Society Registered Charity No 1091056

Hitchin Historical Society Registered Charity No 280746

Hitchin Forum

The Triangle Residents’ Association

Keep Hitchin Special

To: The Chief Executive

North Hertfordshire District Council

This open letter is being sent to you jointly by the Registered Charities and campaigning organisations in Hitchin actively involved in the field of the historic and built environment, conservation issues and civic amenity. It is our united and considered view that we now have no alternative but to express to you in the strongest possible terms our concerns about the approach of North Hertfordshire District Council towards Hitchin. Indeed, we believe that the Council’s policies and decisions are totally unresponsive to the needs and aspirations of Hitchin, and that the situation we are facing today in Hitchin is the most serious and damaging we have ever known.

In stating this, we acknowledge the efforts of Hitchin Councillors, working through the Hitchin Committee, in representing the interests of Hitchin. However, we see their input as having had, at best, a marginal effect on decision making by Cabinet and the approach taken by officers to Hitchin issues. Now, with the Council’s decision to withdraw delegated planning powers from Area Committees, and reduce the frequency of meetings, Hitchin Councillors will be seen as having even less influence over matters of great concern to Hitchin people.

Our concerns can be grouped into three distinct themes. The first relates to the profound lack of civic pride in the public realm, the community life of Hitchin. Then there is the disregard for the inherited sense of place of Hitchin, as represented by the historic urban landscape. Finally, there is the abandonment of Hitchin to piecemeal development decisions without regard to any overall vision of the quality of the built environment, both for the present and for future generations.

1. The issue of civic pride is fundamental to many of the concerns within Hitchin. This applies of course to the shabby and cluttered appearance of some of our town centre streets and the failure on the part of the Council to achieve the objectives of the Bucklersbury and Sun Street enhancement scheme. However, it is over such issues as the sale of the Old Town Hall in Brand Street to become a wine bar and restaurant that the lack of civic pride becomes such a specific issue. It is difficult to think of towns either elsewhere in the UK, or particularly in the rest of Europe, that would simply dispose of such an important civic asset merely for short-term financial gain. It was all the more regrettable that such a building was lost to the public realm when seen in the context of the shortage of good community space in Hitchin. Similarly, over a year ago the Council reached a decision in principle to close Hitchin Museum. Since then, voluntary sector representatives have engaged at length with council officers to demonstrate that alternative options are available at lower cost to the Council. Even now, it is far from clear that the Council has abandoned its plan to close Hitchin Museum, and if that were to happen, this would be a further example of the erosion of Hitchin’s sense of place as a separate and historic settlement, one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Hertfordshire. And if that were not sufficient, we are now faced with the disposal of Hitchin’s 1901 Town Hall either on a long lease, or possibly by outright sale. The loss of such an important community building from civic ownership would demonstrate a lack of civic pride in Hitchin that would be incomprehensible in the context of any local authority administering a town in the best interests of its residents.

2. One of the most important assets of Hitchin is its historic environment. It is what makes the town attractive to residents and visitors alike, and contributes to its economic success. It also adds to the appeal of the town to potential new residents, and as such should be important to developers wishing to sell new homes in the town. The medieval and Georgian core of Hitchin is now probably safe from large-scale demolition, although the Council still shows a remarkable degree of indifference towards protecting the appearance of the town centre Conservation Area through the planning process. However, much of the character of Hitchin, so important to an understanding of how the town has evolved over the years, lies beyond the town centre. With so many of the brownfield sites within the town now committed to development, the interest of developers is switching to Hitchin’s rich but virtually unprotected Victorian heritage. Elsewhere, such buildings and streets would be part of Conservation Areas, conferring protection against demolition and inappropriate redevelopment. In Hitchin, however, such areas are treated with indifference, with an astonishing unwillingness to engage in conservation appraisals. Even when recently provided by the voluntary sector with all the information necessary to protect a threatened landmark building, the Council failed to act upon it. Again, when a Design Brief was prepared by a long-established residents’ association, the Council failed to take any action towards progressing it as Council policy. The overall result has been the erosion of Hitchin’s historic urban landscape, leaving residents, visitors, and indeed commercial interests in the town, poorer as a result of it.

