Welwyn Garden City Action Planning Day

Local business and resident representatives, police, borough councillors, council partners and officers all came together with Urban Practitioners, regeneration and urban design specialists, on Friday 15 September for an entertaining day discussing future plans for improving Welwyn Garden City’s town centre.

The day was a very early stage in the process to develop proposals for a rejuvenation of Welwyn Garden City’s town centre. The three areas being discussed were Town Centre North, Campus East and Broadwater Road West.

The object of the day was to get initial feedback and give the town’s stakeholders the chance to highlight important features and ideas. All participants took part in a walking audit – each picked one of the three areas and walked around it, making notes as they went. The notes were then brought together and everyone had the chance to discuss what they think is most important for the town centre.

Many similar themes cropped up, including the need for more leisure/restaurant facilities, pedestrians areas, improvements to the subways, plenty of landscaping and the need to maintain the character of the Garden City in any new development.

Councillor Mandy Perkins, Executive Member for Planning, said: “We promised in our Corporate Plan to consult with the public about this redevelopment and I am grateful to all the people who gave up their time to attend the action planning day. It was wonderful to see so many people taking this opportunity to give us their views and opinions.

“It is critical that we plan for the future in a proactive manner, so that the people of Welwyn Garden City have control over the future of their town, rather than having to react to third parties, who may not necessarily be in tune with the historic ethos of Welwyn Garden City.

“I would also like to reassure residents in Hatfield that the Welwyn Garden City redevelopment project is in its very early stages and the Hatfield town centre redevelopment will be well underway before anything is done in these areas of Welwyn Garden City.”

The findings from the day will be pulled together into three draft Supplementary Planning Documents (one for each area), which residents will have the opportunity to view and comment on in January 2007.

More details about Urban Practitioners can be found at www.urbanpractitioners.co.uk