Published:
5:35 PM March 11, 2021
Parking will remain free for three hours under the proposals with charges of £3.50 for three to four hours and £6.50 all-day
- Credit: WHBC
A proposal to charge for parking after three hours in Hatfield has been confirmed by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council following a cabinet meeting earlier this week.
On Tuesday, March 9, the cabinet unanimously voted to agree on the recommendations from the cabinet planning and parking panel (CPPP).
Parking will remain free for three hours under the proposals, including at the multi-storey, with charges of £3.50 for three to four hours and £6.50 all-day - agreed as part of the council’s budget setting process.
Friendship House in Hatfield will undergo an options appraisal
- Credit: Google Maps
Friendship House is set to remain closed until the summer when a full report on the various options for the centre will be presented to cabinet.
Yesterday, March 9, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council s cabinet addressed the Overview and Scrutiny Committee s question about whether they would consider the assignment of the lease to a particular charity.
However, the cabinet agreed not to do this, believing it is against the interests of transparency and fairness, but did stress its commitment to retaining a community facility in the area of Friendship House.
Published:
1:03 PM March 9, 2021
Updated:
3:09 PM March 9, 2021
Left to right: school girl Sanvitt Shah, Labour Councillors: Cllr Lenny Brandon, Mayor Cllr Margaret Eames-Petersen and Cllr Glyn Hayes standing this week in solidarity to Save Friendship House in Hatfield
- Credit: Supplied
Two meetings looking at the future of Friendship House in Hatfield will take place tonight.
The elderly day centre was forced to close as the charity could not raise donations to fund its staffing and operating costs.
Friendship House in Hatfield has supported the community for 50 years
- Credit: Archant
The charity currently has a lease from Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, paying £130 in rent annually, but it is required to make sure the building is operated only as a day centre for the elderly.
A CGI version of what the One Hatfield Town Centre project will look like.
- Credit: Archant
A major consultation was organised in Hatfield in 2015, and again in 2016, to allow the public to give their views on how to redevelop the town.
Out of that several points by over 900 respondents were summarised by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council while laying out its 2030+ vision for Hatfield.
Among the many points expressed by residents were improving the town centre s offer of shops, safer transport and better east-west connections, especially by foot/cycle, along with looking at the quality and quantity of housing stock in the town and the growth and retention of its residents and students through employment.
The façade collapsed in 2017 in Hatfield town centre
- Credit: Archant
Since the industrial decline in Hatfield during the 1990s, residents and politicians started examining whether the New Towns worked.
But even during this period between 1990 and 2000, plans were afoot to develop new areas of Hatfield with the Galleria, expansion of the University of Hertfordshire and Hatfield Business Park being the most notable example.
The development of the Galleria proved controversial, with developers of the site, the Carroll Group, going into receivership and later it becoming part of a legal battle. Landsec, its current owners, took it over in 2005.