3. The third theme relates to the piecemeal and uncoordinated approach to planning decisions. The character of Hitchin town centre is currently being changed drastically by the number of large-scale residential developments now taking place. However, at no stage in the process has anyone stood back from the individual planning applications and questioned whether this is how we actually want Hitchin to be. The lack of an up-to-date Local Plan or LDF, and inadequate Planning Briefs, has left Hitchin appallingly vulnerable to, in effect, uncontrolled development. All this is now resulting in Hitchin being virtually transformed by out-of-scale and insensitive residential developments such as we now see on the former Ransom site and the retirement flats off Paynes Park. Still further damage to the quality of the built environment will result from the recent planning decision to permit an extraordinarily high density of development on the former Brookers site and adjoining land. Again, the approach of the Council to such planning decisions has been seen to be one of indifference to the future of Hitchin as a balanced, well-functioning settlement. Instead, the over-riding concern would appear to be that a Planning Inspector might overturn a refusal on appeal, and the Council has been risk-averse in not making a stand against inappropriate development proposals.

Each of these themes show the extent to which the interests of Hitchin, and more importantly the people of Hitchin, are being ill-served by decisions of a Letchworth-based Cabinet and officers having no affinity or allegiance to Hitchin. This remote and detached form of local government has now lost the confidence of all who have volunteered time and effort in a totally non-party political way for the benefit of Hitchin.

In addition to the themes set out above, there is also the very specific and current issue of the future of Churchgate. We certainly recognise that it is essential to have a reasoned and constructive outcome for the Churchgate situation at an early opportunity, as this is important for the future of Hitchin as a successful market town. Public consultation exercises over recent years have shown that the replacement of Churchgate by a new development would be broadly welcomed provided that any new design is of high quality and to a scale compatible with the town centre of Hitchin. However, it is now clear that the Council’s current negotiations with the leasehold owners of Churchgate go far beyond this, and the emerging development proposal embraces not only Churchgate itself, but Biggin Lane, St Mary’s Square, Portmill Lane and the Post Office site.

a) The scale of this is so large that we have the gravest doubts that the Council has the necessary skill or experience to negotiate successfully with development interests, and to achieve outcomes that are in the best interests of Hitchin and the local community.

b) This concern includes the possibility that assets in Council ownership (in effect property held on behalf of the community) may be transferred to a developer as part of a negotiated settlement. It is essential that such assets are used only in the best interests of the community, and not disposed of for short-term advantage.

c) Arguments are being used by Letchworth-based officers who clearly know little of the commercial reality that makes Hitchin so successful, and quite distinct from other nearby towns.

d) We believe that a development on the proposed scale, all designed and built by a single developer, will inevitably lead to over-large structures that fail to reflect the variety, scale and grain of the town centre. No town that has grown incrementally over centuries can absorb such a massive redevelopment without a major disruption to its commercial vitality. The closeness of the development to St Mary’s church and the Biggin emphasises still further the need for an understanding of the historical context of Hitchin. We simply do not believe that Council officers have the required level of understanding necessary to achieve an acceptable outcome.

e) Finally, there is no evidence that the Council has the skills required to supervise and control the project management of such a large-scale undertaking. The possibility of a major town centre redevelopment scheme being carried out in Letchworth at the same time, and the recent failure of a far smaller enhancement project in Hitchin, makes this concern particularly pertinent.

Overall, we believe that the Churchgate scheme currently contemplated would cause profound and permanent damage to the historic environment of Hitchin, and would be quite beyond the ability of the Council to deliver with anything approaching an acceptable outcome.

We recognise the financial constraint that all local authorities are required to work under, and acknowledge that hard decisions must be made to balance the increasing demands placed on local government against funding constraints. Nevertheless, we believe that the Council is failing in its responsibilities towards the legitimate needs and aspirations of Hitchin as a distinct and separate settlement; Hitchin deserves much more than the neglect and indifference it is currently receiving.

This letter should not be dismissed as the opening of a campaign for a Town Council for Hitchin. The underlying issues are now more fundamental than can be addressed by such a simplistic solution, although we accept a Town Council might be right under certain circumstances. Similarly the issues are of such importance to the good governance of Hitchin that they cannot be adequately resolved in some form of Public Meeting that would inevitably lead to argument and counter-argument without recognition or acceptance of the fundamental short-comings of the present arrangements.

We believe that it is now essential for the District Council to recognise unequivocally the extent to which confidence has been lost in its approach to Hitchin issues, and to take the most urgent steps to adjust its policies so that the interests of Hitchin become once again central to its decision-making processes. The voluntary sector organisations signing this letter are most willing to provide the fullest substantiation of the issues involved, and would suggest that in the first instance they should meet with you so that you are fully aware of the depth of these concerns. This would enable you to make informed recommendations to the Council on how confidence in the Council may eventually be re-built in Hitchin, and how the Council may once again serve the interests of Hitchin and its people.

Signed by representatives of:

Hitchin Historical Society

Hitchin Forum

The Hitchin Society

The Triangle Residents’ Association

Keep Hitchin Special

Return to News and Issues

Return to Homepage